Óscar Puente ratifies its commitment to the surface integration of the railway in Valladolid as the viable solution

• The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility highlights the importance of expanding and refurbishing the Valladolid train station, whose works will begin in 2025. • The head of the Department has defended that the subsidy is an “entelechy” and has conditioned the continuity of the Valladolid High Speed Society to continue with the actions already underway. • The integration project currently underway ensures maximum city permeability, putting pedestrians and bicycles at the centre, and will be completed in 2030 after an investment of 1.5 billion euros. • The performance allows greater capacity, reliability and safety in the railway operation and provides flexibility to the system in the face of future service extensions. • According to Adif’s technical report, the option of grounding involves starting the project from scratch, uncertainty in execution, problems in providing services, 19 years of actions and at least 2,765 million euros of investment.

February 23, 2024.- The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has today ratified his commitment to the integration of the railway in Valladolid, a project that is already transforming the city in the environment of the railway tracks by improving permeability, promoting sustainable mobility and betting on green areas, putting pedestrian and bicycle in the center.

In this sense, the minister has defended that the current surface integration is the most realistic option, being more viable from the technical and financial point of view, while the option of basement is an “entelechy”.

“The grounding is unrealistic and generates many uncertainties, while the project that is already underway has all the certainty in the world. There are only two viable alternatives. Or the integration on the surface or the dissolution and liquidation of the Valladolid Society at High speed. The third one does not exist. The basement is an entelechy that has no technical or economic basis”, said Óscar Puente after the presentation to the public of the different alternatives to integrate the train in Valladolid that Adif has made.

In this context, the minister stressed the importance of advancing the expansion and remodeling of the Valladolid Campo Grande station in order to adapt the railway service to the needs of the city. An action included in the surface integration project and whose works will be ready to start in the fourth quarter of 2025. Not in vain, Adif plans to have the construction project approved in December 2024 and to tender it in the first months of next year.

The renovation of the train station includes the construction of a new building on the platforms, which will connect both sides of the city with a modern and functional image, and the expansion of the road beach, which will allow to enhance the capacity of the station and the versatility of its services.

The building, which will be built next to the historic building, will have a raised street attached for pedestrians and cyclists, which will connect with the future bus terminal. To access the pedestrian connection you will have mechanical stairs and ramps, while the square of the new station will have an accessible and safe design, vegetation and shaded areas.

The project, which has an estimated budget of 170 million euros, includes the construction of an underground car park with between 675 and 700 spaces and the rehabilitation of the old building to provide it with new spaces and functionalities.

Viable and efficient project

The transformation of the station is a fundamental performance of the surface integration of the railway in Valladolid. A project that has been valued by Adif as the most suitable, efficient and technically viable. Thus, the minister has defended the continuity of the actions to guarantee the transformation of the city and contribute to improving its mobility, while ensuring the capacity for growth of the railway service to meet future demands.

In this sense, surface or ‘soft’ integration offers certainty in its execution, since it already has drafted projects and works executed or in execution and tendered and does not require environmental processing. Thus, the works, which are committed to returning the space to the pedestrian and forming a linear park parallel to the road formed by vegetation, living areas, walks and bike lanes, are expected to be completed in about five or six years, that is, in 2030.

Also, in the downtown area, it is planned to cover the road of the Paseo del Arco de Ladrillo so that the vehicles circulate below the train tracks, eliminating the viaduct and transforming the street while gaining safety and accessibility. The high-altitude road of Zamora Avenue will also be eliminated, connecting the traffic with a large roundabout surrounded by green areas, and a new lower pass will be created on Licenciado Bellogin Street, following the example of Bakers and Labradores Street.

The total cost of the intervention, which has 17 transversal permeabilization actions, totals 1.5 billion euros (VAT included). Thus, the global budget includes:

• Construction of the Eastern Variant for the passage of goods
• Pinar de Antequera Underground
• New Outdoor Railway Complex
• Integrated channel
• New station on tracks
• Development of the liberated land
• New bus station

Only the integration actions represent 350 million euros of investment (VAT included).

