The Center for High Technology Railway Testing will carry out the processes of standardization and certification for rolling stock, as well as research and testing for new technologies.

On Friday, December 17th the Government approved an agreement between the Ministry of Science and Innovation and Adif (Spain’s Administrator of Railway Infrastructures) worth €344.45 million. Construction may now go ahead to build the world’s largest railway circuit at Antequera (Málaga), composed of two concentric circuits: one of standard width and the other using Iberian width.

The railway circuit–The Center for High Technology Railway Testing–will carry out the processes of standardization and certification for rolling stock, as well as research, testing, trials and implementation of new technologies that are developed in the center itself or that derive from R&D activities of companies within the rail sector.

This infrastructure cannot only be used for high speed and conventional transportation, but also for developing urban transport vehicles such as streetcars and subways. The maximum speed planned for this railway circuit, which will be located in the rail complex at Bobadilla, is 450-470 km/hr; this in itself is a competitive advantage given that the current top speed for this type of facility is not over 270 km/hr.

Construction is expected to begin in 2011 and will take four years. Once completed, this will be the largest center of its type, surpassing those already in service in the Czech Republic, Germany, Japan and the United States, thus reinforcing the international competitiveness of the Spanish railway sector.