Adif - Abrimos caminos

The Madrid-Barcelona-French Border line has, since 2008, linked the two largest Spanish cities. 

The last stage is currently being worked on, the Barcelona-Figueres section, which links with the Figueres-Perpignan section (which has been in service since December 2010).

This line links the two most densely populated urban areas in Spain, Madrid and Barcelona, as well as Saragossa and other cities such as Guadalajara, Calatayud, Lerida and Tarragona.

This infrastructure also extends its benefits to other cities by connecting:

In Madrid with the North-North-east corridors (LAV Valladolid high-speed line), the South corridor (LAV Seville and Malaga high-speed line) and the East corridor (LAV Valencia high-speed line).

In Saragossa with the high-speed international gauge line Saragossa-Huesca

In Tarragona with the Mediterranean Corridor.

Further, thanks to the gauge change facilities in Plasencia de Jalón, the advantages extend to La Rioja and Navarre.

Another exclusive feature of this line is the design for mixed passenger and freight traffic (between the Port of Barcelona and the connection with France). This means there is a possibility of establishing new services with arrival or departure at intermodal centres in France and other European countries.

As well as a major reduction in journey times, this modern infrastructure provides a series of benefits such as:

It runs over 804 kilometres from Madrid to Figueres.

The track is designed for speeds of up to 350 km/h in nearly 86% of the route, although Renfe Operadora runs commercial services at 310 km/h, after the entry into service in 2011 of ERTMS Level 2.

Infrastructure

The construction design used was highly demanding so as to allow the development of maximum speeds of 350 km/h on commercial services and to guarantee interoperability in line with European regulations.

The line has by-passes in Saragossa, Lerida and Figueres so as not to affect route times for trains not stopping at said cities.

In addition, the Barcelona Port-Figueres section was designed for passenger and some freight traffic.

The line also has a passenger information system providing real time information (next train, estimated arrival/stopping/departure time, platform, delay times, etc.)

The origins date back to the 1980s. On 8th December 1988, the Cabinet approved the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line project included in the Railway Transport Plan (PTF) approved a year earlier. The project did not include a line for speeds of 300 km/h but the doubling of track across the existing lines with new branches throughout. Finally, an independent UIC gauge infrastructure was decided on with high-speed parameters.

Twenty years were needed to complete a section crossing especially complicated areas such as the exit from Madrid, the Lerida-Martorell section and entry into Barcelona.

The first sections were put out to tender in 1993 and work started in 1995. The 443 kilometre Madrid-Saragossa-Lerida section had an investment of 4.5 billion euro and came into service in October 2003 using Altaria and AVE Serie 100 trains from the Madrid-Seville line. At first, speeds of only 200 km/h were reached while a new signalling system - ERTMS level 1 -was being installed, allowing speeds to be increased gradually. In this way, in 2006, with the new system installed for the first time in Spain, AVE trains reached maximum speeds initially of 250 km/h, then 280 km/h, 300 km/h and finally 310 km/h in October 2011. This considerably reduced journey times.

The stations on this initial section, as well as the departure terminus in Madrid-Puerta de Atocha, were Guadalara-Yebes (new), Calatayud (remodelled and extended), Zaragoza-Delicias (new) and Lleida-Pirineus (remodelled).

The first commercial service between Madrid and Barcelona ran in May 2006 with a variable gauge CAF Alvia train (120 series) which used a gauge changer located in Puigvert, Lleida, to continue the direct journey to Barcelona on the conventional track.

After an investment of 1.613 billion euro in December 2006, a further 108 kilometres on the line running from Lerida to Camp de Tarragona and the branch to Lerida were opened. The opening of this stretch was the first high-speed connection between Catalan provincial capitals.

Fourteen months later, in February 2008, the Tarragona-Barcelona section, covering 98 kilometres and with an investment of 2,653 billion Euros, was put into service, thus providing a high-speed connection between Spain's two biggest cities.

After a total investment of nearly 9 billion euro, the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed connection opened with a two-way journey by 103 series trains covering the distance in 2 hours 38 minutes.