Underground work on the city of Murcia’s arterial railway

The project will move the over 5 km separating the vicinities of Nonduermas from the Murcia Station Carmen under the current route, connecting them with UIC-width tracks and making them continuous through the rail corridor to Cartagena.

The contract covers the Underground Construction of Nonduermas and the Underground Construction of the Station and Barriomar, with the object being making the current rail corridor suitable for implementing High Speed services, compatible with other types of traffic. 

Underground work on Nonduermas 

With a work timeline of 27 months, the projected route is 2,503 ml long, with a platform for a two-way high-speed rail.  This includes laying two tracks, one of UIC width and the other of a multipurpose width. 

Underground work on the Station and Barriomar 

The route has a length of 2,830 ml, all underground, with the work timeline being 36 months. This includes building a new Station that will service the new underground rails and is located on the on covering slab of the cut-and-cover tunnel. 

It accounts for carrying out an intermediate phase that will enable the underground arrival of the AVE to the  station located 8 m below ground, as soon as the rest of the underground work is done.

This stretch is connected to the PHASE 0 construction work that ALDESA is carrying out, which will, upon going into service, be the origin point for fulfilling the project’s first milestone, the intermediate phase at 15 months, establishing the partial underground work on the rail yard that will enable putting long-distance trains and vicinities connected by the east side into service. 

Below are the diagrams for the rail yards at Murcia’s Carmen Station at different phases (the initial stage, an intermediate point at 15 months, and the final stage), according to the construction project.