Spain: Adif starts €345m Madrid–Algeciras rail-highway adaptation

Spain’s infrastructure manager Adif has begun works to adapt the conventional Madrid–Algeciras corridor for Autopista Ferroviaria (rail highway) services, with planned investment of more than €345 million already fully mobilised, according to an Adif press note dated 24 July 2026.

Works between Algeciras and San Fernando de Henares will adapt clearances on 34 tunnels, 104 overpasses and 18 metal bridges to the dimensions required by semi-trailers on AF services between Algeciras, Madrid and Zaragoza. Adif also plans slope stabilisation works between Almargen and Setenil on the Bobadilla–Algeciras line.

Because some interventions are incompatible with operations, Adif will suspend rail traffic between Algeciras (Cádiz) and Venta de Cárdenas (Ciudad Real) from early September until, provisionally, autumn 2027. Freight diversions are planned via Huelva–Zafra and Los Rosales–Zafra, with onward routing from Mérida.

Adif said the same works package includes renewal and improvement on sections of the Córdoba–Linares stretch that will also benefit passenger traffic. Parallel AF adaptation on Madrid–Zaragoza is in its final stages, with more than €330 million already invested there.