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SPAIN and Morocco have taken a fresh step toward a train line under the Strait of Gibraltar with engineers now drawing up the design for a 40km ‘test tunnel’.
The tunnel will run from southern Spain to northern Morocco. It is the first stage in a very ambitious plan for a permanent rail link under the second-busiest shipping route on the planet.
Crucially, the proposed terminal on the Spanish side would be placed near Barbate and Verjer so that it can connect into the Cadiz–Sevilla rail corridor, rather than terminating at Algeciras as in previous plans.
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The terminal will connect the Moroccan high-speed rail system around Tangier.
Senior Spanish and Moroccan engineers provided a technical and institution briefing on the details at the Madrid College of Civil Engineers.
Representatives of Spain’s fixed-link study company SECEGSA and its Moroccan counterpart SNED said the project is in an ‘advanced planning stage’, with a joint three-year work plan currently underway.
Officials claim the test tunnel is being built to examine the rock and seabed along the planned route. It will also allow engineers to confirm that a passenger and freight tunnel may be constructed safely.
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Even if it takes longer to complete the rail tunnel, the tunnel could still carry fibre-optic cables and electricity cables as a permanent link in infrastructure between continents.
The tunnel could pass up to 465m beneath the seabed. This would require a tunnel-boring tool that was designed to handle high pressure.
Spanish and Moroccan teams currently carry out seabed maps, seismic monitoring, early-stage modelling and the design of a test tunnel, which is expected to take place next year.
Engineers say the seabed under the Strait presents ‘zones of great tectonic complexity’, with deep hidden channels and layers of clay-like rock that may shift unpredictably under extreme pressures.
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Spanish and Moroccan teams are remapping the ocean floor and installing sensors to monitor the movement. Scientists from France and United States help analyse the geological information.
If the full rail tunnel was approved, then it would consist of two tubes each with an internal diameter of around 7 metres, which would run in parallel below the seabed. The smaller service gallery and evacuation gallery will be located between the two tubes, with cross passages every few hundred meters.
The underwater stretch would measure approximately 28 kilometres in length, with a depth of nearly half a km below the seabed.
In the same way as the Channel Tunnel, passenger and freight transport would be combined by trains.
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The project’s Spanish president, retired general José Luis Goberna explained that the tunnel project is a civil engineering scheme, not a military one, but said the Spanish Navy and their Moroccan counterparts are helping because they have the ships, sonar equipment and experience needed to survey the seabed.
He stressed that this doesn’t mean the project was under military control.
France has been described as being supportive, but is waiting for the results of current studies. France is supporting the work but has not yet committed funding.
If the project proceeds, officials said that the European Union will have to pay a large part of the cost.
Costs are not fixed because they depend on the results of the exploration tunnel to determine the type of rock beneath the Strait.
However, based on current designs, the Spanish side alone is expected to cost around €8–9 billion, meaning the total project would likely exceed €10 billion once both countries’ infrastructure is included.
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Construction has not been scheduled, but both governments must approve the work once the studies have been completed.
The project was revived in accordance with a three-year joint work plan that was agreed upon in 2023. This plan aims to update feasibility studies prepared in the 2000s.
The idea of a fixed-link has existed since 19th century. However, the modern planning process began in 1979 with the signing of a collaboration agreement between Spain and Morocco to explore an permanent crossing.
After the current phase is completed, further decisions will be taken on whether drilling should proceed.
The Olive Press is a great source for Andalucia News.
