The Government authorizes to tender for 38.4 million euros the works to build the platform of the U of Olmedo

• The Olmedo Baipás is an 8.2 km link between the Madrid-Valladolid and Madrid-Galicia high-speed railway lines, which includes a viaduct over the Adaja River. • This new infrastructure consists of an axis that will facilitate transversal high-speed trips through the northern half of the country without the need to pass through Madrid. • This promotes the cross-cutting nature of the network in our country and its development in mesh, and, with it, cohesion and territorial structuring.

March 5, 2024.- The Council of Ministers has today authorized the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to tender, through Adif AV, the construction of the railway platform of the baipás of Olmedo for 38.4 million euros (VAT not included), in the province of Valladolid.

This new infrastructure, known as the U de Olmedo, consists of an 8.2 km link between the high-speed lines Madrid-Valladolid and Madrid-Galicia, which will have been able to cross high-speed trips through the northern half of the country, without having to pass through Madrid.

Specifically, it will directly connect Galicia with Valladolid and, from this city, with other capitals of Castilla y León, Asturias, Cantabria, Basque Country or Barcelona. Specifically, with today’s approval, the green light is given to build the terrain and structures of this new connection, on which, subsequently, the routes and equipment of electrification, signaling and communications will be built.

For its construction, the ‘V’ that draws the fork of the high-speed line Olmedo-Zamora-Galicia with the Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid will be used: it will depart from the line to Galicia to, after going through the terms of La Zarza, Olmedo and Hornillos de Eresma, link with the line Madrid-Valladolid.

This connection will be made by a straight path with curved ends for its connection with each of the two lines, resembling a U. In its central section, a viaduct of 220 meters in length and 14 meters in height will be built to cross the Adaja River, which also includes a pergola of 56 meters on the CL-602 road.

In the first phase, the baipás will have a single track, although it will be prepared to, in the future, build the second track.

The action is completed with the construction of four upper passages and a lower passage to guarantee the permeability in the area, drains and enclosures.

Promotion of Cross-Sectional and Territorial Vertebration

The U de Olmedo represents a new milestone in the commitment to promote the mesh development of the high-speed network which, with more than 4,000 km in length, is the largest in Europe.

Thus, this connection is added to the infrastructures that the Ministry has in service or under construction to complete the cross-cutting of high speed. In this sense, in July 2022 the tunnel under the center of Madrid (Atocha-Chamartín) was put into operation, which channels the circulation between the northern half of the country and the Levante, without changing trains in Madrid. Likewise, it advances in the connection between the high-speed line Madrid-Barcelona and the one that arrives in Levante, in the surroundings of Getafe (Madrid), which will allow transversal routes to the north from Barcelona and the northeast.

These actions reinforce the structuring and territorial cohesion, through a sustainable means of transport. It also contributes to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 9 (reliable, sustainable and quality infrastructure), 7 (sustainability) and 8 (economic development and job creation).

European funding

This action may be co-financed by the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).