Spain’s Minister of Development, Jose Blanco, and Portugal’s Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communications Antonio Mendonça, visited the construction works on the Montijo-Badajoz section of the Madrid-Extremadura-Lisbon high speed line.
They were accompanied by the President of the Junta de Extremadura (Extremadura Autonomous Government), Guillermo Fernández Vara, and the President of Adif, Antonio González Marín. During the visit a static load test was carried out on the 130 metre-long Alcazaba river viaduct. The test demonstrated the adequate set up, stability and performance of the viaduct.
The Ministry of Development is investing €41.14 million in this section of line – 20.2 kilometres long – that runs through the municipalities of Montijo, Badajoz and Pueblonuevo del Guadiana in the province of Badajoz.
This is the first stretch on this line that will link Madrid with the Portuguese capital, and is part of the Mérida-Badajoz section, which totals 36.2 kilometres.
The Madrid-Lisbon high speed line now has eight sections under construction along the Spanish route, totalling 104.2 km, with a joint investment of more than €410 million. Furthermore, investments planned for the Talayuela (Navalmoral de la Mata)–Caceres–Badajoz–Portuguese border section of this infrastructure amount to €2.714 billion.
A major boost to the Madrid-Lisbon connection
The two contracts recently allocated are worth a total of € 4,135,589. The first contract refers to the Cuarto de la Jara-Arroyo de la Albuera sector embankment project, included in the access to Mérida (Badajoz). This amounts to €1,470,086 and works are to be carried out within a 12 month period.
The second contract refers to technical assistance for embankment works monitoring, on the Casar de Caceres–Caceres sub-section, within the Talayuela–Caceres (province of Caceres) section. To this end €2,665,502 has been allocated and works are to be carried out within a 26 month period.
The contract covers the provision of assistance services for the control, monitoring and coordination of safety and health issues in high speed line construction, which amongst other actions includes ground movements, drainage works, structures, replacement of right of access and of other services that may have been disrupted, including cross-connections that ensure line permeability, as well as the project for correction measures of environmental impacts.
The Madrid-Extremadura-Portuguese border high speed link will be a double-tracked line built to the UIC standard gauge for both passenger and freight.
(Source: ADIF)
