SPAIN’s minister of transport and sustainable mobility, Óscar Puente, has unveiled the AV350 project to raise the maximum speed on the Madrid - Barcelona high-speed line from 300km/h to 350km/h, describing it as a major qualitative leap that will enable Spain to operate the fastest high-speed services in Europe and be matched only by China.
The upgrade is expected to cut the journey time between Madrid and Barcelona from 2h 37min by non-stop train today to under 2 hours on Spain’s busiest high-speed line that carried 14.6 million passengers in 2024. According to Puente, the aim is not only to reduce journey times but also to increase capacity.
A central element of the plan is the phased installation of new aerodynamic sleepers developed by infrastructure manager Adif in collaboration with engineering consultancy Sener. The sleepers are designed to reduce the downforce in the space immediately above the ballast bed by 21%, preventing ballast from coming loose and striking trains at very high speeds.
The new sleepers will enable the maximum operating speed to be increased by 12%, while further aerodynamic refinements, including to the design of the train, will help meet the new target of 350km/h.
Beyond the track upgrades, the plan includes several major infrastructure projects to improve access to both Madrid and Barcelona. In Madrid, new infrastructure will enable high-speed services from Barcelona to access Chamartín station in the north of the city, without passing through the existing tunnel that connects Atocha station with Chamartín.
Also being studied is a new connection between the Madrid - Barcelona and Madrid - Valladolid high-speed lines that would enable services from Barcelona to reach destinations in the north of Spain without passing through Chamartín.
Further options include an intermediate station on the new connection to Chamartín to serve Barajas Airport, and a spur that would enable services from the Madrid - Seville and Madrid - Valencia high-speed lines to reach Chamartín without using the Atocha - Chamartín tunnel.
On the Madrid - Seville line, a new high-speed station could be built at Parla, south of Madrid. This would enable direct services from Andalucía to Catalonia to serve a population of 6 million within a 1-hour journey time to the station.
In Catalonia, the project includes a new line from Lleida to the under-construction La Sagrera station in Barcelona. As well as cutting journey times, this would relieve the congested Camp de Tarragona - Barcelona Sants section of the Madrid - Barcelona high-speed line, where traffic is expected to grow as work is completed on the Mediterranean Corridor that will eventually connect Barcelona with Algeciras.
Releasing capacity between Camp de Tarragona and Barcelona Sants would enable the construction of a new intermediate station to serve Barcelona’s El Prat airport. This element of the project will be studied separately from other new infrastructure, with the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility launching tenders for two feasibility study contracts worth a total of €2.3m.
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