NIEUWS, NIEUWTJES & OFFERTES; NOVELTIES

The 'Alcazaba' tunnelling machina has completed the perforation of the second Sorbas tunnel tube on the Sorbas-Barranco de los Gafarillos stretch of the Almería-Murcia Region high-speed rail link, pushing through at the southern opening.

The two-tube tunnel is approximately 7.5 kilometres long, and makes up 98.7 per cent of this stretch of the line. It is in fact the second longest railway tunnel in Andalucía, exceeded only by the Abdalajís tunnel in Málaga.

The Sorbas-Barranco de los Gafarillos stretch is 7.6 kilometres long altogether. Around 87 per cent of the works on this part of line, which have a budget of 251.3 million euros, have now been carried out.

The tunnelling machine finished the first tube at the southern opening on 15^th March last year. The machine was then dismantled and moved to the northern opening, where it was reassembled and set to work on boring through the rock for the second tube on 15^th July. These works were completed in six months, two months less than the perforation of the first tube.

The Almería-Murcia high-speed rail link is being constructed by ADIF on behalf of the Public Works Ministry. The line is approximately 184.4 kilometres long, not including accesses to Murcia. Of this, 108 kilometres goes through Almería and the remaining 76.4 kilometres through Murcia.

Also planned are two intermediate stations, in Lorca and Vera-Almanzora, as well as a future station in Almería as part of the city railway integration works.