Plans have been announced by the newly elected Regional Government of Madrid for a 53km underground extension to the Madrid Metro (T&T International, Madrid Supplement, Mar ’99). Realisation of the plans will see the construction of a 39km underground circle line to the south of Madrid, called MetroSur, an 8km extension of Line 10 connecting MetroSur to the existing system and a 6km extension of line 8 from Mar de Cristal Station to Nuevos Ministerios, completing the city’s airport link.
Construction of the first stage of the scheme, entitled ‘Madrid MetroSur Extension 1999-2000’ is scheduled to start in February 2000. The MetroSur will be split into 15 contracts, 12 in MetroSur itself and three joining MetroSur with Line10. All tunnels will be single-bore, twin- track designs and will be built by five 9.5m diameter EPB machines.
A new 9.5m diameter EPB machine is to be ordered soon. This will join the two Mitsubishi–NFM machines and two Herrenknechts used on the recent Metro extension to make the large diameter EPB machine fleet up to five. The final 3.5km of Line 10 (heading south) will be the only part constructed by two smaller EPBMs.
The twin bore, single track section will be built using a Lovat 7.4m diameter EPB machine and a Herrenknecht 6.5m diameter EPB machine, also used on previous construction phase of the Madrid Metro. The MetroSur is scheduled for commissioning at Christmas 2002 at a cost of $1.4bn.
The second project comprises connection of the new Line 8 from Barajas Airport to downtown Madrid, the line between Nuevos Ministerios and Mar de Cristal. The 6km all underground extension will be constructed using two EPB machines at a cost of $205m. Construction is scheduled to begin in November 1999 and it is hoped to commission the project in October 2002.
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