The Madrid–Málaga high-speed rail line is a standard gauge High-speed rail line of in length that links the city of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

with the city of Málaga in Spain. The line was inaugurated on 24 December 2007. At the time the service opened, Renfe Operadora was running 22 trains daily between Madrid and Málaga.

History

The first high-speed rail line in Spain was opened in 1992 when

Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line The Madrid–Sevilla high-speed line (NAFA or ''Nuevo Acceso Ferroviario a Andalucía'') is a Spanish railway line for high-speed traffic between Madrid and Seville. The first Spanish high-speed rail connection has been in use since 21 April 19 ...

was inaugurated as a part of the NAFA project (Nuevo Acceso Ferroviario a Andalucía, New Rail Access to Andalusia). In January 1993 the Talgo 200 Madrid–Málaga service began, using

AVE ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...

lines as far as Córdoba and then Spanish-gauge conventional track to reach Málaga. The new high-speed section from Córdoba to Málaga, which is considered as a part of the New Rail Access to Andalusia, was projected in 1999 and integrated into the PEIT (Strategic Infrastructure Plan of the Ministry of Development, 2005-2020) with an estimated investment of €2.1 billion. Construction and operation were entrusted to Adif. The first of the new section between Córdoba and Antequera-Santa Ana was put in service on 16 December 2006. The line was completed on 23 December 2007 reaching the city of Málaga and the new station Málaga María Zambrano.

Line

The line is built to standard gauge supporting compatibility with neighbouring countries' rail systems and is designed for speeds of . It connects the cities of Madrid, Córdoba and Málaga, and also includes stops at

Puente Genil Puente Genil () is a Jonian city in the province of Jonia, autonomous community of Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonom ...

and Antequera in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...

, Spain that are served by the

AVANT AVANT, also known as AVANT street art guerrilla collective, was the artist group active in New York City from 1980 to 1984. By 1984 AVANT had produced thousands of acrylic on paper paintings and plastered them on walls, doors, bus-stops and gallerie ...

service. For the part between Madrid and Córdoba the line shares a common section with the

inaugurated in 1992. Outside Córdoba a spur railway branches off towards Málaga (the total distance between Córdoba and Málaga on the line is ).

Route

The stations along the line are

Madrid Atocha railway station Madrid Atocha ( es, Estación de Madrid Atocha), also named Madrid Puerta de Atocha–Almudena Grandes, is the first major railway station in Madrid. It is the largest station serving commuter trains ( ''Cercanías''), regional trains from the ...

, Córdoba Central, Puente Genil-Herrera, Antequera-Santa Ana and Málaga María Zambrano. The high-speed line towards Granada starting at Antaquera was inaugurated in June 2019. The line runs along a double track section in the few kilometres after Córdoba Central and later becomes quadruple track. Eventually, just outside a town called Los Mochos (a few kilometres east-north-east of Almodóvar del Río), the

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

and Málaga branches become separate. The line takes a different route to the existing slower single-track line, but starts to run parallel to it between the towns of Doñana and Santa Rosalia Maqueda, running alongside it for the rest of the journey to Málaga-María Zambrano station. The section between Córdoba and Málaga runs through precipitous terrain in the Sierra Nevada and several viaducts and tunnels were necessary to complete the connections, including the Guadalhorce viaduct (), the Abdalajís Tunnel (the 3rd longest in Spain after the Guadarrama and Pajares tunnels at in the Cordillera Bética), the Arroyo de las Piedras viaduct ( long and high, making it the highest viaduct along the line), the Arroyo del Espinazo and Jévar viaducts (the longest viaduct along the line when the two are considered together) and the

Álora Álora is a town and municipality in southern Spain in the province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Located c. 40 km from Málaga, on the right bank of the river Guadalhorce and on the Córdoba-Málaga railway, withi ...

, Espartal, Tevilla, Gibralmora and

Cártama Cártama is a town and municipality in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia, southern Spain. The municipality is situated approximately from Málaga. It is one of the most extensive towns in the province, coverin ...

tunnels that exist in a long chain.The northern portal of the Álora Tunnel can be seen o
Google Maps
as can the southern portal of the Cártama Tunne
here
The precipitous terrain is one possible reason why the Córdoba–Seville section was opened in 1992, but the Córdoba–Málaga section wasn't opened until December 2007.

Services

The AVE service (using the

AVE Class 102 The Renfe Class 102 or S-102S-102 denotes 'Serie 102 de Renfe', the 1xx series is used for fixed passenger high speed electric trains (nicknamed "Pato" in Spanish, because of its nose that looks like the beak of a duck) is a high-speed train u ...

) offers Madrid–Málaga journey times of 2 hours and 20 minutes with direct services. The average speed of for this journey is not particularly high (the fastest Madrid–Barcelona journey is 2 hours and 30 minutes over , giving an average speed of ): - trains are restricted to in the

Sierra Morena The Sierra Morena is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. It stretches for 450 kilometres from east to west across the south of the Iberian Peninsula, forming the southern border of the ''Meseta Central'' plateau and providi ...

(here, the curvature drops as low as , meaning the maximum safe speed without tilting technology is approximately , as a curvature of at least is needed for and for

. The trains also slow down to for the Abdalajís Tunnel, Abdalajís and Gobantes tunnels, even though the tunnel radii are high enough to support . Direct

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

–Málaga AVE services are also offered by combining the Madrid-Málaga line and

Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line The Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line is a standard gauge railway line inaugurated on 20 February 2008. Designed for speeds of and compatibility with neighbouring countries' rail systems, it connects the cities of Madrid and Barcelona i ...

on the same route. S-112 (Pato, max speed ) trains are used for these services and cover the distance between Barcelona and Málaga in 5 hours and 50 minutes without making a stop in Madrid but with additional intermediate stops at Camp de Tarragona, Lleida Pirineus and Zaragoza-Delicias. The AVANT services transport passengers directly from Seville to Málaga and vice versa, with intermediate stops at Puente Genil-Herrera and Antequera-Santa Ana stations between Córdoba and Málaga.

References

External links