LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
On a first rail trip through Spain last week, I was surprised to see two sections of high-speed line (LAV) which are just lying unused.
The first was south of Madrid and runs on the west side of the current AVE line for about 24km, almost as far as Renfe's AVE depot at La Sagra.
It has a slightly different alignment with its own bridge sections, and has been left as a bare solum with no railway equipment (ie no ballast, rails, signalling, or OHLE).
This is either visionary planning, or a memorial to grandiose plans which have been axed - I don't know which, but the wasted investment is huge.
Later I was travelling between Sevilla and Malaga on the old broad-gauge route via Osuna, when a similar fully-completed AVE line hove into view among the barren sierra.
It extended expensively all the way to Bobadilla, and the old, very sinuous line ran over part of it for a straight run over the last few km.
Apparently this is to be part of a Sevilla-Granada LAV with an unknown opening date.
Other major work on LAV extension was going on between Valladolid and Burgos north of Madrid.
It seems very strange that given Spain's economic situation LAV lines are still being constructed.
But it was impressive to travel on some of the completed lines and view the quality of the rebuilt stations at Madrid, Cordoba, Sevilla and Malaga.
Particularly impressive were:
- rolling easily through the gauge-changers to/from the high speed lines at Valladolid and Sevilla on Alvia services
- the long 28km tunnel south of Segovia, run at 250kph I think
- the cut and cover tunnel into Sevilla with a fountain on top
- the general spaciousness and quality of Renfe rolling stock (including 26m 160kph 3-car CAF DMUs, with a single wide door per car)
- the buffer stops at Malaga faced with the same high-quality marble as the concourse
- Spain's empty landscape means there is practically no need to sink LAV lines below ground level, or to install miles of sound barriers, both of which spoil the view as we will find with HS2
- not to overlook the smart and modern Euskotren metre-gauge metro Hendaye-San Sebastian, which manages a 4tph or better service on a single track with station loops
If Spain has no immediate need for its new infrastructure, it's a pity we cannot move it to the UK and save a few years on HS2 construction.
Another oddity about my route was that I had imagined Spain as a right-hand running country, and booked my seats accordingly (to get my favourite window seat on the off side).
I was baffled to find at San Sebastian that we were running on the left, as in France, so I swapped seats.
But at Valladolid, running on to the LAV, we started running on the right, so had to move back!
I now see that lines of the old Norte company ran on the left, which I presume includes all the broad-gauge lines leading from Madrid Chamartin.
The first was south of Madrid and runs on the west side of the current AVE line for about 24km, almost as far as Renfe's AVE depot at La Sagra.
It has a slightly different alignment with its own bridge sections, and has been left as a bare solum with no railway equipment (ie no ballast, rails, signalling, or OHLE).
This is either visionary planning, or a memorial to grandiose plans which have been axed - I don't know which, but the wasted investment is huge.
Later I was travelling between Sevilla and Malaga on the old broad-gauge route via Osuna, when a similar fully-completed AVE line hove into view among the barren sierra.
It extended expensively all the way to Bobadilla, and the old, very sinuous line ran over part of it for a straight run over the last few km.
Apparently this is to be part of a Sevilla-Granada LAV with an unknown opening date.
Other major work on LAV extension was going on between Valladolid and Burgos north of Madrid.
It seems very strange that given Spain's economic situation LAV lines are still being constructed.
But it was impressive to travel on some of the completed lines and view the quality of the rebuilt stations at Madrid, Cordoba, Sevilla and Malaga.
Particularly impressive were:
- rolling easily through the gauge-changers to/from the high speed lines at Valladolid and Sevilla on Alvia services
- the long 28km tunnel south of Segovia, run at 250kph I think
- the cut and cover tunnel into Sevilla with a fountain on top
- the general spaciousness and quality of Renfe rolling stock (including 26m 160kph 3-car CAF DMUs, with a single wide door per car)
- the buffer stops at Malaga faced with the same high-quality marble as the concourse
- Spain's empty landscape means there is practically no need to sink LAV lines below ground level, or to install miles of sound barriers, both of which spoil the view as we will find with HS2
- not to overlook the smart and modern Euskotren metre-gauge metro Hendaye-San Sebastian, which manages a 4tph or better service on a single track with station loops
If Spain has no immediate need for its new infrastructure, it's a pity we cannot move it to the UK and save a few years on HS2 construction.
Another oddity about my route was that I had imagined Spain as a right-hand running country, and booked my seats accordingly (to get my favourite window seat on the off side).
I was baffled to find at San Sebastian that we were running on the left, as in France, so I swapped seats.
But at Valladolid, running on to the LAV, we started running on the right, so had to move back!
I now see that lines of the old Norte company ran on the left, which I presume includes all the broad-gauge lines leading from Madrid Chamartin.
