Cordoba-Malaga line

High-speed rail reaches Costa del Sol

Title

The Cordoba-Malaga high-speed line constituted the first high-speed connection between the Mediterranean Corridor and Spain's inland areas.

It is part of the Andalusia Corridor, which will connect through the Madrid-Córdoba-Seville line with Málaga, Jaén, Granada, Cádiz and Huelva. This line has a total length of 155 kilometers (from the link with the Seville-Madrid high-speed line in the Cordoban town of Almodóvar del Río, to Malaga city). The construction of the line was divided into 22 sections, with a total budget of 2,100 million euros.

European Funding


Information on the funding and financing received by Adif from different European Union (EU) funds and programmes:
" A way to make Europe”

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European Investment Bank (EIB)
The European Investment Bank (EIB) collaborates in the funding of this project. 

Current situation

This line belongs to the Southern Corridor, which is part of the liberalisation process of the railway sector that Adif and Adif High Speed have undertaken and, therefore, of the offers presented by these new companies, which will begin soon, in accordance with the provisions of the framework agreements on the operation of commuter trains.

Background

Quality service

The line was planned in 1999, as part of the New Railway Access to Andalusia(NAFA, as per its acronym in Spanish) and was put into service in two phases. The first 100 kilometers, between Córdoba and Antequera-Santa Ana, entered into service on December 16, 2006. At that time, two stations with avant-garde designs were inaugurated:Puente Genil-Herrera and Antequera-Santa Ana.On 23 December 2007 the line was completed as far as the new Málaga Vialia María Zambrano station, an impressive railway and leisure complex located in the city centre, on the same location as the previous station.

The line has a total length of 155 kilometres of double track, it is exclusively intended for passenger traffic, and it is designed for a maximum speed of 350 kilometres per hour.Almodóvar del Rio (Cordoba) is the start of the branch of the Madrid-Seville line that goes as far as Málaga. This route shortens the rail distance between these two cities in Andalusia by 25 kilometres.

Regarding journey times, the fastest service between Madrid and Malaga takes 2 hours and 20 minutes. The benefits brought by this line have also been extended to the Algeciras and Granada rail services.

At the end of May 2013, the number of travellers having used this infrastructure reached ten million. At that time, 86% of people travelling between Madrid and Malaga did so by high-speed rail, compared to 14% by plane.In 2007, 72% travelled by plane and 28% by train.

Main infrastructures

Title
The route of the conventional line, from the nineteenth century, followed the natural course of the Guadalhorce river. It had bridges and tunnels alongside the steep wall of the Gaitanes de Bobadilla gorge. The high-speed track runs east of this route, reaching Malaga from the plains of Córdoba, through the Abdalajís valley and the Huma mountains. Fifteen viaducts and eight tunnels were built for this route.

In Antequera there is a Regulation and Control Center, a maintenance base and two gauge changers that allow the transition of the railway service between the high-speed line and the different conventional-gauge lines.
The arrival of high-speed rail meant a new urban configuration for Málaga. Building underground railway tracks allowed the integration of the railway into the city. This work required a significant effort in engineering and urban planning, as it had to be carried out without interrupting usual rail traffic. The underground corridor comprises two adjacent, parallel tunnels that are 1,932 metres long. One is for two UIC-gauge tracks and the other is for two Iberian-gauge tracks.
Infrastructure characteristics
155
km
length
15
Viaducts
The longest tunnel is 1,390 metres long.
8
Tunnels
Total length: 19 kilometers
The longest tunnel is more than 7 km long.
4
Stations
passengers: Córdoba, Puente Genil - Herrera, Antequera - Santa Ana and Vialia Málaga María Zambrano
Stations