On 3 February last the minister for Development, accompanied by the director-general of Railways, the chairman of Adif, the head of the Galician regional government's Infrastructure Department and a delegation on behalf of the Vigo Council presided over the breakthrough on the right tunnel tube of the Vigo/Das Maceiras section of the High-speed Atlantic Corridor. Also attending the ceremony were FCC Construcción Chairman José Mayor and General Manager Avelino Acero.

With breakthrough on the right-hand tube of the tunnels in the Vigo/Das Maceiras section, tunnel-boring work is now complete. It began on 24 November last with breakthrough on the twin left-hand tube.

Galician High-speed Railway Line's Northern Approach Tunnels

The tunnel section is 8,266 metres long. The tunnels have been bored out by two tunnel-boring machines. There are two separate tubes set 30 metres apart (measured from axis to axis) and joined by side tunnels every 500 metres.

Thanks to the tunnels, there will no longer be any need for the current surface tracks. The tunnels will provide direct access to the future Vigo-Urzáiz intermodal station.

The tunnel runs in a straight line along a southwest/northeast axis, and it begins with a downward slope. The first 387 metres at the Das Maceiras mouth were constructed using a combination of excavation methods. First there was conventional tunnelling, in which workmen shored up the tunnel as they advanced, and then the lower section was bored out by a TBM.