FGV start work to install new viaduct on Linea 9 TRAM d’Alacant
This work is being carried out in parallel with the construction of the new viaduct over the Algar River, with a combined budget of over 15 million euros.
The Minister for the Environment, Infrastructure and Territory, Vicente Martínez Mus, attended the start of the installation of the new Mascarat railway viaduct carrying Line 9 of TRAM d’Alacant (Benidorm-Dénia) this week.
The project being carried out by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV) has a budget close to eight million euros and include the replacement of the current viaduct, built between 1913 and 1915, with a new one with similar characteristics to the original.
The new Mascarat viaduct is a straight-axis metal structure, weighing 114,000 kilograms and a total length of 45 metres, spanning the ravine with a single isostatic span and with the same characteristics as the original deck (PRATT-type metal structure).
The minister explained that “this is a highly technically complex project, dictated by the terrain’s topography as the Mascarat viaduct is sandwiched between two tunnels and spans a height of over 40 metres”.
“Once the renovation works on the Algar and Mascarat viaducts are completed at the end of this year, the diesel-electric propulsion units of the 5000 series will be able to travel between Dénia and Benidorm without the need for a transfer,” he added.
Dismantling and Assembly
For this process, a complex system of beams, porticos and suspension cables has been installed, which, acting as a crane, will lift and remove the existing bridge. Once removed, it will be cut into smaller pieces to be able to be taken out through the tunnel, and the new bridge will be installed.
The new viaduct will be moved from the workshop in four pieces that will be assembled on site using screws and welding, and will be placed in its final position supported by the crane bridge.
In addition, Mascarat’s work includes the replacement of the current superstructure of the railway platform on ballast with slab track along the entire route (approximately 1.5 kilometres), protection and the execution of 12,475 square metres of slope surface using reinforced triple torsion mesh, along the three tunnels that the TRAM d’Alacant passes through in this area.
New Viaduct on the Algar River
At the same time, FGV is constructing the new viaduct over the Algar River, which also dates from between 1913 and 1915, with an investment of more than seven million euros.
The project includes the construction of a bridge parallel to the existing one, so that the current Algar viaduct remains as a pedestrian walkway, due to it being listed as an ‘Asset of Local Relevance (BRL)’.
The Algar project includes the construction of a viaduct with a post-tensioned concrete slab with a deck of 226 metres in length. In order to favour the landscape integration of the new viaduct with respect to the old one, the piers have been arranged in the same sections as the existing ones and the height of the new deck has been sought to be as similar as possible to that of the current viaduct.
After the construction and commissioning of the new viaduct, the length of the existing viaduct will be extended with access ramps to convert it into a cycle-pedestrian route that will link both banks of the Algar River.
These two projects are financed by the European Union through the NextGeneration funds that are part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and will serve to complete the modernisation of Line 9 of the TRAM d’Alacant.
