High-Speed Railways in Spain

Building the Rails

Pig iron and steel shine incandescent orange at the Aceralia mills in northern Spain, owned by the Arcelor-Mittal group. The furnaces and mills at the sprawling site have churned out more than 400,000 tons of high-speed rail for use in countries including Spain, Portugal, France, and Germany, making this site one of the largest rail producers in the world.

The points at which individual rails are soldered together create a weakness in the rail. Railways for high-speed trains must be longer than 270 meters after electric welding in order to lessen this effect. Arcelor Rail developed the facilities for high-speed rail in 1990—a kilometer-and-a-half-length building filled with the clangs and heat of metal production. In a building this size, Arcelor is able to provide 90-meter-long rails, significantly longer than rails needed for conventional tracks. “With a longer rail, the security of the rail is higher because of the avoided soldering points,” says Fernando Sáinz-Varona, rail marketing and controller manager. “And the cost is lower, as welding also adds to the cost of the rail.”

High-speed rail demands that  metal meet very exacting standards. The quality and homogeneity of the material must meet a strict standard and be developed with specific temperature and chemical requirements. This avoids, for example, an imperfection that could lead to a stress fracture in the rail.
To maintain these standards, Arcelor has created an ultrasonic testing system so particular to this type of material, and so proprietary, that no photos of the equipment are allowed. A physical sensor tests external surfaces for even the most minor imperfections, and ultrasound waves measure the internal quality of the material. “For high-speed rail, everything has to be perfect, both inside and outside,” says Sáinz-Varona.

In addition, Spanish construction companies, with years of experience designing and building the necessary infrastructure for rail, are now taking their expertise overseas in countries such as the U.K., Mexico, and China.

Speeding Ahead

As the Spanish government continues to rapidly implement plans to upgrade existing rail lines and build new high-speed rail lines around the country, more and more Spaniards flock to take advantage of the increased flexibility and mobility. Half of the $252 billion budget for the 2005–2020 Transportation Infrastructure Plan is dedicated to rail. According to government estimates (based on the economic value of added jobs, increased mobility, saved time, and decreased pollution and carbon dioxide emissions), rail in Spain contributed to the Spanish government more than three times the amount it received in subsidies.

“We’re extremely proud of where we are,” says Jiménez of ADIF. “We started with a rail system that was not very competitive, had deteriorated a great deal, was very old—and was even shutting down. Within a short period of time, all that changed. And we’ve also reached a very competitive technological level, with companies providing equipment, components, civil works, and construction that compete on the international market. All of this makes us very proud of the Spanish model.”