The College of Engineers fears that it will remain like this forever

The AVE to Extremadura is causing quite a few headaches, especially in the bottleneck represented by the part that connects with Castilla-La Mancha. And the provisional branch designed to advance the arrival of high speed to Extremadura without waiting for it to be resolved his complicated passage through Toledohas hit a new obstacle. According to share From ABC, the College of Civil Engineers, Canals and Ports of Castilla-La Mancha demands written guarantees from the Ministry of Transport that this provisional branch will not end up replacing the definitive route.

what has happened. The Ministry provisionally approved the informative study of the Pantoja-Bargas branch on May 19 and submitted it to public information through an announcement in the BOE five days later. Now, within this process of allegations, the College of Engineers of Castilla-La Mancha has requested that in the final resolution it be declared in writing that this work has a “strictly transitory” character, according to collect the group itself in a statement cited by ABC.

What exactly is it about?. The branch is a connection of just over 18 kilometers between the Madrid-Seville high-speed line and the conventional Madrid-Valencia de Alcántara line. In practice, it would allow trains bound for Extremadura to leave Atocha, take advantage of the high-speed tracks to the Pantoja area and from there connect, via Bargas, with the route to Talavera de la Reina and Extremadura. This is what the Ministry proposes as a shortcut to speed up travel times without having to wait for the final design of the passage through Toledo to be finalized.

Why is it important. The passage of high speed through Toledo has been blocked for years. Since the first study of the Madrid-Oropesa line was submitted to public information in 2020, the different allegations presented have forced the routes through Toledo and Torrijos to be revised several times, and in 2024 the City Council, the Provincial Council and the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha proposed alternatives that the Ministry considered important enough to commission a completely new study, according to explained The Extremadura Newspaper.

Given the uncertainty of how long this process could take, the Government decided to take the fast track and design a provisional branch.

A temporary patch. The College does not oppose the railway improvement to Extremadura, which it considers “strategic” for territorial cohesion, but warns of the risk that a work intended as a temporary patch ends up, in practice, becoming the permanent solution. Its main argument is based on the deadlines, since after 32 months of work it would still be necessary to add the environmental processing, the drafting and approval of projects, the bidding and the tests prior to start-up. Times that, according to the groupthey could dilate enough that the branch ends up settling by default.

Money. The provisional branch has a tender budget of 333.9 million euros, a figure that represents 60.8% of what the Toledo Central alternative would cost (549.2 million) and 48.1% of the Toledo Exterior alternative (694 million), according to share from the middle.

If the two infrastructures are finally built (first the branch and then a definitive solution through Toledo), the joint investment would be between 883 and 1,028 million euros, without counting price reviews, maintenance, operation or a possible partial dismantling of the branch once it becomes obsolete.

What engineers ask for. Beyond the complaint, the College poses that:

• The Ministry compares all possible scenarios, including the option of directly accelerating the final solution and launching it in phases.
• That the risk that the provisional work ends up being consolidated be incorporated into the analysis.
• That it be better detailed how the service will operate during the transitional stage, with frequencies, stations, travel times and compatibility with the trains that currently circulate between Madrid and Toledo.
• That both the branch line and the future route leave open a connection between the Extremadura and Andalusia lines, which would allow travel between both communities without passing through Madrid.

And now what. Despite the allegations, the project continues with its environmental and administrative procedures. What they do add is political pressure on the Ministry at a time when Europe’s objective is to complete the Madrid-Lisbon journey in about five hours in 2030, and in 2034 the aim is to lower the three hours between Madrid and Badajoz. To unblock the disagreement, the College has offered to participate in a technical table together with the Ministry, the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha, the City Council and the Provincial Council of Toledo, and Adif, with the idea that the provisional branch serves to pressure the final agreement, and not to postpone it indefinitely.

Cover image | Renfe

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