Joanne Oakley
A HUGE number of train tracks and bridges across Spain have been identified as having high risk damage and are in urgent need of repair.
Adif has recorded 270 infrastructure elements in need of repair throughout the Spanish railway network.
These sections are broken down as; 25 bridges, 59 tunnels and 135 embankments used by Renfe and Feve, along with 51 other points of the high-speed network which require preventative action.
Some of the structural damage is deemed to be high risk and therefore requires urgent intervention with work planned over the next three years.
Among the 25 bridges with high risk damage (those defects which may affect the safety of the structure), there are five on the Leon-Gijon section with cracks and even loss of parts.
The improvement of four viaducts on the Cordoba-Malaga line, another on the La Sagra-Toledo branch and the replacement of supports on the viaduct of the Madrid-Valencia on the eastern are also proposed.
To avoid risks, the 135 high-risk embankments scattered throughout Spain have temporarily limited the speed of trains on these sections, with a major impact on traffic.
With regards to the tunnels with the most severe damage, 47 appear on the list with structural problems, such as cracks, leaks and detachments.
An Adif source said: “the dual purpose for improving the state of the infrastructure, is the reliability of the lines and the availability of the service.”
The Ministry of Transport department when revealing the lack of conservation and maintenance of various points of the railway network blamed cuts during the economic crisis.
