- Participation: ACCIONA has participated in a total of five projects for this railway, including the construction of the Pajares tunnels
- Innovation: The tunnels’ waterproofing with a cladding system based on composite materials has received international awards
Today, the King of Spain, Felipe VI, presided over the inauguration ceremony of the Pajares Bypass of the Madrid-Asturias High-Speed Railway. ACCIONA participated in the construction of the new line, specifically in the development of over 40 kilometers of the La Robla-Pola de Lena section.
The inauguration ceremony was also attended by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, as well as various regional authorities from Castilla y León and Asturias. ACCIONA was represented by Roberto Carballo, director of the Railway Affairs division in the Construction business. As part of the ceremony, the attendees took a train ride from Chamartín-Clara Campoamor station to Oviedo station, where the institutional ceremony took place.
ACCIONA participated, in consortia with various partners, in the execution of a total of five projects in the aforementioned section. The construction (excavation, cladding and interior civil works), waterproofing and track assembly of the Pajares tunnels were particular highlights from a technical perspective. Acciona also worked on the Pontones tunnels and the construction of a railway platform in the Sotiello-Campomanes and Pajares-Sotiello sections. To carry out these works, ACCIONA used four hard rock tunnel-boring machines, as well as conventional excavation equipment.
INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
The waterproofing of the Pajares tunnels, the central element of the Bypass, stands out among the various works carried out by ACCIONA on this railway.
To carry out the waterproofing of the 24-kilometer twin-tube tunnel, ACCIONA used an innovative cladding system based on composite materials (specifically, fiberglass-reinforced polymer resin), designed and manufactured in collaboration with the company’s own R&D department.
In 2017, ACCIONA received the prestigious JEC Innovation Award for this pioneering solution that guarantees easy infrastructure maintenance, high resistance to corrosion and a significant reduction in CO2 emissions.