ON JULY 1 Spanish National Railways inaugurated a 12·2 km cut-off in Andalucía, intended to reduce journey times from Sevilla and Córdoba to Granada and Almería. Avoiding a reversal at Bobadilla, the cut-off saves around 45min. Aligned for 160 km/h, the link between Fuente de Piedra and Las Maravillas is designed for double-tracking in the future.
Renfe has completed a 16 km double-track cut-off at Chinchilla on its Madrid - Valencia main line, aligned for 220 km/h and built with Pts9bn of funding from the Ministry of Development. A 4 km spur connects to the Chinchilla - Cartagena route, aligned for 160 km/h in place of the previous 30 km/h limit. This has helped to reduce the fastest Talgo journey times by 24min, in conjunction with line speeds being raised to 180 km/h on 35 km of the Chinchilla - Cartagena line. o
