Page 182 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

Fernández-Ges, Andrés.

1. Introduction

The city of Zaragoza, in Spain, experienced during the first decade of the 21 century the
st
greatest urban transformation of its history. Two events made it possible, acting as “leverage
effect” through strategic urban projects: the arrival of the high-speed rail in the year 2003 and
the celebration of the International Exhibition about Water and Sustainable Development, in
the year 2008.

Fig 2. Delicias Intermodal Station and the Expo 2008 site by night. Source: ZAV

Zaragoza is the fifth biggest city of Spain with an estimated population of 661.108 inhabitants
in the year 2016 (1), behind Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville. It is located in the
northwest part of the country, in the river Ebro valley, with a similar distance from Madrid,
Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao. It is at the halfway point between Madrid and Barcelona – 312
km to Madrid and 306 km to Barcelona-, thus becoming the main stop between the two cities.

Fig 2. Location of Zaragoza and time distances on High-speed train. Source: ZAV

180 360.revista de alta velocidad