Puente announces a renewal of the Madrid-Barcelona line so that the AVE can travel at 350km/h and the journey can be made in two hours

The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Oscar Puenteannounced this Monday that the works ofe renewal of the High Speed ​​line between Madrid and Barcelona, with the aim of adapting it so that trains go from 300 kilometers per hour to traveling at 350 kilometers/hourso that the journey between the two cities is made in “less than two hours.”

Puente has presented the presentation of this new project at an informative breakfast in Madrid, where he has indicated that it is “go on the offensive” in high speed, after having been in recent years “on the defensive” due to “railway incidents” totally painful”. This “step forward” will focus on the Madrid-Barcelona railway line, which will be renewed so that it can be traveled on at 350 km/h, a speed that, he said, They only reach trains in China. In Spain, preparation for this to happen is also being done on the Cartagena-Almería line, under construction.

As he explained, once Adif is about to finish the renovation of the oldest High Speed ​​line, the one that connects Madrid with Seville, The Ministry is now preparing to do the same with the one that connects Madrid and Barcelona, ​​and will “take advantage” of the works to adapt the paths to the circulation of 350 km/h trains, something that Puente has estimated could take time to complete about three yearsthe same time it took to renew the Madrid-Seville line.

“We should work on the time horizon”said, that the renewal of the Madrid-Seville line, which is being completed after three years of works in which Puente has stressed that circulation has not been cut off at any time, as a template for what will happen on the Madrid-Barcelona line. It is also true that the renewal of the first line of the AVE has been origin of many of the incidents who has experienced the service in recent years, especially in the area of The Holyin Toledo.

The minister did not want to commit further to the deadline in which it will be possible to travel by train from Madrid to Barcelona in two hours, but he did assure that “let’s start now”, that this Monday or Tuesday the tender for the first works will be launched. The renovation will be done in sections and will begin with the one that generates the most “problem” to reach the greatest speed, the one that unites Madrid with Calatayud.

Aerodynamic sleepers

Although it will also be necessary to renew the signaling and other elements of the track, Puente has explained that the main key for trains to be able to circulate at 350 kilometers per hour is in the replacement of the current sleepers, which go on ballast, the “little stones” that come out from 320 km/h shot at the bottom of the trainfor others of type aerodynamic which will no longer produce that bearing and will allow the trains to go faster.

“With the same rolling stock we can provide services more quickly”assured Puente, who explained that circulation at 350 km/h is the only realistic alternative to solve the “saturation” problem that the Madrid-Barcelona line has. Also the trains Ouigo or Iryo in Spain they could circulate at this speed, railway sources explain.

“We need capacity, the network is saturated and there are only two alternatives, build more lanes, which would be tripling or quadrupling the line” with the consequences in terms of “time, cost and environmental impact” or “increasing speed.”There is no other, that [los trenes] arrive earlier and generate more space in the furrow”he said.

New stations and accesses in Madrid and Barcelona

The line renewal project also includes new accesses and stations High Speed ​​railways in both Madrid and Barcelona.

In Madridthe big news is the construction of a new High Speed ​​station in Parlawhich will allow you to border Madrid and not have to go through Atocha or Chamartín on trains that connect Seville with Barcelona.

Likewise, the High Speed ​​link between the Barajas airport and Chamartín station, which Puente has assured that it will be completely finished in “spring”. In this case, the works have already started and at the moment it is about adapting the suburban train tracks to high-speed trains.

In Barcelona the connection between Sants station and El Prat airport and the High Speed ​​trains will connect with the La Sagrera station, which will save the current route, which runs along the entire coast, from Tarragona to Sants to directly connect the La Sagrera station. Lleida with Barcelona through La Sagrera, without having to descend to Tarragona. “We need a new access, which we have thought about with La Sagrera, not with Sants,” said Puente.