SPAIN: High speed rail infrastructure manager ADIF Alta Velocidad has awarded Dragados, Tecsa, San José and Puentes y Calzadas an 83-month contract worth €451·6 m to build low-level platforms at Madrid Atocha station
The two island platforms on the 1 435 mm gauge cross-city route from Chamartín which opened in 2022 will enable high speed trains to serve both principal stations in the capital.
Construction will not disrupt existing high speed services, which currently use a single track tunnel passing to the east of the site of the new station.
The new platforms will be located on the east side of the existing station, at about the same depth as the suburban train platforms.
A large skylight will provide natural illumination.
Facilities will be on multiple levels, numbered by altitude above sea level, and linked by stairs, escalators and lifts:
- 600: platforms and tracks;
- 607: north and south waiting rooms, and footbridges;
- 611: southern exit onto Calle Méndez Álvaro, with taxi rank and bus stops;
- 613: area for staff;
- 619: passenger access from the shopping arcade;
- 624: access to the concourse of the existing Atocha terminus.
Outside the station one tree will be removed, 231 will be transplanted and 269 planted. Municipal nurseries will supply 5 712 ground-covering plants and 968 bushes to increase the biodiversity of the station complex. Atocha is already famous for the tropical garden located in the former trainshed.
