National
Prime Minister witnesses start of construction of new Asturias rail tunnel
By h.b. - Sep 15, 2008 - 7:43 AM
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The Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zaptero, yesterday went to witness the start of the perforation of the tunnel which will link Madrid to Asturias in just three hours by high speed train.
The stretch of track with two 24.6km long tunnels is at Pajares and will become the 6th longest rail tunnels in the world, and the second longest in Spain after Guadarrama.
The Development Minister, Magdalena Álvarez, has said the total 49.7 kms stretch between the province of León and Asturias will come in at a cost of 50 million € per kilometre.
The Prime Minister said the construction will ‘open the light to take the rail link between Asturias and the centre of Spain from the 19th to the 21st century.