The tunnel boring machine building the La Cabrera tunnel in the Siete Aguas- Buñol section in Valencia completed 80 metres of progress on 25 November, 50 ring each of 1.6 metres - a world record. The project consists of two parallel the single-track tunnels 7,157 metres long.

The work forms part of an 11.2 km section of the Madrid - Castile La Mancha - Valencia region - Murcia region high speed line and runs entirely in the province of Valencia, crossing the municipalities of Siete Aguas and Buñol. The work was adjudicated by ADIF to an FCC-Sando temporary joint venture.

The project uses a double shield Herrenknecht AG tunnel boring machine measuring 200 m long and weighing 2,400 tonnes which simultaneously excavates and places the tunnel lining rings. The work will finish in December 2009, four months earlier than planned.

The section starts 2.6 km south east of the centre of Siete Aguas and runs west - east, ending to the north west of Buñol. It includes two viaducts and three tunnels built using various methods depending on the ground's geological properties.

The viaducts are the Hondo de Messegar viaduct, 224 m long, with six spans of 32 + 4 x 40 + 32 m and the Rambla del Gallo viaduct, 50 m, with two spans of 25 m. The former is built with a post-stressed deck with single cell box section 14 m wide and a constant depth of 2.70 m; the maximum height of the hollow 2.5 x 5 m rectangular cross section pillars is 23.7 m. The second viaduct consists of a post-stressed concrete deck 18 m wide on top and 10.90 m wide below with two 2.95 m overhangs and with a constant depth of 2 m, supported on a 10.9 m high pillar formed by two 1.50 m square section shanks.

The three tunnels are the Siete Aguas artificial tunnel, 424 m long, the La Cabrera tunnel 7,157 m long and the Buñol mine tunnel, 1,391 m long. The last two also include false tunnel sections at their mouths, 98 and 11 m long for the La Cabrera tunnel and 14 and 453 m for the Buñol tunnel.