FCC Construcción has received the Segovia Aqueduct Award from the Caminos Foundation for its participation and contribution to the development of the Pajares railway bypass. FCC Construcción carried out five projects within the overall railway project, specifically lots 1 and 5, which involved the construction of the Pajares (25 kilometres) and Sotiello (7 kilometres) tunnels, the two longest tunnels in the project. It also assembled the track from La Robla to Campomanes, together with various complementary civil engineering works. 

The 25-kilometre-long Pajares tunnel is the seventh longest railway tunnel in Europe and is equipped with the most advanced protection and safety equipment.

The Pajares bypass represents an unprecedented milestone in rail connections: passengers will see their journey time between Asturias and Madrid reduced by more than an hour. Freight trains, meanwhile, will be able to carry up to 15% more cargo and be longer (three or four more carriages).

The high-speed connection with Asturias is one of the most complex engineering works in Europe and the world, crossing mountains and the highly complex geology of the Cantabrian Mountains, with very diverse formations that posed a major challenge during the excavation process. Its construction has been an unprecedented challenge.

The Pajares bypass will accommodate passenger trains running on Iberian gauge and, in the future, standard gauge, as well as freight trains. The connection to Asturias gives new impetus to the development of Spain's high-speed rail network, which now exceeds 4,000 km and is the largest in Europe and the second largest in the world. 

With this project, FCC Construcción is one of the leading companies in Spain and one of the main players worldwide in the execution of railway projects. FCC Construcción and Convensa have executed, among other projects: the Guadarrama tunnels, the access sections to Galicia between Pedralba and Orense and the aforementioned Pajares bypass.

Some interesting facts about the Pajares bypass:

• 50 km long
• 80% of the route runs through tunnels: a total of 12 tunnels covering 40 km
• The Pajares Tunnel (25 km) is the seventh longest railway tunnel in Europe and runs 1 km below the Cantabrian Mountains (equivalent to the four towers of Madrid placed on top of the structure)
• 10 viaducts (1.8 km): four double (one viaduct for each track) and one triple (the Campomanes viaduct, unique in the Spanish railway network)
• Five tunnel boring machines, each weighing 2,000 tonnes and equivalent in length to the Eiffel Tower, worked simultaneously on the construction of the Pajares Tunnel
• It will take between 10 and 15 minutes for a train to travel through the Pajares tunnel.
• Three heliports
• A treatment plant with a capacity of up to 500 litres/second.
• Interior lining to channel infiltration flow, using an innovative solution consisting of acrylic resin plates reinforced with continuous fibre
• 2,600 km of cables (equivalent to the distance between Madrid and Berlin) to power and connect the facilities and systems
• 58 emergency exits in the Pajares Tunnel, approximately every 400 metres, via galleries connecting the tunnels to each other and two galleries connecting to the outside
• 214 smoke control fans with dual backup power supply