In addition, among the advantages of promoting surface integration, it highlights that the execution of the actions is compatible with the railway operation, which allows a flexibility of the system in the face of future enlargements, lower maintenance and operation costs and greater safety by allowing to apply conventional solutions for the evacuation of passengers.

Grounding

For its part, Adif’s technical study discourages the option of subverting the train tracks as they pass through the city due to the uncertainties generated by the long processing, drafting, execution and commissioning periods, due to the impact on mobility derived from the complex urban temporary situations during the works, the limitations of the future infrastructure to absorb or adapt to future service demands and the high costs.

Adif has estimated 1.57 billion euros (including VAT) in the budget to carry out the urban landfill over almost six kilometers, compared to the 795 million euros estimated in the solution of the basic project of 2007. The cost rises to 2,765 million euros (with VAT) with the global operation.

• Construction of the Eastern Variant for passing goods
• Pinar de Antequera Underground
• New Outdoor Railway Complex
• Underground Canal
• New underground station
• Urbanization railway strip
• Development of the liberated land
• New bus station
• Financing costs

A budget that involves a strong financial effort by the City of Valladolid, the Junta de Castilla y León and the Ministry.

The railway manager points out that the basic project of 2007 cannot be used and would start from scratch the approach of the action with a new solution, so it would take more than eight years to see the first works, provided that the new informative study obtained the Favourable Environmental Impact Statement (DIA). Thus, if it could be executed, the grounding would not be completed until about 19 years from now.

Not in vain, the original project contemplated to submerge two tracks of international width, which limits the provision of services in Iberian width, such as proximity services or the circulation of conventional medium and long distance trains.

In this sense, Adif points out that it is not enough to build two tracks, even if tracks were arranged in mixed width, due to questions of capacity and reliability on a backbone of the high-speed network that connects the center with the northern peninsular, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country and France, with an increasing demand after the railway liberalization. Therefore, it is proposed as a solution to subdue at least three roads, one of them in Iberian width.

For this option, an excavation with a large tunnel boring machine is required, since the necessary section is 16.3 meters (210 m2), greater than that of the tunnels of the M-30 in Madrid or the Saint Lucia tunnel in Italy. In addition to the type of floor, this alternative faces a series of difficulties, such as lack of space for tunnelling operations, prolonged affections to residential buildings, prolonged cut of access to garages and affection to the road of the city, as well as the need to prolong the underground section to the south and north.

In this sense, on the north side, the lower New Year’s Eve pass is incompatible with an entrance ramp with three tracks due to lack of space. In addition, it would take about two years to build the tunnel boring machine, which requires an investment of 105 million euros, and three million m3 of land would have to be excavated.

For its part, a solution with 4 ways would involve deploying an infrastructure in bitubo, which requires executing a corridor of 36 m wide, with sections of 12 m in diameter, with the overwidths of works and screens (42 m) in the accesses to the station. And here one of the main difficulties is pointed out because at the height of the Stone Arch there is only a margin for 32 m wide.

Among the drawbacks of the grounding option, it stands out:

• Effect on permeability
• Prolonged cutting of the railway service during works in the area of the station
• Necessary demolition of the underground passages of Labradores and Bakers
• Complex temporary situations and long rail detours in the construction phase
• Affection to buildings
• Affection to affected services in an urban environment (nine months of cutting)
• Interruption of groundwater flow
• Occupation of more than 250 hectares of land during the works
• Rigidity of the solution. It makes future enlargements impossible.
• Reduced capacity intrinsic to the basement in the beach of roads of the season.
• underground station with platforms without natural lighting, poorer air quality and ambience
• Great complexity evacuation of travelers
• Extreme difficulties fire fighting, and
• Increased maintenance/operating costs.