The high -speed Spanish network It is the second longest in the world with 4,000 kilometers of extension, only behind China, which exceeds 45,000 kilometers. And in the coming years it will continue to grow significantly by adding another 1,500 kilometersaccording to the data collected in the “Atlas of high railway speed in the world “published by the International Railway Union.
The high speed network will continue to grow at a time when he lives One of his most delicate momentswith Lagging collapses as those lived in just two months in the corridor that joins Madrid with Andalusia repeating more frequently than travelers and the sector would like.
From Transportes they argue that the large amount of actions that are undertaking to improve the network and that were not made in the past are one of the causes that explain these incidents. This same Thursday, the Minister of Economy, Carlos Bodyhas returned on this argument and has blamed the failures in the railway network, including the high speed, to the “Huge fall” in the budget in infrastructure that occurred in the financial crisis of 2008although it has stressed that the government is compensating it “with a quick rise” in investments.
From the Executive, it also shows that the number of circulations has multiplied exponentially since Iro and Ouigo compete with Renfe in the runners of Levante, South and Barcelona.
From the sector itself they admit in respect of the competition that is an added element of stress for infrastructure. As they explain, while being used more regularly, which causes greater wear to them, the times for their maintenance of those available Adif have also been shortened sensitively.
According to the document, there are currently under construction six new sections that total 696 kilometers. Two of them will be added in the short term to the existing network, the Talayuela-Navalal-Planter of the Extremadura corridor, which will be completed this same exercise; and the so -called and Basque, between Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastián, which has 175 kilometers and whose works are expected to be completed by the year 2028.
Ending slopes follow the sections Murcia-Almeria-the longest with 188 kilometers and has a budget of 3.5 billion euros-Castejón-Pamplona, the oak-valencia and palencia -ar of the king.
Among the planned projects but without an estimated completion date according to the International Railway Union is a crucial one because it will connect the and Basque with the rest of the network, the Section between Burgos and Vitoriawhich will have a length of 110 kilometers. Adif, the Spanish railway infrastructure administrator, has already tendered the construction of the first section.
Controversy by Toledo
The projected with greater size for the number of kilometers you will have is the Madrid-Clayuela (220)which is part of the Extremadura high speed corridor, projected to connect with the high Portuguese speed. This section is now crammed by a Strong dispute between the plans proposed by the Ministry of Transportation for its passage through Toledo and those that defend the City Council of this town and the Regional Socialist Government. While the department of Óscar Puente bets on taking trains to the city center and tending a vintage on the Tagus, City Council and Board of Castilla-La Mancha bet on a second station outside the historic center of the city to avoid it, in its opinion, strong visual impact that the state proposal would have on this area.
In project there are also the routes between Alar del Rey and Reinosa, with 44 kilometers long; Seville-Huelva (102), Teruel-Zaragoza (the longest with 166 kilometers), Castejón-Logroño (76) and Valencia-Castellón (68).
Although in recent years Adif has put special bombs in increasing investment for conventional railroad, the administrator continues to allocate a good sum to close the projected high speed mesh. Last year, Investments executed by Adif high speed amounted to 2,459 million euroswith an increase of 24.5% compared to the preceding year, according to the latest results presented by the public company last May.
Adif highlighted the investments for the and Basque (211.9 million euros), the high-speed Murcia-Almería (501.8 million euros) and the Madrid-Exteramura line (219.6 million). Regarding the lines in exploitation, ADIF AV executed an investment of 133.43 million euros in the improvement of the Madrid-Lérida-Barcelona and 222.6 million in the renewal of the Madrid-Sevilla.