The Dragados Group’s construction division has been awarded a contract to build the Abdaslajis East Tunnel on the Córdoba-Málaga high-speed rail line in the southern Spanish province of Andalucía. Spain’s National Railway Infrastructure Body, Gestor de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (GIF) made the award as part of a contract worth US$106M.
Dragados will undertake the construction as part of a temporary JV with International Tunnelling Services, an Austrian/Italian JV company.
The 7.5km Abdaslajis Tunnel is the longest on the new line. It will consist of two, twin-bored tubes, linked by cross-passages every 350m-400m. The East Tunnel originally had a budget of US$114M, while the West Tunnel was allocated US$119.4M.
Each bore will carry a single standard gauge railway track, with overhead electrification. This requires the diameter of the tunnels to be 8.5m in the central area and 9.06m at the extremes.
The entire high-speed line is 155km in length, although the last third, between Bobadilla and Málaga, will require the construction of no less than 20km of tunnel. Of note is the 3.4km Abdalajís-Alora Tunnel, costed at US$35.4M and the 2.2km Gobantes Tunnel, for which the same cost has been allocated.
Construction contracts associated with the line have to first be cleared by the government before going out to tender. This is because funding is being provided by the state. Prior to Christmas, the sections linking Bobadilla station and the North Portal of the Gobantes Tunnel, as well as the abovementioned Abdaslajis-Alora section, were approved.
