Adif AV will allocate EUR 7.7 million to remodel Puertollano station to respond to the growth in traffic

Adif Alta Velocidad will allocate EUR 7.7 million to remodelling the tracks and platforms of Puertollano station to improve its operation and increase the parking capacity for high-speed trains.

The work is part of the comprehensive renovation of the Madrid-Seville High-Speed Line (LAV) and the liberalisation of passenger rail services.

Puertollano station (Ciudad Real) serves the Madrid-Seville high-speed line and the conventional line Ciudad Real-Badajoz, as well as the branch line connecting the Puertollano refinery with the railway network. It currently has three platforms, four standard gauge tracks for high speed (1,435 mm) and 6 Iberian gauge tracks (1,668 mm) for conventional network services, of which two are mango tracks with access from the southern head and buffer stops to the north of the station.

With the action that has now been put out to tender and has a 12-month completion period, one of the Iberian gauge tracks will be transformed into a standard gauge parking track for high-speed shuttle trains leaving Puertollano for Madrid.

This change entails the modification of the station's two headboards (the area where the turnouts are located at each end). To this end, work will be carried out on 25-track devices (the device that allows the crossing between different tracks), both high-speed and conventional. In addition, the rail and sleepers of the Iberian gauge tracks will be renewed.

The change of track gauge also implies the adaptation of the electrification to the new configuration, which will involve working on the catenary and its associated elements, as well as on the remote control of the switch disconnectors. It will be necessary to dismantle the current equipment and materials, lay foundations, raise the new posts, gantries and brackets and assemble all the necessary elements for the electrification of the high-speed track.

Likewise, platforms will be adapted to facilitate passengers' access to the trains. To this end, the height of the three existing platforms will be raised, and platforms 1 and 2 will be extended lengthwise, thus providing more space for users.

New buffers - the protections at the end of the track - will also be built and new mango tracks (used for shunting and parking) will be incorporated, modifying the existing ones and incorporating a new escape to the south of the station with a connection to the LAV.