Adif invests €260m into upgrading Spain’s rail freight network

Spain’s railway infrastructure management company Adif has invested €262.6m ($291m) into a group of projects to enhance its rail network with a focus on improving freight services in northwest and central Spain. 

The three investments include €119.6m for the electrification of the Zaragoza-Teruel-Sagunto line, €107m for the adaptation of the railway gauge on the Madrid-Zaragoza line for its Rolling Highway project, and €36m for new signalling equipment on the Zaragoza-Huesca-Canfranc line. 

Rolling Highway project 

The latest Rolling Highway investment will focus on the adaptation of gauges on 40 overpasses and 26 tunnels between the capital city of Madrid and Zaragoza, allowing the use of semi-trailers on the line. 

Works will also include the extension of sidings at two stations along the line to allow for the parking and crossing of trains at interoperable lengths, improving capacity and efficiency on the route. 

Adif’s latest round of funding for the highway project means it has mobilised around 60% of the total €468m investment planned for the high-speed corridor between Algeciras and Zaragoza. 

The state-owned company said it will be launching tenders for the work on the remaining gauge adaptation works for the Madrid to Algeciras line later this year, and is also looking for a contractor for the first stage of adapting an additional section from Zaragoza to Tarragona. 

Implementation of the latest rolling highway works will be partially funded by the EU through its financing of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan through NextGenerationEU.

Electrification works  

Similarly to the adaptation works, the electrification of the Zaragoza-Sagunto route is part of a wider upgrade for the line, with €500m now invested into Adif’s ‘Master Plan’ for the railway. 

The latest project, co-financed by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility, will see infrastructure on the line adapted for the installation of the catenary equipment, with 45 overpasses and 19 tunnels included in the works. 

Of the 45 overpasses, 31 of them will be completely renovated to make room for the equipment, while seven will receive smaller adaptations and another seven that are no longer in use will be completely dismantled and the surrounding areas restored. 

Alongside boosting capacity and reliability for all services on the line, the wider upgrade of the Zaragoza-Sagunto route is particularly focussed on boosting freight traffic by allowing for a higher axle load and creating new sidings. 

Signalling project  

The smallest of the three recently announced investments, the €36m project on the Zaragoza-Huesca-Canfranc line will install new signalling and telecommunications equipment on the Ayerbe-Canfranc section. 

Adif will install new electronic interlocking equipment at stations along the section, as well as blocking systems, track circuits, train protection equipment, LED light signalling, electric drives on the point motors, and modern axle counters. 

A GSM-R radio system will also be installed for the line and the remote control of the electronic interlocks will be integrated into the infrastructure manager’s Centralised Traffic Control.

The project is also partially financed by the EU through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

Funding for the three projects continues Adif’s investment of billions of euros into Spain’s railway network and comes shortly after it announced a €210m renovation project of the Zafra-Huelva line in the southwest of the country.