The transport of lorries or semi-trailers on trains, known as rolling highways, is beginning to become a reality in Spain. After having carried out loading and unloading tests in recent weeks, the first test train on the Madrid-Valencia rail motorway ran yesterday.
Operated by Tramesa, in collaboration with the logistics company Transitalia and with traction from Medway, this first train left the Abroñigal freight terminal yesterday bound for the port of Valencia.
The composition consisted of 19 T4000e type wagons manufactured by the Slovakian company Tatravagónka. These are articulated wagons with a capacity for two semi-trailers (they can also carry containers without the semi-trailer) each. In total, Tramesa has purchased 35 of these wagons for 10 million euros.
Traction was provided by the 256-202, christened Érika last March, and 32 semi-trailers of the P400 type were transported on the train.
The Madrid-Valencia rolling highway, in service in July
This first test journey has served to check that everything is working correctly in order to start up the service.
Thanks to this new train, semi-trailers will arrive in Valencia from Italy by sea. Instead of continuing their journey to Madrid by road, they will travel by rail. To load and unload them onto the wagons, the Valencia port authority has acquired a gantry crane.
It will be at the Madrid terminal of Abroñigal where the semi-trailers will be unloaded to reach their final destination by road. In this freight station, it has been decided to use loading and unloading vehicles known as Reach stackers.
Thanks to the Madrid-Valencia rolling highway, the circulation of these lorries by road between the two cities will be avoided. For the transport company, this will mean a significant optimisation of processes.
The forecast is that this new train will make four journeys a week, which will add up to approximately 200 departures a year. However, according to the director of Tramesa, Jesús Calvo, who informed El Mercantil, this frequency is not expected to be reached until after the summer.
Calvo points to the current month of July for the Madrid-Valencia rolling highway to come into service.
This project, led by Tramesa and TransItalia, involves the Spanish Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, the Port Authority of Valencia, Adif, Medway and Alsa. TransItalia is already working on a second rail motorway linking Valencia with Portugal via Alcázar de San Juan and Puertollano.
Although this is the first rolling highway through the centre of the country, it should not be forgotten that this type of train already runs between Catalonia and the French border through the Pertús tunnel.
