Basque Y or the Basque Triangle is the

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

network being built between the three cities of the

Basque Autonomous Community Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous com ...

, in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

;

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

Vitoria-Gasteiz Vitoria-Gasteiz (; ; also historically spelled Vittoria in English) is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country and of the provinces of Spain, province of Álava in northern Spain. I ...

and Donostia-San Sebastián.

Route

It will transport cargo and passengers. The cargo trains will connect the Port of Bilbao with the Port of Pasaia, (also known as Pasajes/Pasajes-San Pedro). The new high-speed network will consist of 172 km long track. Due to the mountainous relief of the region, 104,3 km (61%) will be in 80

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

s and 17 km (10%) in 71 bridges, leaving only 50.6 km, 29% of the route on the ground, in trenches or embankments. The maximum speed is 120 km/h for freight trains, whilst passenger trains will travel at speeds of 220 km/h to 240 km/h. The Basque Y will be built in European rail gauge ( ). It will connect Madrid via

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

and connect France via

Irun Irun (, ) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Roman- Vasconic town. During the Spanish Civil War, ...

. While the French high-speed rail line (on which the

TGV The TGV (; , , 'high-speed train') is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocke ...

trains achieve their top speeds) is not planned to reach

Hendaye Hendaye (; Basque: ''Hendaia'',HENDAIA
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

track allows 160 km/h. The network will also include a connection to the Navarrese Corridor, the high speed line projected between

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

and the capital of

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

Travel time comparisons

As announced initially, it could take well under one hour to connect the cities while the current slower network takes from 1 h 40 min to 2.5 hours. However, a closer study revealed in February 2015 that the projections below do not possibly hold water, conspicuously delaying initial time estimates.

Stations

* Bilbao-Abando. Initially the trains will reach

Basauri Basauri is a major municipality of Biscay, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, an Autonomous Community in northern Spain. The town is a part of the Greater Bilbao conurbation, being only a few kilometers south of Bilbao. ...

and passengers will commute to the

Cercanías Bilbao Cercanías Bilbao (Basque language, Basque: ''Bilboko Aldiriak'') is a commuter rail network in Bilbao, serving the city and its Bilbao metropolitan area, metropolitan area. It is operated by Cercanías, as part of RENFE, Renfe, the national railw ...

C-3 suburban railway. *

Irún Irun (, ) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Ancient Rome, Roma ...

* San Sebastián-Norte * Ezkio-Itsaso. It is uncertain if it will be finally fully built. * Euba

Planning

It took 19 years from the first proposals of a Basque high-speed network to the detailed project. The main issues were disagreements between the series of Spanish and Basque governments, and who would bear the costs. Through the Basque tax agreement, the

Spanish government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...

will make initial payments on behalf of the Basque government. An agreement on 24 April 2006 put the section between Vitoria-Gasteiz and Bilbao under Spanish control (through Adif), and the section in

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

province under Basque control. It will be the costliest investment in the Basque Country. The completion of the works was originally forecast for 2017, but it's been delayed several times since then. In June 2012, the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

agreed to offer €1bn of funding. In early 2015, relevant public authorities (Basque Government, Spanish Ministry of Public Works) renewed their commitment with the project, while on the French branch (Aquitaine) financial tensions and public interest considerations risk to halt progress in high-speed rail works. In May 2017 a new collaboration agreement was signed between the Basque Government and the Spanish Ministry making changes in the previous agreement from 2006. In October 2017 the deadline was set in year 2023 by Basque high-ranking officials. However, in end 2022 Adif's draft budget put the completion of the Basque Y to the year 2027. A connection with

via two different alternative routes, one via Vitoria-Gasteiz and one via Ezkio/Itsaso is currently in debate. services are planned to begin in 2027.

Benefits

It will ease mobility between the Basque capitals, in fact, travel times between

, Donostia-San Sebastián and

will be cut in half. In addition, the Basque government is improving the existing EuskoTren infrastructure between Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastián, enabling a better connection between smaller towns and big cities. The cargo traffic will ease congestion due to road traffic, reduce probability of accidents and help in territorial integration. The railway will connect the Port of Bilbao with

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

's major railway lines.The Basque Y is being built in European rail gauge (). To reduce the

environmental impact Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans ( human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot reco ...

, the layout avoids the natural areas of Aizkorri,

Urkiola Urkiola is a mountain range of the Basque mountains in Biscay near Durango, in the western Basque Country, Spain. The highest mountain in the range is Anboto (1331 m). The range runs from west to east and forms the water divide between the At ...

and Aralar. The increase on the usage of railway, will reduce the usage of planes, more polluting than trains. In addition it will be more affordable than traveling by plane, and taking passengers to the very centre of cities, instead of the outskirts, where airports are usually located.

Criticism

The official Y-shaped layout was approved by the

Basque Parliament The Basque Parliament (Basque language, Basque: ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', Spanish language, Spanish: ''Parlamento Vasco'') is the legislative body of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected ...

, but criticised by Ezker Batua-Berdeak, a coalition of the Basque branch of United Left, a component member of the Basque Government in 2007. EB put forward a U-shaped layout.', Javier Madrazo, 10 November 2007.', 28 December 2007. More significant is the opposition staged by the Basque nationalist left and several ecologist groups, such as ''AHT Gelditu''. A demonstration against the train gathered thousands to Arrasate/Mondragón in December 2007. Before the 2010-2011 permanent ceasefire, the Basque armed separatist group

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

had the works as one of its targets.
ETA convierte las obras del Tren de Alta Velocidad en un objetivo estratégico
', Óscar B. de Otálora,

El Diario Vasco ''El Diario Vasco'' ( English: ''The Basque Daily'') is a Spanish morning daily newspaper based in San Sebastián, Basque Country. History and profile ''El Diario Vasco'' was founded in 1934 by the Sociedad Vascongada de Publicaciones, led by ...

, 4 November 2007. In December 2008, Ignacio Uría Mendizábal, the chief executive of a construction company working on the project, was shot dead by ETA
Eta shoots dead businessman working on high-speed Spanish train link
', Graham Keeley,

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

, 3 December 2008
Eta warns rail workers are target
',

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

,21 January 2009 and in February 2009 a bomb planted against Ferrovial went off in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. PNV's Basque Government has voiced its concern and mistrust over the Madrid government's actual commitment in the face of overdue funding by December 2014.

EH Bildu EH Bildu, short for Euskal Herria Bildu (English language, English: 'Basque Country Gather' or 'Basque Country Unite'), is a Left-wing politics, left-wing, Basque nationalism, Basque nationalist and Separatism, pro-independence federation of poli ...

, the leading political force in

, confirmed in early 2015 its frontal refusal to the project, pointing to the Basque Y's alleged shaky foundations (financially no return or loss, feeble public service). Basque nationalist left's spokespersons labelled the project a "deception-based propaganda operation".

References

External links

Official website of the project.

* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mm6KbRX2eY Advertisement promoting the Basque Y.
AHT Ez
Basque opposition to high-speed trains. {{High-speed railway lines 2027 in rail transport High-speed railway lines in Spain Rail transport in the Basque Country (autonomous community)