The Under-Secretary State for Public Works, Jesús Miranda Hita, the chairmen of ADIF, Antonio González Marín, and FCC Construcción, José Mayor Oreja, and the company's CEO, Avelino Acero Díaz, attended the start of digging work on tunnel I at Sorbas on the Sorbas-Barranco de los Gafarillos stretch of the Almería-Murcia high speed rail line of the Mediterranean Corridor.

Digging work began in July last year with the excavation of tunnel II, completed in March 2011, continuing in a north-south direction with the perforation of tunnel I by the Alcazaba boring machine. The Sorbas-Barranco de los Garafillos stretch of the line runs through the municipality of Sorbas and is 7.5 km in length.

When excavations are completed and the tunnel is lined, it will be equipped for railway use with the construction of platforms, sidewalks and kerbs, and lining of the galleries connecting to the two tunnels.

The Sorbas tunnel

The tunnel consists of two parallel tubes with a length of 7,528 m and 7,536, each with a single track. Different excavation methods have been used, given the varied nature of the ground. The greater part of the tubes will be dug by boring machines and the rest employing the New Austrian Method, which uses blasting and other mechanical methods. Upon completion of the two tubes, the Sorbas tunnel will be the longest in Andalusia, and its construction will help mitigate the environmental impact of the railway in its passage through the Sierra Cabrera-Bédar stretch.

Almería-Murcia High Speed Railway

The High Speed Railway being developed by the Ministry of Public Works is 184.5 km long and will link Almería with Murcia via an international gauge dual track designed to allow maximum speeds of up to 300 km/h. The line will be equipped with the state-of-the-art ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) signalling system and GSM Railway communications systems developed for communications in railway applications. The line is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).