The Alvia made its first electrified journey in Extremadura this Sunday. The train that left Badajoz this Sunday towards Madrid completed the section between Badajoz and Cáceres connected to the catenary, and subsequently continued to Madrid with mechanical traction. With this, an electric convoy is finally circulating on Extremadura’s roads and thus a historic demand is fulfilled.
Apparently, Electric traction has been used on the Badajoz-Cáceres section. For a few days it is planned that the electrification will be limited to this route, and later it will extend to the north of Estremadura.
Despite this improvement, the current railway safety system, Asfa, It only allows you to reach 200km/h. In 2024, the security system will be Ertms and will allow increase speed up to 220km/h.
This electrification comes by surprise and has been realized through social networks, in which users have shared images of the pantograph raised to take the current from the catenary. This photo has been spread by the Facebook group Madrid – Ciudad Real – Badajoz railway line. This newspaper has contacted Renfe to find out the situation, but the company has not confirmed it.
Precisely, this same newspaper reported last Thursday some statements by the Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Housing of the Board, Manuel Martin Castizo, in which it indicated that it was waiting for “over the next week” the electrification of the train between Badajoz and Plasencia to be launched, an action that was expected for the month of July, then for November and Now, in principle, it would be mid-December. Despite the announcement, Martín Castizo wanted to emphasize that there is still no “official communication” by the central government, on whom this infrastructure depends.
CCOO requests that the La Mancha section of the AVE to Extremadura be expedited
Meanwhile, the CCOO union organization of Extremadura considers that the imminent arrival of the electric train on the route between Badajoz and Plasencia should encourage the “streamlining” of the procedures and works on the La Mancha section, in order to thus complete the bird Madrid-Badajoz in the shortest time possible.
The person in charge of this area at CCOO Extremadura, Miguel Fuentesexplains that during 2023 “works that were tendered and awarded several years ago have been built and executed”, so We have had to wait a long time to have “about 180 kilometers of track” electrified..
Although it is an important advance, “it does not even fix the railway situation in Extremadura”hence the importance “of quickly promote the section of the AVE still to be built“.
“Having an electrified route that is not even half of the journey is better than not having anything, it is an important improvement, but when you get to Plasencia you will return to reality,” he says.
For him “what we have today is an improvement, but with a lot of luck we will have to wait until 2030 to have an AVE to Madrid”, has manifested. And in his opinion, “There’s still a lot” yet to see an electrified Madrid-Badajoz section. “Until these lines come into operation, Extremadura will continue to have a Second Division railway“, has manifested.
