SPAIN: Infrastructure authority ADIF has awarded 14 contracts worth a total of €430m for construction of the high speed line that will connect Madrid with Valencia, Alacant and Cartagena. On the branch to Cartagena, two civil works contracts worth a total of €83·3m have been awarded to Pavasal, Obrum and Nortúnel for the 3·5 km Aspe - El Carrús section, and to Ferrovial Agromán for the 4·5 km between El Carrús and Elche.

Tecsa has been awarded a €17·8m contract to undertake tracklaying between Gabaldón and Albacete (74 km), while the 95 km Gabaldón - Siete Aguas section has been awarded to Vías y Construcciones for €31·4m. Four contracts worth a total of €35·4m have been awarded for the supply of sleepers, and Pórfidos is to supply ballast for the 50 km Siete Aguas - Almusafes section under a contract worth €6·6m. Ferrovial Agromán is to build a construction base at Villarrubia de Santiago for €13·8m.

Covering the 220 km between Torrejón de Velasco and Motilla del Palancar, a contract worth €93·7m to install and maintain overhead electrification equipment has been awarded to a joint a venture of Semi, Cobra and Balfour Beatty Ibérica. Work is due to take 24 months to complete. Alstom Transporte, Elecnor, Electrón and Isolux Ingeniería are to maintain traction substations and related ?autotransformer equipment on this section under a separate contract worth €87·7m, while GSM-R mobile telecommunications equipment is to be installed by Nokia Siemens Networks for €53·5m.

Within a budget of €32·3m, ADIF is to call tenders for a contract combining civils and track work for the first phase of the programme at Valencia that will see high speed services initially accommodated at a temporary station. Work is expected to take nine and a half months to complete.