Madrid–Extremadura high-speed rail line

The infrastructure is built with multi-purpose railroad ties, set for Iberian gauge but allowing for a future switch to standard gauge.^[6] It is single track from Badajoz to Mérida and double track from Mérida to Plasencia.^[4]

The Badajoz–Plasencia new railway line entered in service on 19 July 2022 after its institutional inauguration in June 2022, but was not yet electrified and the speed was limited to 200 km/h (120 mph), planned to be increased to 250 km/h (160 mph) when the line will be electrified.^[7][8] The first phase of the electrification is scheduled to be completed in September 2023, when a first test train will circulate between Plasencia and Cáceres (the same will be done later on Cáceres–Badajoz, where the electrification work is also being finalized).^[9]

The Oropesa segment of the track will be 68.6 km (42.6 mi) long.^[4]

127 km (79 mi) long, it will consist of a passenger only double track segment between Madrid and Talavera de la Reina and mixed passenger-freight traffic from Talavera de la Reina to Oropesa.^[4]

The extension to Portugal, the Lisbon–Madrid high-speed rail line, forms part of the Trans-European high-speed rail network, which in turn is one of a number of the European Union's Trans-European transport networks (TEN-T). It was defined by the Council Directive 96/48/EC of 23 July 1996.^[10] Although in 2012 the project was formally cancelled on the Portuguese side of the project as not being financially viable,^[11] it was brought back in 2020 as the Portuguese government saw new opportunities.

The current plan is to open the line by sections on the "South International Corridor", between the Spanish border and Lisbon via Évora (and with another branch from Évora towards the port of Sines).As of March 2023, the line between Badajoz and Lisbon was planned to be opened in 2024, with a journey time between Lisbon and Badajoz of 1 hour 50 minutes.^[12]The line is currently planned to fully open by 2030.

The border section Badajoz–Elvas is composed of :

• a Spanish section.
• a Portuguese section Elvas–Caia (11 km, 6.8 mi), whose modernization was achieved in 2020.^[13]

From Elvas to Évora, a 90 km (56 mi) section of new line is currently under construction, named "New line of Évora" (Portuguese Nova Linha de Évora [pt]), which will allow operational speeds up to 250 km/h (160 mph).^{[14][15][16][17]}As of March 2023, this section, designed for a maximum speed of 300 km/h (190 mph), was planned to be completed by the end of 2023.^[12]This will be the first high-speed line section to be opened in Portugal (the high-speed sections opened until then were upgraded lines with lower speed).^[12]

The line from Évora to Lisbon via Poceirão, with a new bridge over the Tagus River (as in the original plan) is planned to be upgraded.^[14][15][16] 100 km (62 mi) of upgraded railway is in service where Intercity trains run at 200 km/h (120 mph) on the upgraded single track.^{[citation needed]}

• Alfa Pendular at CP (Train Operator Company) official page
• Infraestruturas de Portugal (Rail and Road Infrastracture company formed from the merger of REFER and Estradas de Portugal)
• REFER (Rail Infrastructure company, now a part of Infraestruturas de Portugal)
• RAVE - Rede de Alta Velocidade (Defunct High Speed Infr. Company, merged with REFER)