Méndez Álvaro is once again at the center of Madrid’s construction map, this time for a very hot topic: the AVE. The construction of the new Atocha through station —the infrastructure that will allow high-speed trains to cross the capital from south to north without turning back— will be carried out, literally, under the street, and that will mean a total shutdown “for many months” that will affect the mobility of half of Madrid.
Adif is already taking the first steps with underground testing, diversion of supplies, and partial occupation of sidewalks and roadways, but the main event will come when it is time to excavate the box for the future station under Méndez Álvaro. The new infrastructure, located below the current Atocha station, will directly connect the high-speed lines coming from the south and east with the corridor to Chamartín, eliminating the bottleneck at the terminus station and allowing AVE trains to pass through Madrid as if it were just another stop. The total execution period is around seven years, with a minimum horizon of 2031, and much of that time will involve work underground on this key street in the Arganzuela district.
A total closure… but not immediate
Méndez Álvaro Station | Editorial credit: GenadiyGM | shutterstock.com
Although Adif’s project requires Méndez Álvaro to be completely closed, the work will not be immediate and is expected to begin in a year’s time. The delegate for Urban Planning, Environment, and Mobility, Borja Carabante, has explained that the area is already heavily affected by the extension work on Metro line 11, so it would be unfeasible to take on a second major road closure at the same time. The municipal plan is to authorize only small occupations, for ventilation shafts, emergency rooms, and test pits, and to postpone the total closure for at least a year, with the horizon set for the end of 2027, when L11 is expected to be completed.
When the time comes for the complete closure, the impact will be enormous, because Méndez Álvaro is one of the connecting hubs between the south of the city, the M-30, Atocha, the South Bus Station, and the entire Delicias area. The closure will force the EMT to redesign its routes, divert traffic to parallel streets such as Delicias, Méndez Álvaro Baja, and Embajadores, and will be a new black spot for traffic jams during rush hour while the works are ongoing. Carabante speaks of “very severe road closures” that will last for months and acknowledges that the City Council and Adif have been studying scenarios for some time to minimize the chaos in Arganzuela and on the access roads to Atocha.
At the same time, Adif and the City Council have agreed to remodel the Cercanías and Metro lobby in Méndez Álvaro, as well as improve the connection with the South Bus Station and between the different train lines, reinforcing the role of this hub as a major interchange in the south of the capital.
In the short term, residents are already noticing the start of the work: fencing, lane closures, tree transplanting, and the noise of machinery at various points along the street. In the medium term, they will have to cope with traffic diversions, changes in direction and, later on, the total closure of the road, which some local associations estimate could last several years while the station’s above-ground and underground structures are built.