Scheduled for commission later this year, the route will provide a direct high-speed connection between Madrid and Murcia via Beniel.
As part of the Mediterranean Corridor, this section has been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the Pluriregional OP of Spain 2014–2020.
In the future, this route will also enable travel between Murcia, Lorca and Almería in addition to many other cities that make up the Mediterranean Corridor.
Adif Alta Velocidad (Adif) is currently testing the Murcia high speed line’s infrastructure.
In June tests were undertaken with a BT-type laboratory train, which travelled 400 kilometres on the route.
According to railway-news.com new tests are now taking place using a Seneca laboratory train, which is capable of running at a maximum speed of 330km per hour and performing dynamic monitoring and analysis of track and catenary geometry, track-train integration, ERTMS and GSM-R quality of service.
These began overnight on 31 July / 1 August with testing of geometry and dynamics of the track and catenary on the 15.5km line between Beniel and Murcia del Carmen station.
