Adif is analyzing the viability of six Iberian gauge railway routes, including the direct line from the Region of Murcia to Madrid through Cieza and Hellín, based on the demand for the volumes to be transported, environmental savings, wagons and locomotives to use and business plans and investments in railway infrastructure. This study is included in the map of future railway highways that Adif is developing to promote freight transportation, within the 'Merchandise 30' plan of the national government.
This adaptation will be complementary to the use of the infrastructure for passenger service. In fact, the few investments that have been made on this line, such as the Camarillas variant and the remodeling of several stations, are aimed at expanding the platforms for freight trains of 750 meters in length.
Along with the conventional line between the Region and Chinchilla, the Adif Rail Highway Support and Advisory Office is also analyzing the Tarragona-Barcelona itineraries; Madrid-Valladolid-Burgos-Vitoria; Cádiz-Madrid; Tamarite from Litera-Irún/Portbou; and Zaragoza-Pamplona (Noain)-Vitoria (Júndiz), sources from the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility report.
The adaptation would be complementary to the modernization of the road for passenger service
Adif carries out these studies at the request of large logistics operators, to check the viability in order to boost freight transport, said a spokesperson for the state company. For the line that affects the Region of Murcia, an operator has requested it. Coupled with this, the Port of Cartagena is a key factor, both for flows with the center and north of the Peninsula and for its future connection to the Mediterranean Corridor.
Marked in the European network
The direct line with Madrid is included in the EU's Trans-European Transport Networks, recently updated with the aim of adapting the infrastructure by 2040 so that passenger and freight trains can circulate at more than 200 kilometers per hour. Until now, Adif has relegated the modernization of this line and has given priority to other sections of the national network.
This section has been closed to traffic for two years due to the works on the high-speed line between Murcia and Almería, which includes the burying of the tracks through Barriomar and Nonduermas. Adif's forecast was to resume commercial traffic in the first half of this year, but it will have to be delayed.
It has been cut off for more than two years due to the Murcia-Almería high-speed works and the burial.
Railway highways are a freight transport service that loads road trailers or semi-trailers, using specialized wagons. According to Adif, this initiative “offers a competitive and collaborative logistics solution with significant savings, both in external costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Road emissions compared to rail are 4.7 times higher, with annual savings: 620,000 tons of CO2.
Apart from the sections that it is going to study, Adif has seven itineraries underway to implement railway highway services: Algeciras-Madrid-Zaragoza, Huelva-Madrid-Zaragoza, Seville-Madrid-Zaragoza, Madrid-Valencia, Valencia-Badajoz-Lisbon ( Portugal), Madrid-Badajoz-Oporto-Lisbon and Azuqueca-Zaragoza-Tarragona. Specifically, the Ministry of Transport has put out to tender two contracts for 110 million euros to adapt the gauge of 26 tunnels and 40 overpasses of the conventional train line between Madrid and Zaragoza to the dimensions required by the semi-trailers, facilitating the passage of the goods on the new railway highway between Algeciras and Zaragoza.
With these contracts, the Government launches the investment plan of more than 468 million euros to promote the development of the services of this vital infrastructure for the transport of goods in Spain.
#Adif #studies #MurciaMadrid #direct #line #serves #railway #highway #goods
