Madrid Transport Network, Spain

The city of Madrid is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, 646m above sea level with five million inhabitants. The city is the centre of business in the Castilian area; it is the home of the Spanish Parliament, Public Administration and the Spanish royal family. The City has an extensive and efficient public transport system, which is based around 12 underground lines, 170 bus routes operated by Empress Municipal de Transportes (EMT) and eight suburban railway lines running from the city centre. The public transport system is administered by the Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid (Madrid Regional Transport Consortium) (CRTM), which was set up in 1985 to plan public transport infrastructure, transport services, create an integrated fare system across the network and project a global image of Madrid's public transport system. The CRTM has succeeded in the last of these objectives as the city hosted three international public transport conferences in 2003. These were The UITP (International Union of Public Transport) 55th World Congress, Mobility and City Transport Exhibition 2003 (both of these ran concurrently 5 May to 8 May 2003) and the 10th ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) World Congress (17 November 2003). The city of Madrid has had several projects coming to fruition in 2003 involving the metro, mainline rail and toll motorway.

MADRID METRO PROJECTS

The Madrid metro first opened in 1919 and since then has undergone extensive modernisation and extension. In the last eight years over 111km of new lines have been added including 63 stations, which may be accessed by elevator. The total network consists of 228km and has 161 stations.

METROSUR PROJECT

The newest line of the Madrid metro is Line 12 or the MetroSur (Metro south) which was opened on 11 April 2003. The fully underground line is a 40.5km long circle line, having 28 stations situated to serve five municipalities in the southern area of Madrid (Alcorcon, Mostoles, Fuenlabrada, Getafe and Leganes). These areas have a total population of around 820,000. The population density of these areas means that over two-thirds of the inhabitants are within 0.5km of a station of the new line. Six of the new stations have connectivity with the regional commuter rail network operated by Cercanias (a subsidiary of RENFE). In addition to the 28 stations already constructed there are three that are prepared to be built at a later date when required.

One of the stations Puerta del Sur forms a connection between MetroSur and Line 10 to serve the city centre and the business district. The MetroSur was planned as a part of the second planning initiative of the underground network 2000-2003 by the CRTM. The cost of construction for the line was €1.6 billion, which included rolling stock and full construction work. The construction started in April 2000, was completed within three years and during the first year of service 140,000 passengers are expected to make use of the line. The new line runs 37 new trainsets; these are the 8000-series Vdc built by CAF and Alstom. The trains are made up of three cars at the moment with free movement between carriages. As the passenger numbers rise the number of cars in a train can be increased; platform lengths have been constructed to allow for longer trains.

METROSUR CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY

The EPB tunnel is being excavated in a 9.38m circular section with a reinforced concrete lining of 8.43m internal diameter rings, each formed by seven curved elements, 0.32m thick. The space between the concrete rings and the excavation is injected with cement grout. The geotechnical study carried out for this first sector defined the ground as typical Madrid subsoil, with sands and clay sands. The tunnelling work is made more difficult under these conditions.

LINE 10 EXTENSION TO SERVE METROSUR

The MetroSur is to be connected to the rest of the metro system by an extension of Line 10 from Casa de Campo (a new station built between Batán and Campamento) to Puerta del Sur in the Alcorcón region on the MetroSur ring line. The Line10 extension is 8.2km long and includes three intermediate stations; one of these, Cuatro Vientosal, allows transfer to the RENFE operated C-5 line. In the future, two more stations may be built between Colonia Jardín and Cuatro Vientos.

To increase capacities on Line 10 and to use a large profile rolling stock (2,800mm wide and 110m long), sections of the existing suburban line had to undergo widening (the section from Batán to Alonso Martínez). The section was closed during July 2000 to April 2001. The underground stations of Alonso Martínez, Tribunal and Plaza de España had their platforms lengthened by 20m and in all of the affected stations the redundant central platform was demolished. Following some months of disruption along the whole of Line 10, the extension to Colonia Jardín was finally completed on 22 October 2002. Line 5 now serves the remaining stretch between Aluche and Casa de Campo and it terminates conveniently between the Line 10 platforms allowing easy passenger transfer.

FURTHER METRO PROJECTS (2003 - 2007)

Municipal and regional elections were held in May 2003 in Madrid and many feared this would hold up funding for the continuing expansion of the metro system. This was not the case. In summer 2003 the construction of a new north-south Cercanias tunnel was started, running between Chamartin and Atocha via Nuevos Ministerios. Two new stations are planned on this section; one will be at Puerta del Sol/Gran Via and the other at Alonso Martinez. The tunnel itself is scheduled to open in 2007. The Alonso Martinez station will open a few months after the tunnel is completed. The work will also cause a little disruption as it requires the closure of Gran Via Metro station on Lines 1 and 5 for a period of 30 months. During this time trains will still be able to pass through the station but passengers will not be allowed to disembark. A final small project is the platform extension work due to be carried out on the small profile Line 3. The platforms will be extended from the current 60m to 90m in order to allow the use of six-car trains.

ORBITAL MOTORWAY AND MOTORWAY TOLL PROJECTS IN MADRID

During 2003 the European Investment Bank (EIB) sanctioned funds for two extensive projects to enhance the motorway network surrounding Madrid. The first of these in early 2003 was a loan of €360 million to a Cintra-led company to build 96km of motorways serving Madrid. The project will comprise two linked segments: a 50km toll road (the R-4 motorway) and a 46km section of the Madrid orbital motorway (the M-50). The concession for the toll of the R-4 is for 65 years on a Build - Operate - Transfer (BOT) basis; another condition of the deal being that the M-50 section must be fully operating before the concession starts. The paving of the M-50 and the R-4 is to be carried out by Ferrovial. The second project involves a loan of €300 million, again from the EIB, to construct the R-3 and R-5 motorways around Madrid as well as a western section of the M-50. The project is part of the Ministry of Public Works' strategy for enhancing the capacity of the Spanish motorway network. A 50-year concession to build, operate and transfer the R-3 and R-5 was awarded to Accesos de Madrid, Concesioaria Espanola SA (AMESCA) in 1999. The new loan will finance the construction of 33km of a new two- and three-lane toll motorway between the M-40 and Arganda del Rey (R-3). A 28.9km two- and three-lane motorway between the M-40 and Navalcarnero (R-5) and a 29.3km section of the M-50 will remain entirely in Government hands and have no tolls. The R-2, a 65km section of toll-operated motorway linking the Madrid M-40 with Guadalajara, was opened in October 2002 and cost €411 million.