Page 289 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 5

Reducing High-Speed Rail Costs by Combined Double-Single Tracks

Table 1 Data used for the Santander-Bilbao HSR line, including the segment definition,
their lengths and costs in single and double track.

Segment Length Cost (M€/km M£/mi)
Id Origin Destination Km Miles Simple Double
1 Santander Heras 14.0 8.7 1.29 € £1.82 4.16 € £5.89

2 Heras Entrambasaguas 6.7 4.2 5.59 € £7.92 7.73 € £10.95
3 Entrambasaguas Riaño 8.4 5.2 10.21 € £14.45 17.72 € £25.10

4 Riaño San Miguel de Aras 7.8 4.8 13.73 € £19.45 23.53 € £33.33
5 San Miguel de Aras Gibaja 6.6 4.1 16.54 € £23.42 31.33 € £44.37
6 Gibaja La Cadena 6.7 4.2 17.68 € £25.04 31.52 € £44.64
7 La Cadena Mollinedo 9.4 5.8 12.59 € £17.83 21.87 € £30.98
8 Mollinedo Mimetiz 10.8 6.7 13.73 € £19.44 22.98 € £32.54
9 Mimetiz Sodupe 8.9 5.5 13.24 € £18.75 23.82 € £33.73
10 Sodupe Bilbao 11.5 7.1 3.67 € £5.20 9.77 € £13.83

The number of services estimated for the new line has been established based on the analysis of
the demand, summarized in Table 2. It has been considered a passenger train with a capacity of
238 seats and an average occupancy of 80% (varying from 58% to 95% in 40 years of useful life).
This results in 44 daily services, 32 for passengers and 12 for freight.

Table 2 Estimated demand and travel time of the different means of transport between
Santander and Bilbao before and after the construction of the HSR line.

Before HSR line After HSR line
Means of transport
Demand Travel time Demand Travel time
Automobile 18,302 p/d/d 1 h 20 min 15,556 p/d/d 1 h 20 min
Bus 1,063 p/d/d 1 h 30 min 956 p/d/d 1 h 30 min
Passengers 0 3 hours 3,137 p/d/d 40 min
Train
Fright 3 trains - 6 trains -

The segment cost and the estimated services, along with the maximum segment speeds and
a proposed schedule, are the inputs to the program that allows us to obtain the optimal
combination of single- and double-tracked segments together with the exploitation graphs.
There have been seven alternatives considered. Alternatives 1-5 differ from each other in the
maximum relative travel time, varying from 1.20 to 1.00 in a 0.5 interval. In addition, each of
these alternatives contemplates two solutions: (1) terminate all the existing train services of
FEVE (2) terminate all services except the commuter line between Santander and Liérganes,
which will run parallel to the new line in Segment 1. The first solution confers an economic
advantage, while the second one a social advantage. Finally, Alternative 6 refers to no action
needed and Alternative 7 represents double-track solution.

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 287