Tarragona – Valencia railway line

Tarragona – Valencia

Talgo train at L'Aldea - Amposta - Tortosa station

Route number :

600 (lane change system La Boella / Tarragona – Valencia Estació del Nord)

620 (L'Aldea - Amposta - Tortosa – Tortosa)
630 (Tarragona – Port Aventura)

640 (lane change system La Boella – Camp de Taragona)

Route length:

299.7 km

Gauge :

1668 mm ( Iberian track )

Power system :

3 kV =

Power system :

25 kV / 50 Hz ~

Top speed:

220 km / h

Further gauge:

1435 mm ( standard gauge )
(Camp de Tarragona –Lane change system La Boella) (Castellón – Valencia - La Fuente de San Luis) ( three- rail track )

Legend

		SFS of Barcelona
	520.9	Camp de Tarragona
		SFS to / from Madrid
		Francolí
		A-27
		Route from Barcelona
	275.6 103.5	Tarragona
		Lane changing system La Boella
		Francolí
		A-7
	94.3	Vila-seca
		AP-7
		Route to Lleida Pirineus

	265.6	Port Aventura
	263.6	Salou by 2020
	257.1	Cambrils by 2020
		AP-7
		A-7
		Cambrils since 2020
		A-7
	251.1	Montroig
	243.0	Hospitalet del Infante until 2020
		Hospitalet del Infante since 2020

	236.3	Vandellós
	207.3	L'Ametlla de Mar
	195.9	L'Ampolla - el Perelló
	190.7	Camarles - Deltebre
	185.2 205.6	L'Aldea - Amposta - Tortosa

		AP-7
	199.0	Campredó
	192.5	Tortosa
		Ebro
		former route to La Puebla de Híjar
	184.4	Mianes
	178.4	Santa Barbara
		Ebro

	162.5	Ulldecona - Alcanar - La Sénia
		Catalonia / Valencia border
		AP-7
	146.8	Vinaròs
	140.8	Benicarló - Peñíscola
		AP-7
	127.5	Santa Magdalena de Pulpis
	119.1	Alcalà de Xivert
		AP-7
	105.1	Torreblanca
	90.8	Oropesa del Mar
	82.1	Benicàssim
		Port de Castellón
	75.6	Les Palmes
		former route until 2000
		Castellón until 2000
	69.2	Castellón since 2000


	95.1	Almassora
	62.2	Vila-real
	58.0	Burriana - Alquerías del Niño Perdido
	51.6	Nules - La Vilavella
	47.9	Moncofa
	43.0	Xilxes
	41.0	La Llosa
	38.9	Almenara
	34.8	Les Valls
	29.2	Sagunto
		Route to / from Teruel
		Port de Sagunto
	22.5	Puçol
	18.8	El Puig
	15.2	Massalfassar
	13.7	Albuixech
	11.9	Roca-Cúper
	5.4	Valencia - Cabanyal
	3.8	Valencia - La Fuente de San Luis
		Route to Silla
		Stretch of Silla
		Routes from Madrid to Alicante
		Valencia Joaquín Sorolla
	0.0	Valencia Estació del Nord

↑ Beginning of the three-rail track (1435/1668 mm)
^ End of the three-rail track, transfer to the SFS to Madrid and Valencia Joaquín Sorolla

The Tarragona – Valencia railway line is an electrified, partially wide-gauge railway line in Spain. The operator is the state-owned Spanish railway infrastructure company Adif . The route is part of the Corredor Mediterráneo (Mediterranean Corridor).

history

In the mid-1850s, plans began for a railway line that would pass near the Mediterranean. The railway company Sociedad de los Ferrocarriles de Almansa á Valencia y Tarragona was responsible for the planning and construction . Major disagreements initially existed in the route around Tortosa , as there were demands to connect the city to the new traffic connection. The connection to Tortosas was finally built, but meant a major detour through the Ebro valley . After numerous partial openings, the entire railway line was completely passable from 1868 when the Ebro crossing at Tortosa was commissioned. Electrification took place in 1973.

Since its opening, the line has been of great importance in long-distance traffic between Valencia and Barcelona and has been expanded and modernized for years. The maximum permissible speed has been increased in some cases to 220 km / h. In the course of the expansion of the route, some sections were replaced by new sections. In 1996 the variant del Ebro went into operation, which made the previous detour via Tortosa superfluous with a new Ebro high bridge near Amposta . Since then, Tortosa has only been connected as a branch line to today's main line via the L'Aldea - Amposta - Tortosa station. In 2000, the above-ground railway line in the urban area of Castellón was abandoned and replaced by a tunnel stretching further east. A thoroughfare was built over the old railway line, and the Plaça d'Espanya with residential buildings, a department store and a park was built on the old station grounds . The historic station building was integrated into the square, completely restored and returned to its original state.

Opening date	Route section
April 20, 1862	Valencia - Sagunto
August 24, 1862	Sagunto – nulls
December 26, 1862	Nulles - Castellón
November 19, 1863	Castellón - Benicàssim
March 12, 1865	Benicàssim - Ulldecona Amposta - Tarragona
March 19, 1867	Ulldecona – Las Ventallas
0May 8, 1867	Tortosa – Amposta
December 24, 1867	Las Ventallas – Tortosa (right bank of the Ebro )
June 21, 1868	Bridge over the Ebro in Tortosa
January 13, 2020	Camp de Tarragona - Vandellòs

A mainline track between Valencia and Castellón was converted to a three-rail track that enables trains to operate on different gauges . Castellón has been connected to the AVE high-speed network from the south since 2018 . In January 2020, the new variant de Vandellos line was opened, which resulted in extensive changes in the northern section of the line. The original route between Vandellos and Port Aventura has been closed, and two new stations have been set up to replace the new route, but these are located outside the town center. Furthermore, the Tarragona station lost its function as a stop for the Euromed express trains. These now stop at the high-speed train station Camp de Tarragona .

business

The route is used by long-distance and regional trains. Individual AVE high-speed trains run between Castelló and Madrid via Valencia, and the entire route between Barcelona and Valencia is served by Euromed express trains, most of which continue to Alicante. With the opening of the new line between Camp de Tarragona and Vandellòs, the Euromed trains now run via the high-speed train station Camp de Tarragona, Tarragona station is no longer served. With the new section, a daily pair of Avant express trains has also been offered between Barcelona and Tortosa since February 2020 , which shortens the travel time between the two destinations by 50 minutes. Other long-distance trains are the Talgos from Barcelona-França to Seville and Alicante. In regional traffic there are connections between Barcelona, Tarragona, Tortosa, Ulldecona and Port Aventura in the northern section . The southern section is served by line C-6 of the Cercanías València ( Valencia S-Bahn ) between Castelló and Valencia.

Planning

Both mainline tracks between Valencia and Castellón are currently being converted to three-rail tracks. In the medium term, the route is to be completely converted; in the long term, it is planned to switch to standard gauge.

Others

A consortium of Bombardier and Thales received the order in March 2015 to equip the route between Valencia and Vandellós with ETCS Level 1 . The order is worth 29.6 million euros.