The Abdalajís Tunnel is a 8,970-metre (29,430 ft) tunnel that forms part of the Córdoba-Málaga high-speed rail line in the Cordillera Bética. The Abdalajís Tunnel System is the third-longest railway tunnel (after the Guadarrama Tunnel and Pajares Base Tunnel) in Spain. This tunnel, along with various other viaducts and tunnels along the line, enables a travel time from Madrid to Málaga of 2 hours and 30 minutes.[1]
The tunnel has proved controversial because of its environmental impact, which caused widespread protests. News footage available on YouTube shows serious leaks that existed during the construction, causing disruptions to the water supplies in the area for several days.[2] The journal Environmental Geology published an article about the problems faced during the construction of the tunnel.[3]
Although the AVE Class 102 is not speed-restricted in tunnels, but trains covering the Madrid-Málaga high-speed route slow down from 300 km/h to 160 km/h before entering the Abdalajís and Gobantes Tunnels, even though the Abdalajís Tunnel's curvature radius of 6900 m can theoretically support trains without tilting technology travelling at speeds of up to 392 km.[4] However, once Málaga-bound trains have passed through these two tunnels, they speed up to 300 km/h again for the Espinazo and Jévar viaducts and the shorter Álora, El Espartal, Tevilla, Gibralmora, and Cártama tunnels.