Page 7 - Vía Libre Special - 25 Years of Spanish High Speed Rail

LUNA- ARChIVo VíA LIBRE

years of Spanish high speed rail:

April 2017 saw the twenty-fifth a success case

anniversary of the entry into
service of the Madrid-Seville line,
First project and evolution
which marked the beginning
of the success story of high The initial aim behind the construction of
the Madrid-Seville high speed line was to ease the
speed rail travel in Spain and most critical bottleneck that existed in the Spanish
railway network at the time; the Despeñaperros
a watershed moment in the Pass. This was a long stretch of single track
country’s development. operation which greatly limited rail communication
between Andalusia and the rest of Spain.
T difficulties involved in making any significant
Given the technical and environmental
improvement to the existing layout , the idea of
This initiative was developed in an unfavourable
using an alternative corridor to pass through
climate for Spanish railways; in the 1980s it seemed
the Sierra Morena mountain range was mooted.
that rail travel was entering into a progressive and
announcement of the construction of what was
irreversible decline as a result of the development This initiative was crystallized in 1986 with the
of other transport modes such as road and air. to be called the “New Rail Access to Andalusia”
however, the arrival of high speed rail (also known by its Spanish acronym, NAFA). The
made it possible to reverse this trend. It also set in original idea was to build a new Iberian gauge line
motion a technological revolution which gave rise between Brazatortas (Ciudad Real) and Alcolea
to a period of sustained growth in infrastructure, (Cordoba), and to generally upgrade the existing
services and social prestige, one which persists to lines north to Madrid and south to Seville.
this day and whose continuity would seem to be In December 1988 with the works already
assured. underway, it was decided to change the entire
The Spanish stock of high speed trains, the concept of the line by adopting European standard
international activity of Spain’s railway sector, gauge and 25 kV AC electrification. This was a real
the standard of services and commitment to watershed decision, not only for the project but
punctuality and excellence, indeed the entire AVE for Spanish railways as a whole. years of Spanish high speed rail
brand, today renowned throughout the world, The new project called for the construction
came into existence just twenty-five years ago. of a completely new line, significantly different

Vía Libre • Special 25th Anniversary of the AVE Edition 7