Óscar Puente defends that the Pajares Variant represents a transcendental advance for equal opportunities and the economic transformation of Asturias

• The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility accompanies His Majesty the King and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, on the inaugural journey of the high-speed stretch between León and Asturias. • Commercial services start tomorrow, November 30. Renfe has already sold almost 70,000 tickets and is expected to reach 1.25 million travelers in its first year. • The variant allows to cut the connection between Madrid and Asturias by more than an hour, time that will be reduced by 15 minutes more with the arrival of Avril trains in the first quarter of 2024. • Four billion euros have been invested for a 50km stretch between La Robla and Pola de Lena, which allows you to overcome the Cantabrian Mountain Range through 12 tunnels and 10 viaducts. • The infrastructure is a double electrified track with a maximum speed of 275 km/h. Its route cuts by 37 km the length of the current stretch through the Port of Pajares and allows to increase the load on the freight trains by 15%.

November 29, 2023.- The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has today accompanied His Majesty the King, Felipe VI, and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, on the inaugural trip of high-speed services to Asturias, where he has affirmed that the entry into service of the Variant of Pajares, a stretch of 50 kilometers that allows to save in less than 15 minutes the Cantabrian Mountain Range, will represent a transcendental advance for equal opportunities and the economic transformation of the Principality.

Not in vain, the variant allows to reduce travel times of more than one hour between Madrid and Asturias, to which will be added an extra reduction of 15 minutes with the arrival of Avril trains in the first quarter of 2024, which will also allow to expand frequencies, seats and services to Avilés.

The event consisted of a train journey from Madrid to Oviedo, where an institutional event was held that was also attended by the presidents of Asturias, Adrián Barbón, and of Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco. Not in vain, the new section between La Robla and Pola de Lena, which is put into service tomorrow, November 30, allows to connect León and Asturias with high speed.

“It is a great day for Asturias and for the whole of Spain, it is the most unique work of the Spanish railway system”, said the Minister of Transport, who has thanked the work of his predecessors in office and the more than 5,000 workers who have intervened in this work, which began 20 years ago and has involved an investment of 4,000 million euros.

Óscar Puente stressed that this is a country project in which all the governments of democracy have participated in pursuit of a fair and balanced growth “that strengthens us”. In short, as he explained, they are works that allow us to get to Asturias on the train of modernity, saving thousands of hours of travel time and CO2 emissions per year and attracting the demand for goods and travelers to and from the three great poles of Asturian activity: Oviedo, Gijón and Avilés.

4,000 million euros of investment

The minister stressed the technical complexity of this project that links Asturias with the peninsular interior and whose design allows to reach a maximum speed of 275 km/h, saving the Cantabrian Mountain Range with 50 new km, of which 40 run through 12 tunnels, highlighting the Pajares, of 25 km; and with 10 viaducts, one of them the Campomanes, unique in our network.

The head of Transport has affirmed that this work reinforces the image of excellence that Spain has built around the railway. “We are an international reference for other countries that look to us for experience and reliability for their transport projects,” he said.

This new milestone in the mobility of Spain will allow us to channel all the commercial rail traffic between Asturias and the Plateau and take another step in the economic transformation towards a sustainable model. It will also allow the integration of local markets into larger ones, generating more job opportunities and more incentives for companies, with a multiplier effect on tourism.

The data testify, given that Renfe has already sold almost 70,000 AVE tickets to Asturias and, for the first year, 1.25 million passengers are expected to take advantage of the new high-speed services to travel to the Principality.

The minister also referred to the impetus that will be given to the rail transport of goods, which will allow trains with up to 15% more load and greater length (up to four more carriages) to be transported. That is why he referred to the Variant as “the most important work of the Atlantic Corridor”.

Óscar Puente has pointed out that this infrastructure is the beginning of a new era for railway connections with Asturias and has detailed the projects that the Ministry is developing in this regard:

• Duplication of the Alicante-Leon section.
• Double track with mixed width between León and La Robla.
• Renewal of the La Pola – Oviedo line.
• Plan for the improvement of Neighbourhoods, whose actions will be presented soon.

Technical characteristics of the arrival of high speed to Asturias

The high-speed connection with Asturias is one of the most complex engineering works in Europe and the world. In its route, it crosses mountains and a great geological complexity of the Cantabrian Mountain Range, with very diverse formations: pizarrosas, limestone, quartzites, etc. which represented a major challenge in the excavation process.

