Adif has launched a tender for the design of the 45-kilometer Bizkaia section, part of Spain’s “Y” high-speed rail project that will connect the three capitals of the Basque Country.

The new section will link Elorrio to the access route to Bilbao, including the connection to the Bergara railway hub on the San Sebastián–Bilbao line.

The design contract, worth 484,700 EUR, is the preliminary stage leading up to the tender for the track laying works on the Bizkaia section. At the same time, Adif is already working on the design of the section in Gipuzkoa, between the Bergara hub and Astigarraga (60 km)—a contract awarded last year for EUR 603,510—and is preparing to launch the tender for the Araba/Álava branch, between Arrazua/Ubarrundia and Elorrio.

At the same time, the company recently awarded a EUR 2.7 million contract for the supply of turnouts for one of the project’s assembly bases, as well as a EUR 1.2 million technical assistance contract for its construction. The work is linked to the development of support infrastructure for the construction site, while the design of another assembly base on the Vitoria–Bilbao section is also progressing.

The “Y” high-speed project continues at an accelerated pace with simultaneous progress on multiple construction sites, including electrification work and preparation for the track laying phases, which are considered crucial for the completion of the future high-speed line.

In this way, Adif continues to advance preparatory work for the future track laying on the “Y” line, while simultaneously carrying out the first electrification work. These include the installation of catenary poles, work that began earlier this year in the central section of the future high-speed line, within the Bergara junction area, where the route’s three branches converge. In this area, the first poles can already be seen installed on the 900-meter-long viaduct over the Deba River.

Adif AV is thus driving forward the new phases of the “Y” high-speed line, which will run along the Vitoria-Gasteiz – Bilbao – Donostia/San Sebastián – French border route, a strategic axis of the Atlantic Corridor. At the same time, the final four sections of the construction sites along the Vitoria–Bilbao section are being completed.

The work platform for the section in Gipuzkoa (the Bergara–Donostia/San Sebastián junction), built by the Government of the Basque Country with state funding, is already nearly complete.

In parallel, Adif AV is continuing work on the implementation of the third railway line on the Astigarraga–Irun segment (19 km), which will allow both conventional and high-speed trains to operate up to the border, as well as the commissioning of the new Irun station, which is already in an initial operational phase.

The company is also working on access projects in Bilbao and the remodeling of the Bilbao Abando station, has contracted the design of the first phase of the rail integration works that will enable high-speed trains to reach Vitoria-Gasteiz more quickly, and has approved the agreement with the Basque Government for the construction of the new Astigarraga station, as well as the agreement for the development of the Arkaute rail hub.