In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, China amazed the world with the construction of a huge hospital, the Wuhan Volcano, in a record time of 10 days. Specifically, it was in the first days of February 2020 when the mayor of the town, Zhou Xianwang, gave the medical staff of the Popular Army the keys to the new resource to deal with the health alert.
The reconstruction of the main road and railway infrastructures of Valencia, destroyed by DANA on October 29, has not been left behind. Specifically, the partial recovery of Cercanías services, total AVE services to Madrid and the reopening of the bypass, the A-7 ring road through which an average of 100,000 vehicles pass every day, also represent milestones in terms of engineering, more than because of the complexity of the projects themselves, but also because of the speed of their execution.
The Minister responsible for Transport, Óscar Puente, accustomed to the hand-to-hand combat of daily political conflict, has in this case developed a managerial profile that has earned him recognition even from the media and conservative politicians, for the efficiency that he has projected in his social networks in the recovery of infrastructures.
In the case of the A7, the general director of state highways, Juan Pedro Palomino, explains how it has been possible to enable a provisional alternative to reopen the road in 13 days. bypasswhose bridge over the Poyo ravine was seriously damaged.
According to Palomino, on the fateful night of October 29, the collapse of the bridge structure had already been detected at Quart de Poblet, shortly before the connection with the A-3: “We started to think and at the end of the The next day we were already clear about what the provisional solution was going to be to reopen the A7 as soon as possible, which finally consisted of enabling a new 550-meter-long platform with six traffic lanes (three in each direction) parallel to the damaged bridge, that is say, a bypass of the bypass”.
The general director comments that to carry out the works, “a hundred people have worked for 13 days in a row, 24 hours a day, in three shifts, and more than a hundred trucks have been moved, three bulldozers and many other excavators.” Furthermore, “for the construction of the structure, 250 prefabricated concrete frames were assembled in a very complex logistical operation, since they all had to be placed in a day and a half.” On this esplanade enabled by the frames, 1,350 tons of concrete, 8,500 tons of agglomerate for the pavement and 120,000 tons of filling material have been placed.
“It has been quite a challenge for having found the technical solution in 24 hours, for ensuring that all the logistics arrived taking into account the situation of collapse of the roads and for the coordination that the entire operation has required at the level of human resources and machinery. “, says Palomino, who recalls that the platform is “provisional” until the definitive repair of the bridge is made. For this reason, “in this section the speed is limited to 60 kilometers per hour and in case of rain it has the capacity to drain 550 cubic meters per second.”
In the last DANA, 2,800 cubic meters fell per second, which is why the bridge collapsed: “The final project will be able to take on a similar avenue without problems,” he says. The total planned investment, both for the provisional and definitive project, amounts to 12.5 million euros.
Railway reopening
Renfe has recovered all high-speed services on the Madrid-València line after the second DANA last Wednesday, November 13, which led to the red alert issued on Wednesday by Aemet, and rescheduled for Thursday, November 14 starting at 12:00 p.m., Cercanías services in the center of València, as well as their alternative plans.
Concern about the Aemet red alert and the intense rains in the Valencian Community forced the railway company to make the decision not to restore the AVE and Avlo services in the Community once the Adif works that kept it suspended after the previous DANA.
Thus, the first AVE left on Thursday, November 14, from Madrid to Valencia at 11:30 a.m. and from València, the first AVE, left for Madrid at 12:21 p.m.
On the Madrid-Valencia line, Renfe’s high-speed offer (AVE+Avlo) is, from Monday to Friday, 30 trains daily, 15 in each direction. The offer for the weekend is 49 trains, on Saturdays 12 trains run to Valencia and 11 services run to Madrid, and on Sundays 13 trains run in each direction between both cities.
Commuter services
Starting at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 14 and throughout the day, the Cercanías services in the center of València were rescheduled, as well as their alternative plans. Service was partially reduced on lines C1, C2 and C6, as well as the associated road transport service on lines C1 and C2.
For lines C1, C2 and C6, a service is established every hour in each direction for both rail services and their alternative plans (lines C1 and C2).
The C3 València-Buñol-Utiel line maintains the established alternative transportation plan. The buses will not stop at the Cheste and Loriguilla stations due to the state of the infrastructure.
The services of the C5 València Nord-Caudiel line, during the day this Friday, will have the same circulations as on weekends, so six trains will circulate instead of the eight that circulate on a weekday.
In the associated road services by bus, a service in each direction has been established every hour for the Benifaió-València, Algemesí-València, Carcaixent-Alzira-València and Silla-Catarroja-Massanassa-Alfafar-València routes.
In addition, the usual service is established for the Utiel-S.Antonio-Requena-El Rebollar-Siete Aguas-Buñol-Valencia and Buñol-Chiva-Aldaia-Xirivella-València lines.
All bus services associated with Cercanías services have their headquarter established in Valencia at the Joaquín Sorolla station, with the exception of those corresponding to the Utiel and Buñol lines, which will be located in Plaza de España.
Long distance Valencia-Barcelona
Likewise, long-distance services between Valencia and Barcelona have been restored. The first Euromed left from Barcelona at 10:15 a.m. and from Valencia at 11:25 a.m.
Due to the adverse weather conditions and the red alert issued by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), railway traffic between Barcelona and Valencia was suspended in recent days, both Long and Medium Distance and Regional services.
The Regional Express services to and from Tarragona-Tortosa-Camp de Tarragona and Valencia were also suspended, as were the circulation of the Intercity and Euromed services to and from Figueres-Barcelona Sants and Valencia.
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