Bringing high speed to Asturias is no easy task. The construction of the 50-kilometer-long Pajares ring road, which is technically extremely complex, required an investment of 4 billion 400 million dollars and 19 years of work. With its infrastructure close to being opened to commercial traffic, A related question would be whether such an expense is justified.. As LA NUEVA ESPAÑA of the Prensa Ibérica group explained on Tuesday, the social profitability of future rail access to Meseta is evident when looking at the outdated Pajares ramp, although the cost per kilometer is very high. In addition, the cost-per-minute savings analysis, which is among the best in Europe, shows that the investment makes a lot of sense.
Determining the profitability of a multi-million dollar game requires taking into account many factors, variables, and conditions.. European authorities advise to correctly analyze all the main costs and benefits “in advance” before deciding whether to build a high-speed line. The aim is to assess the “social return” and “social acceptance and benefit” of investment in a project. Usually not done.
One of the determining factors when determining the goodness of the idea is the cost-effectiveness ratio. Ratio of money spent to real time saved. This analysis is used, for example, to determine whether it is preferable to build a new rail line or renovate an existing line. In the case of the bypass, it seems clear that it is imperative to open a new layout as it is not possible to adapt the nineteenth century Pajares ramp to the high speed demands.
The European Court of Auditors published a detailed report on high speed in 2018, in which it analyzed different variables to determine whether some of the projects underway are necessary. One of the aspects analyzed was cost per minute saved.. This work did not cover the Alternative, but did include outlines of the European Union (EU), including several Spaniards. The result of the work left Spain in a good place.
Crossing this data with Variant data shows: cost per minute saved is well below the European averageand even lines like Madrid-León and Madrid-Galicia. Currently, the train, which travels between Oviedo and Madrid in a shorter time, takes 4 hours and 15 minutes. The opening of the Variant will allow convoys of the Madrid-Gijón line to proceed along the high-speed route of Guadarrama, rather than the conventional, with savings between Pola de Lena and La Robla. will leave 2 hours 55 minutes after travel time, 80 minutes less than now. So the cost per minute saved is 50 million. The European average is over 90 million lines and the cost per minute is almost eight times that of the Variant. For example, Stuttgart-Munich claimed 13,273 million and passengers saved just 36 minutes with the route. This means that the cost per minute saved increases to 368.69 million. With 11,856 million, Milan to Venice saved just 49 minutes compared to the previous conventional line, which meant a cost savings of 241.96 million per kilometer.
The same happened on the Turin-Salerno line, which cost 32,169 million and the time was reduced by 192 minutes to 167.55 million per kilometer. In addition, the cost per kilometer of the Berlin-Munich line, which costs 14,682 million and shortens the route for users by 140 minutes, is higher than Bypass: 69.85 million.
Even if only the Pola de Lena-La Robla section is taken into account, the savings are well below the European average. Alvia now covers that section (non-stop) at 82 minutes, but will initially be 15 with Alternative., because the speed will increase to 250 kilometers per hour, while in tunnels it will go 200 kilometers per hour and in a few months 12 minutes. The cost per kilometer saved in this way will be 57 million.
According to the audit conducted in Spain, savings of 69.85 million per minute were achieved on the Madrid-Galicia high-speed train line, and 57 million in Madrid-León. Below is the Madrid-Barcelona-France border (39.7 million) and the Atlantic Axis (34.61 million) connecting the main Galician cities. This last row is the row with the best cost-effectiveness ratio among the audited.
Adif argues that the 2 hours 55 minutes he will travel this year between Madrid and Oviedo is “comparable” to what is currently registered on most Spanish high-speed routes.. Also, the AVE to Asturias will have similar average speeds to routes like Berlin-Hamburg and Barcelona-Paris, and offer even better travel times than some Germany, the Netherlands or France, such as those connecting Amsterdam to Paris. Brussels and Colony with the French capital.
The principality expects Transport to announce when it will open access to Meseta in the future.
Diaz Alonso
The Ministry of Transport will announce today when, or at least an approximate time, the Pajares rail variant will open to commercial traffic, the eighteenth time since 2003 (the last one to open this month). It will be during a meeting starting at ten tomorrow at the Presidential headquarters in Oviedo. The principality will be represented by president Adrián Barbón; Alejandro Calvo, Minister of Rural Affairs, and Jorge García, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure. The ministry delegation will consist of Xavier Flores, Secretary General for Infrastructures; Adif president María Luisa Domínguez and Renfe Operations general manager José Luis Cchafeiro. The Asturian Executive suspects that visitors will give a new calendar or deadline, not a specific day, as Barbón pointed out a few days ago. According to ministry sources, setting a specific date for the opening of the Alternative is “complicated” because the final “yes” is in the hands of the State Railway Safety Agency (AESF), not Transportation.