Adif begins €345m Algeciras-Zaragoza rail upgrade

SPAIN: Adif has begun €345 million of infrastructure work for the Algeciras-Zaragoza rail upgrade, preparing the corridor to carry road semitrailers on specialized wagons between southern Spain and inland freight hubs.

Rail motorway works cover tunnels, bridges and overpasses

In its 24 July project update, Adif said the new construction programme covers the route between Algeciras and San Fernando de Henares, east of Madrid. The work will alter the loading gauge at 34 tunnels, 104 overpasses and 18 metal bridges so trains can carry road semitrailers between Algeciras, Madrid and Zaragoza.

A rail motorway keeps the semitrailer as the loading unit: specialized wagons carry it over the long-distance rail leg, while road tractors handle collection and delivery. The Algeciras route is intended to serve freight arriving from Morocco by roll-on/roll-off ferry as well as flows originating elsewhere in Andalusia.

On the Bobadilla-Algeciras line, 21 tunnels in Málaga and Cádiz will be widened and the track repositioned on the formation. A further 13 tunnels, together measuring more than 3.5 km, will be modified on the Alcázar de San Juan-Cádiz line. The 1,024 m Andújar tunnel is the longest in this group.

The programme also includes lowering track beds, renewing sleepers, rails and ballast, altering drainage and adjusting overhead contact-line equipment. Near Cañete la Real, Adif will rebuild and stabilize 7 km of railway formation between Almargen and Setenil using mortar piles, rockfill walls and new surface and deep drainage.

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Long closure will reshape passenger and freight operations

The scale of the civil works means rail traffic between Algeciras in Cádiz and Venta de Cárdenas in Ciudad Real is scheduled to stop from early September 2026 until, provisionally, autumn 2027. Renfe will arrange replacement transport for public-service passenger trains.

Freight trains will use alternative routes. Adif plans to divert Huelva traffic via Huelva-Zafra, while trains serving Seville, Algeciras, Linares or Jerez will generally run via Los Rosales-Zafra. From Mérida, services for Puertollano, eastern Spain or Barcelona will use Mérida-Ciudad Real; other traffic will run via Madrid-Cáceres-Mérida.

The Madrid-Zaragoza portion is further advanced, with more than €330 million already invested in structure modifications, traffic-management systems and longer sidings. The southern programme includes extensions to 750 m at stations in Córdoba, Seville, Málaga and Cádiz. A separate €65.8 million signalling contract covers the Valchillón-Torres Cabrera-Fuente de Piedra section.

Planned services could move 360 trucks per day

Adif’s operating plan provides for two Algeciras-Zaragoza trains in each direction per day initially, rising to three each way one year after launch for Morocco-related traffic. Planned services from Huelva, Seville and Cádiz would broaden the rail-motorway network between Andalusia and Zaragoza.

Across the planned routes, Adif expects approximately 12,000 train-km per day and around 360 trucks carried by rail daily. An earlier Adif investment plan estimated that 600,000 trucks would cross the Tangier-Algeciras route in 2025, or about 1,600 per day, showing the scale used to develop the traffic case.

The project does more than create space for taller loads. Longer sidings, signalling changes, slope stabilization and structure renewals are intended to make regular intermodal operations possible on a conventional Iberian-gauge corridor with single-track and capacity constraints. The new tunnel clearances on Bobadilla-Algeciras will also remain compatible with the line’s planned electrification.

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