ON behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, high-speed infrastructure manager Adif AV has awarded a joint venture of Dragados, Tesca, San José and Puentes y Calzadas a €451.6m contract to build a new underground high-speed station at Madrid Atocha.
The new through station will be connected to the 1435mm-gauge tunnel between Atocha and Chamartín that opened on July 1 2022, and will enable high-speed trains to call at both stations in Madrid.
The ministry says that this will fully interconnect high-speed lines running from Chamartín to destinations in the north of Spain with those from Atocha to Barcelona, as well as Valencia, Málaga, Seville and other cities south of the capital.
The underground station was originally approved in 2008 but was shelved in 2012 due to Spain’s economic crisis.
The new station forms part of Phase 2 of Adif’s rebuilding programme at Madrid Atocha, which aims to maximise the use of existing facilities for handling high-speed passengers.
A new entrance will be built on the western side of Atocha station. Photo Credit: Adif AV
The new underground station will be on six different levels. Level 600 at the bottom will have two island platforms and four tracks. They will be connected by stairs, escalators and lifts to Level 607 above where there will be two boarding areas, one at each end of the platforms.
Level 611 will feature a new concourse and street entrance from Calle Méndez Álvaro on the western side of the Atocha station complex. It will feature a taxi rank and a passenger drop-off and collection area that is expected to reduce road traffic to and from the existing entrance on the eastern side.
Access to the existing departure concourse at Atocha will be provided at the northern end of Level 624. The northern part of Atocha will be remodelled to provide more space and improve existing facilities.
Although construction of the new underground station will be a highly complex task, the ministry says that trains will continue to run while work is in progress.
The design of the new station features a large central opening which will enable daylight to reach as far down as platform level, as well as new façade on Calle Méndez Álvaro.
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