Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (Adif) has awarded the contract for the construction of the Sorbas/Barranco de los Gafarillos section of the Murcia/Almería line of the High-Speed Mediterranean Corridor to FCC in a joint venture with SANDO. The contract is worth 251.3 million euro.

The project, which has got a 48-month completion period, will involve the construction of a 7.6-kilometre-long section starting next to the town of La Herrería and ending just before crossing Los Gafarillos ravine in the province of Almería.

The route has been designed for an international-gauge double high-speed track and for the possibility of running mixed traffic.

The project covers the necessary activities for building the infrastructure, such as earthworks, drainage works, tunnelling, service replacement and easements, plus the construction of cross connections to ensure the line's back-up connections.

Special features
One of the special features of the Sorbas/Barranco de los Gafarillos section is the 7.5-kilometre-long Sorbas Tunnel, which runs under the Sierra Cabrera-Bédar Site of Community Interest.

This tunnel is made up of two one-way tubes, each having a free cross-section of 52 m2. The project calls for 5.9 kilometres of the tubes' length to be bored out, while 1.6 kilometres will be built using conventional methods. The tubes will be connected to one another by cross tunnels every 400 metres.

Murcia/Almería high-speed line
The construction of the Murcia/Almería high-speed line is included in the Railway System of General Interest, and the Ministry of Development's 2005-2020 Strategic Infrastructure and Transport Plan calls for the line to be adapted for use as a high-performance line.

The Murcia/Almería high-speed line is approximately 186.1 kilometres long. Of that length, 103.2 kilometres lie in the province of Almería, and the remaining 82.9 kilometres lie in the Autonomous Community of Murcia.

Joint funding for this project is anticipated to come from the European Regional Development Fund through the 2007-2013 Cohesion Fund-ERDF Operational Programme.