Trimble Alignment Planning: Lisbon - Madrid HSR Project

"This approach enables a reduction of around 50% of the costs with the modernisation of the Northern Line, while reducing the investment in the part of the alignments near the stops, where it is not necessary to maintain an expensive infrastructure that ensures the speed of 250 kilometres per hour."
Ana Paula Vitorino, State Secretary of Transport

On December 13, 2005 the Portuguese Government approved the construction of two high speed lines, the first one will link the two main cities (Lisbon and Porto) and the second one will connect Lisbon to the Spanish border in order to link the two capitals of the Iberian Peninsula.

Plans for the high speed network are being drawn in Portugal by RAVE (Rede de Alta Velocidade), in conjunction with the Spanish representatives, by a bilateral working group and the AVEP GEIE formed by the two countries. REFER (Rede Ferroviária Nacional, E.P.), the Portuguese Infrastructure Manager is also closely involved in planning for the integration with the existing network of 1668mm gauge. Construction of the first two lines is expected to be underway in 2008.

As reported in the Portuguese Journal, Expresso on the 12th August 2006: "The high speed rail project is being reviewed by Australian firm Trimble Alignment Planning, who specialises in alignment optimisation and speed dynamic analysis. It is expected that the proposed solutions reduce the total investment by 10%, estimated to be between 50% and 60% of the total amount of the project. Consequently, the cost reduction will be more than 350 million Euros".

The State Secretary of Transport, Ana Paula Vitorino, explains that "Trimble Alignment Planning's work rationalises high speed rail alignment, minimising the construction of tunnels and viaducts. On the other hand, it also optimises the necessary investment in the alignments near the stops, where it is not necessary to circulate at high speed. The total cost reduction will soon be quantified", says Ana Paula Vitorino.

During a presentation about the "Developing and Financing of Trans-European Transport Networks", in Lisbon on December 13, 2005, European Commission's Heinz Hilbrecht, Director TEN & Galileo DG TREN, referred in conclusions to his presentation, "in general the Priority Project 'Lisbon-Porto/ Madrid" (PP3) as having the potential to become one of the TEN-T benchmarking projects". "We are very proud that the Trimble Alignment Planning technology is being applied to this high profile TEN-T project in Portuga", Malcolm Bramley, VP of Business Development for Europe, Middle East and Africa region.