The derailment of a train in the tunnel that connects the Atocha and Chamartín stations has once again highlighted the problems of critical infrastructure for high-speed connections. The tunnel, which has two lanes – one in each direction – has only been operational for two years. It accumulated delays and it has been in 2024 when it has had the most incidents, such as the one in August, when a train was stopped and left hundreds of travelers trapped for hours, who ended up breaking the windows.
The tunnel between the two main Madrid stations was proposed as a key to railway liberalization, to accommodate the new private operators, Ouigo and Iryo. These cannot take the trains that link the capital with the Valencian Community and Murcia to the Atocha station. Behind it there are two problems. The essential thing is that the systems used by the French and Italian operators are not compatible with a part of the railway network that leads to Atocha. On the other hand, the central Madrid station is saturated. There is no room for more trains and it is not possible to expand their capacity until they are expanded.
The solution that was proposed more than a decade ago involved the construction of a tunnel, which in one section functions as a kind of bypass: the trains that arrive in Madrid from Levante, avoid the Atocha station and continue to Chamartín through that tunnel. two-way. In fact, the transfer to this station of all trains going to Levante sparked political criticism, because it was seen as a loss of access to the city center. In the end, the door was opened for several Renfe trains in this corridor to maintain their origin or destination in Atocha. “We have reached an agreement and there is a proposal from Adif that there are eight guaranteed train services that go to Atocha, and the rest will arrive in Chamartín, including the low cost,” defended the former Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez.
That is the reason why the majority of trains in this corridor end in Chamartín and have to use a tunnel that now has a derailed train on one of its tracks, until it can be removed. Meanwhile, the other route is being operated.
If there is an incident, it blocks all entry and exit
This lack of dimension was criticized by the current head of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, in his last appearance in the Congress of Deputies, precisely, to talk about the railway situation last summer.
“I don’t know if this is the third or fourth appearance since I have been minister,” Puente said. “The minister who decided that the tunnel between Chamartín and Atocha had to be on a single track for 800 meters or who decided that Galicia and Madrid would communicate with a single track, or León and Asturias, did not appear even once in her first year in office. ; I don’t know if any of them appeared, because, since you had an absolute majority… Of course, you use the law of the funnel: you are in a hurry for us to appear, but when it’s your turn to do it, well, they are all bad guys,” he criticized.
A few days before, in the Senate, Puente also acknowledged that, if there are problems in that tunnel, all circulation is blocked. “I must say that this section of single track is designed to be compatible with the construction of the Madrid Puerta de Atocha through station. Once it is completed, in addition to the new station, all sections will be on double track, but in the meantime, everyone should be aware that, if a train suffers an incident at that point, it blocks all train entry and exit. from Madrid to Levante and from Levante to Madrid. I assure you that I have not designed that tunnel, nor have I executed it and nor did I make the decision not to build the Atocha through station,” he listed.
A project that took 20 years
The first studies to launch the tunnel that crosses Madrid began in 2001, with Francisco Álvarez Cascos as Minister of Development with José María Aznar in Moncloa. Years later, with Magdalena Álvarez as head of the same Ministry, the information and environmental study was approved and the works began in 2010.
Six years later, the light began to be seen. Already then, the minister of the sector, Ana Pastor, assured that the works were very advanced and that the infrastructure could come into operation at the end of 2016. In reality, we had to wait six more years until the tunnel was finished and all the necessary work was done. analysis and security checks for it to enter into operation. It opened in September 2022.
In total, it measures just over seven kilometers. It does not run under the Paseo de la Castellana, the artery that crosses the capital from south to north, but rather the Botanical Garden and Alfonso XII. Also, below Serrano Street. In total, it involved an investment of almost 340 million euros, but if the different infrastructures to connect Chamartín with the corridor that goes to the Mediterranean are taken into account, the investment amounts to over 1,000 million euros.
In 2022, the Ministry of Transport itself explained the intra-history of the works of a facility that opted for double track and left for a future Atocha station – for which the works have already been approved – to expand circulation to more trains per direction.
To build it, a tunnel boring machine was hired that had to be brought dismantled from Germany and which was baptized ‘Gran Vía’. First, by boat, to Alicante. From there, by road. It was built at a rate of 25 kilometers per day and its average depth is around 45 meters. And key monuments and buildings, as well as hundreds of homes, had to be inspected. Among others, the Puerta de Alcalá or the Archaeological Museum, because they are close to the tunnel.
Now, this infrastructure is under scrutiny and will have to operate for an indefinite period of time with only one track, until the machinery that derailed last weekend is removed. The work to remove the convoy that overturned will be done at night and on weekends, so normal frequencies will take an indeterminate time to recover.
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