The new line La Robla-Pola de Lena (50 km) or Variant of Pajares, to which an investment of 4,000 million euros has been destined, is composed of the succession of 12 tunnels and 10 viaducts with which the Cantabrian Mountain Range is saved and the important gap between Asturias and the Plateau (500 meters), with maximum respect and integration in the environment.

Its construction has been an unprecedented challenge: up to 5,000 professionals and 5 tuners worked at the same time in the construction of the Pajares bitubo tunnel, which runs at a depth of one kilometre.

80% of its route, 40 km, in tunnel

80% of the route of the variant runs in a tunnel, that is, 40 kilometers. Among them, the Pajares tunnel, 25 km long, which is the seventh longest railway tunnel in Europe, equipped with the most advanced protection and safety equipment, stands out: it has 58 pressurized emergency exits, one every 400 meters, through galleries that connect the tunnels to each other (one of them allows evacuation in case of incident in the other), as well as two communication galleries to the outside: that of Buiza (6 km) for incidents and emergencies and that of Brochure (3 km), intended for maintenance.

The route is also composed of ten viaducts (1.8 km). Four of these viaducts are double, that is, a viaduct has been built for each of the two tracks of the line: those of Huerna (42 m), San Blas (129 m), Sotiello (135 m) and Teso (365 m). In addition, it has the only triple viaduct (three tracks, one in each viaduct) of the entire Spanish railway network: Campomanes (118 m).

The infrastructure is a double electrified track, with the most advanced railway signalling system (ERTMS level 2). Its route cuts by 37 km the length of the current stretch through the Port of Pajares -which dates from the 19th century- and has a lower altitude and slope, facilitating the winter maintenance work of the line.

Travelers and goods

The Pajares Variant is one of the most versatile railway lines in Spain, as it will be used by passenger and freight trains.

One of its two tracks (track I, east tunnel) is of mixed width or ‘three threads’, which allows the passage of trains in Iberian width and standard for high speed, and the other (track II, west tunnel) of conventional width on polyvalent sleeper (allows converting it to standard width). In addition, it has a switcher in Campomanes so that the trains combine the different track gauges and two Overtaking and Train Parking Stations (PAET) in Campomanes and La Robla.

Respect and integration in the environment

The design, planning and construction of the Pajares Variant has been aligned with the respect and integration of the infrastructure in the natural environment, with measures and actions such as the following:

• Collaboration with the Brown Bear Foundation for its protection and monitoring and control of conservation measures and protection of its natural habitat.
• Protection of the Huerna River and Bernesga, based on the parameters of the North Hydrographic Confederation and the Douro, respectively.
• Environmental restorations with the planting of native trees and plants, including hazelnuts, chestnuts, oaks, poplars, sauces acebos and cherry trees.
• Restoration in the docks of tunnels and tanks of inert waste, such as that of La Cortina.
• Reduction of the passage of trucks and other heavy vehicles with the temporary deployment of conveyor belts, up to 3 km, for the transport of materials and waste.
• Hydrological measures: water purification plants for water quality control and separative drainage network in all tunnels to avoid discharges.

High Speed Leadership

The Asturias connection gives new impetus to the development of a high-speed rail network in Spain, which exceeds 4,000 km and is consolidated as the largest in Europe and second largest in the world.

After an investment of more than 65 billion euros in the last three decades, the high speed in Spain connects more than half a hundred cities in thirty provinces.

The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility advances, through Adif, in the deployment of high speed in more territories of the Spanish geography with a portfolio of works in progress worth 9 billion euros. Thus, the development of the lines to Cantabria, the Basque Country and Navarre is promoted, which will link Murcia and Almería, and the new phases of the development of the corridor to Extremadura; most of them framed in the trans-European Atlantic and Mediterranean corridors.

European funding

The project was supported by significant funding from EU cohesion policy funds. In the 2000-2006 and 2007-2013 funding periods, more than EUR 518 million have been mobilised from the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund for the construction works of the Pajares tunnel, including also some subsections.

The project has also received funding of EUR 121.6 million from the European Recovery and Resilience Facility (MRR) for additional infrastructure, such as acoustic equipment and safety facilities, and an additional contribution of EUR 3.2 million from the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).