Pamplona (EFE).- The Ministry of Transport and the Government of Navarra have presented an informative study on the High Speed Train that will reduce the travel time between Pamplona and Zaragoza to one hour and in which Tudela will have its own station high speed.
The study, which will eliminate the Pamplona railway loop for a value of 490 million euros, was presented this Tuesday by the President of Navarra, María Chivite, and the General Secretary for Infrastructure of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (Mitma). , Xavier Flores, at a press conference.
Neither of the two administrations has dared to give deadlines in which this connection between Pamplona and Zaragoza will be finished, but they have explained that the connection between Castejón and Campanas will be underway during the next legislature, so the High Speed Train will be a reality in Navarre. The section between Castejón and Zaragoza will cost more than 1,200 million euros.
Today, on the train that goes directly from Pamplona to Zaragoza, it takes about two hours to get there. The High Speed Train would halve the arrival time.
First objective: eliminate the Pamplona loop
In the study, six alternatives have been analysed, which respond to the combination of two layout alternatives for the Campanas-new station section of Pamplona (2 and 3) with three other functional variations on a single layout, between the new station and Zuasti ( A, B and C). Alternative 1 was discarded in previous phases of the study.
Alternatives 2 and 3 differ in their layout between Campanas and Pamplona Station. Thus, the layout of alternative 2 runs through the vicinity of the towns of Beriáin, Salinas de Pamplona and Esquíroz, very close to the Noáin airport.
Meanwhile, the layout of alternative 3 proposes a new corridor further away from the main population centers, bordering Salinas de Pamplona and Esquíroz on the west, to then access the new Pamplona station from Cizur Menor.
The layout alternatives come together at the new Pamplona station, a fixed point of passage, located in the strip that was reserved in the Urban Planning instruments of the city of Pamplona for the station, at the southern end of the municipal area of Pamplona, adjoining with that of Cizur, following an alignment substantially parallel to the AP-15.
Finally, the study proposes the so-called “Alternative 3B”, in which a configuration with three tracks is chosen, two of standard gauge and one of Iberian gauge for the Pamplona and Zuasti section. This alternative has an estimated cost of 490 million euros (VAT included).
The functional alternatives A, B and C differ by the number and width of tracks between the Pamplona station and Zuasti. Thus, alternative A contemplates a standard route and an Iberian route; B, two standard routes and one Iberian, and C, one standard and one mixed.
New Pamplona station
This study proposes the design of the new Pamplona station, which will have seven tracks, four of which will be exclusively standard gauge. The station is located on a slab 205 meters long and 67 meters wide, in an area where the line is depressed between 12 and 14 meters from the natural terrain.
This arrangement is functionally adequate, is consistent with the criteria of the Supramunicipal Incidence Sector Plan (PSIS) and is compatible with an extension of coverage, in accordance with what is determined in the detailed urban planning of the area.
The Castejón-Zaragoza section with a stop in Tudela
Regardless of the previous study, in the same corridor Zaragoza-Pamplona-Y Vasca, the “Informative study of the new Zaragoza-Castejón high-speed line” has been carried out.
The informative study is proposed for a high-speed line suitable for mixed traffic, passengers and goods, including connections with the Madrid-Barcelona LAV, with the Castejón-Pamplona and Castejón-Logroño lines and connections with the logistics centers in the area (Zaragoza-PLAZA , Grisén and Stellantis Zaragoza).
Both proposed alternatives have a cost of between 1,253 and 1,447 million euros (VAT included). The informative study establishes a single intermediate stop in the Comarca de Tudela, where a new high-speed station is planned that could be close to the Reina Sofía Hospital. For the passage of the line through the town, two alternatives are defined, both outside the urban area, without the informative study opting to propose any of them.
In this context, Mitma and the Government of Navarra have also agreed to study the future implementation of the conventional network together with high-speed, taking into account all the existing technical and functional conditions.