Gipuzkoa takes the lead in the construction of the high-speed train in the Basque Country.
The autonomous Government announced this Monday that the railway branch that runs through this territory is already completed after an investment of close to 2,000 million euros.
It is a long railway platform of 60.73 kilometers that goes from Bergara to Astigarraga that still lacks the rails and the catenary, works that must be tendered and executed from now on by the railway manager of the Adif State.
The completion of the Gipuzkoa section, a work that has been entirely managed by the Basque Government, allows the deadlines to be maintained for the AVE in this community to be operational in the year 2027, as confirmed by the Minister of Transport Iñaki Arriola, although we will have to wait another six years, until 2033, for fast trains to access the center of Bilbao.
The complicated Basque orography has prolonged the construction of the Basque high-speed network more than expected, a project whose works began in 2006 on the Alava branch after several years of debate and political discussion.
Two years later the machines went to work in Gipuzkoa.
This corridor alone has required 16 years to completely finish a structure of almost 61 kilometers, of which only 4.2 kilometers (7%) run under the open sky.
Most of the route (48.5 kilometers) runs underground and the rest (7.9 kilometers) runs over viaducts.
34 tunnels (the longest is six kilometers long) and 31 bridges have been built.
The unique work of the project is a 482-meter cable-stayed bridge between Hernani and Astigarraga, “the first in Spain for high speed,” as indicated by Arriola in a visit to the works in the company of the Government delegate in the Basque Country, who is also socialist Denis Itxaso.
The construction of the Guipuzcoan part of the Basque AVE has been carried out by the public company Euskal Trenbide Sarea (ETS) following a management contract signed with the central government.
The Basque Executive deducts from the Quota paid to Madrid the part it advances for the financing of these works.
The total cost has risen to 1,948 million euros, according to the latest certification of the work, 76 million more than initially planned.
Arriola has highlighted that the Basque Government was, at the time, “the first regional administration in Europe that participated directly in the design and construction of a state-owned high-speed railway network.”
The next milestone of this infrastructure will be the commissioning of the Atotxa station, in San Sebastián, scheduled for the end of 2025. The work known as the Bergara junction is also pending completion, where the three branches of the
Basque Y
are expected to converge. railway.
According to the latest forecasts, ratified today by the counselor, the TAV could be operational in Euskadi in 2027 on its core network.
The deadlines will be extended to complete the train accesses to Bilbao and Vitoria.
Arriola recalled that the Basque Government is processing the order by which ETS is empowered to put out to tender this year the drafting of the tunnel access project from Basauri (Bizkaia) to the center of Bilbao.
It is a 6.2 kilometer long tunnel that will require an investment of 280.11 million, of which the Basque Executive will advance 226.5 million.
This section would be completed in 2033, although the construction of the Abando central station would still be pending, which will allow travelers to arrive in the center of the Biscayan capital.
There are also no deadlines for the integration of high speed in Vitoria, whose basic project is being drafted while its environmental impact declaration is being processed.
The Basque Minister of Transport, Iñaki Arriola (second from the left), and the Government delegate in Euskadi, Denis Itxaso (right), visit this Monday the high-speed train works in Astigarraga (Gipuzkoa).Irekia
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