The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has today confirmed his commitment to modernization and the generation of opportunities in Extremadura, where investments in infrastructure have been multiplied by four and tendering projects tripled in the last five years, thus reversing the situation of abandonment that the community was dragging on.
“Extremadura has suffered years of unjustifiable divestment. We have reversed that situation and we are committed to moving forward. We make decisions, invest and unblock actions”, explained Óscar Puente after meeting today with the president of the Junta de Extremadura, María Guardiola, and before visiting the works of the baipás of Mérida.
Not in vain, compared to the 96 million euros that were invested in the region in 2016, this Government executed actions for more than 430 million euros in 2022.
The minister took advantage of the meeting to present the Investment Agenda of the Ministry of Transport in the region, which is committed to modernity and sustainability, and which this year has more than 600 million euros of work already underway to continue promoting rail connections and the road network. “We are not talking about future plans or documents, we are talking about a real and tangible agenda that is already under construction,” said Óscar Puente.
Railway
Of the EUR 600 million in projects that are already under way or will be under way this year, around EUR 400 million are for railway operations and the rest for investments in the road network.
Specifically, in the railway field, work is being done on several sections of the platform between Talayuela and Plasencia, on the completion of the Mérida bypass and on the deployment of the ERTMS signaling and safety system on the entire high-speed line Plasencia-Badajoz, which was launched in 2022 in a first phase after an investment of 1.7 billion and at the end of the year its electrification was completed.
In this sense, in just over a year it is expected to have the ERTMS implemented and to have finished the baipás of Mérida, two performances that will allow improvements of travel times of up to 15 minutes, so in 2025 Madrid and Badajoz will be connected in 4 hours by train. Thus, as announced by the minister, in the second quarter of this year the ERTMS tests will begin in this stretch.
As for the Talayuela–Plasencia line, the works advance at cruising speed with all sections of the platform under construction or completed. Half of the investment (about 690 million euros) is already executed and it is expected to close the year with about 70% of the completed tranches. In 2018, most of the sections were still in the project phase.
For example, Adif is carrying out the excavation of the Dehesa del Terzuelo tunnel (1.5 km), one of the longest on the Talayuela–Plasencia route.
For its part, the track assembly project is already in tender, the supply of materials of some sections has been awarded and the platform works of the Madrid-Plasencia connection branch have just been awarded.
It also addresses the last stage of the work of renovation of tracks, platforms and other elements of the stations of Mérida, Aljucén and Cáceres, after concluding them at the station of Badajoz, and has just approved the project of duplication of the track between Mérida and Aljucén, so the works will be tendered. The project is part of the actions to be developed in order to give continuity to the implementation of the Madrid-Extremadura high-speed line.
Thus, the Ministry continues to advance in the construction of the line towards Madrid and, as Óscar Puente has said, “soon we will have advances in the part of Castilla-La Mancha”. In this sense, the informative study for the environmental assessment of the Madrid-Oropesa stretch is already in the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge for its environmental processing.
As for the solutions of the passage through Toledo and Talavera, work is being done with both municipalities and the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha to develop the best solution to integrate the railway in the city. “We hope to unblock the situation of the passage through Toledo very soon,” said the minister.
For his part, regarding the improvement of the railway service, the minister has confirmed that in summer the current Intercity will be replaced by an Alvia service with material S/730 in the connection with Madrid.
Beyond high speed, the Ministry, through Adif, is also making investments in the conventional wide network. For example, since July 1, 2023, works of track renovation and infrastructure improvement are being carried out on the Zafra-Huelva line.
Roads
In Extremadura, works are underway for approximately 200 million euros to promote the development of roads, improve road safety and enhance sustainable mobility and accessibility to pedestrians and cyclists. In particular, the Zafra variant, the Malpartida variant, the Cabezuela del Valle bridge, the first stretch of the Caceres–Badajoz motorway (just over 13 kilometers between the A-66 and the Ayuela River), and the southern access to Badajoz are being implemented, in addition to conservation actions.
“There have never been so many road works in this Community and, in addition, we have a wide portfolio of studies and projects to continue articulating the road network,” said the minister.
The Government’s commitment to the State road network in Extremadura is clear because, thanks to its management, it has gone from being in line to leading the bidding rankings on roads. Between June 2018 and December 2023, around 400 million euros have been litigated in actions, which means multiplying the previous government’s bid figures by 2.5.
Thus, it is well above the average in terms of tenders per inhabitant, with 365 euros per inhabitant compared to 200 euros of the national average and in terms of the Recovery Plan, it occupies the third place in greater investment of the State Road Network.
Infrastructure Compact
The minister has assured that the Government’s objective is to continue advancing and strengthening Extremadura’s infrastructures to enhance social and territorial cohesion, including completing as soon as possible the high-speed line between Extremadura and Madrid and continuing to work on connections with Portugal.
This objective is to be achieved in coordination with the government of the Community. Thus, the minister has proposed to María Guardiola to create a Pact for the infrastructures in Extremadura, going a step beyond the idea of recovering the Pact for the railway. “It will be a space to share everything we are doing here, for transparency and sustainable mobility and opportunities for everyone,” said the head of the Department of Transportation.
Visit baipás of Mérida
After his meeting with the president of the Junta de Extremadura, the minister visited the works of the baipás of Mérida. The 31.2 km infrastructure, in Iberian width, has 14.2 km in a single track and 17 km in a double track. The new infrastructure has three track devices (detours), which allow a speed of 300 km/h and 100 km/h.
Once the track assembly is completed, Adif AV works on the installation of the catenary, with high-speed parameters; and will continue with the connections to the service tracks, which will be carried out in coordination with the energy and control, command and signaling (CMS) subsystems.