La Y vasca

Construction work gets underway on the ninth section of the Basque Y rail link in Gipuzkoa, Antzuola - Ezkio-Itsaso West

02/03/2011

On Monday the cornerstone was laid on the Tolosa - Hernialde section and this morning the Basque Government's Regional Minister for Housing, Public Works and Transport, Iñaki Arriola, and the Central Government delegate in the Basque Autonomous Community, Mikel Cabieces, presided over the ceremony marking the commencement of construction work on the Antzuola - Ezkio-Itsaso West segment.

In total, the Antzuola - Ezkio-Itsaso section covers a stretch of 6,940 metres and runs through the towns of Antzuola, Urretxu, Zumarraga and Ezkio-Itsaso. The most unique and outstanding works are the viaduct over the Deskarga stream (495 metres) and the Zumarraga tunnels, which in the case of the East axis is 2.8 kilometres long and in the case of the West axis, it covers 2.5 kilometres, thereby being the longest along the entire Basque Y route.

The entire section has been allocated a budget of 240 million euro and has a lead time of 63 months. Given the scale of the work and the complexity of the project, it has been divided into two sections: Antzuola - Ezkio-Itsaso West, the first cornerstone of which was laid today in Antzuola, and Antzuola - Ezkio-Itsaso East, which is to be awarded soon.

The Antzuola - Ezkio-Itsaso West section of track includes a 3.5 kilometre long stretch from Antzuola and has been allocated a budget of 119.9 million euro.

Nine sections are under construction on the Gipuzkoan branch

At the present time, there are now nine sections of the track under construction in Gipuzkoa: Bergara - Antzuola, Antzuola - Ezkio-Itsaso West, Ezkio-Itsaso - Beasain, Beasain West, Beasain East, Ordizia - Itsasondo, Legorreta, Tolosa and Tolosa - Hernialde. In total, 28.3 kilometres of the almost 80km that make up the rail branch.

In the coming days construction work on another two sections is set to commence (Andoain - Urnieta and Urnieta - Hernani) and another two (Bergara - Bergara and Antzuola - Ezkio-Itsaso Este) are in the bidding process, such that in the coming weeks there will be thirteen sections under construction. Similarly, for this year, the tender of at least two other new sections of track is expected: Hernialde - Zizurkil (5.8 kilometres) and Zizurkil - Andoain (5.08 kilometres).