THE Spanish cabinet has given its approval for infrastructure manager Adif to tender a contract worth up to €328.4m to maintain catenary and traction substations on the 1668mm-gauge conventional network electrified at 3kV dc.
Running for a term of three years with an option to extend for up to two years, the contract will be divided into six lots, covering the Centre, Northwest, South, East, Northeast and North regions of the Adif network, which has 9200km of catenary and 341 substations.
Adif has its own resources for catenary maintenance, but also relies on specialist contractors to provide supplementary capacity in areas with a high proportion of electrified lines or to undertake specific tasks.
The contract will cover preventative maintenance under planned work programmes to maintain capability and availability, as well as repairing faults revealed during asset inspection and undertaking rapid-response interventions.
Corrective maintenance of electrical systems and equipment will include switchgear, cabling and control and metering systems. Contractors will be supplied with the necessary materials and the contract also includes provision for upgrade projects.
Separately, Adif has awarded Saitec a contract for detailed design of the project to electrify the 15km between Humanes and Illescas. This would enable line C5 of the Madrid suburban network to be extended to Illescas.
The 157km from Illescas to Talayuela is being electrified as part of the project to shorten journey times between Madrid, Cáceres and Badajoz on the Portuguese border, which also involves new construction.
Electrification will require the provision of a transition zone between 3kV dc on the Humanes - Illescas section and 25kV ac between Talayuela and Illescas.
