Madrid hides beneath its surface one of the largest infrastructures in the city: a network of secret tunnels designed specifically for security, evacuation and emergency management, which operates with hundreds of workers. Although most citizens only perceive the M-30 as a key ring road, beneath it lies a veritable subway labyrinth that ensures the protection of millions of drivers every year.
The M-30 is home to the largest urban tunnel junction in Europe and the second largest in the world after Tokyo. But beneath the main tunnels through which vehicles circulate, there is another parallel network: emergency and evacuation galleries located up to 65 meters deep, equivalent to a twenty-story building underground. These galleries total nearly 10 kilometers and have been designed to allow mass evacuation in the event of a serious accident, fire or any other emergency. Due to their dimensions, fire trucks can circulate and evacuate legions of people if necessary.
Tunnel design and operation
The emergency galleries are twin tunnels, exclusively for emergency services and maintenance personnel. They are connected to the main tunnels by emergency exits every 200 meters, many of which are also equipped for vehicles. In addition, they have pressurized vestibules that prevent the passage of smoke and fire, and watertight doors every 100 meters that allow compartmentalization of the space to control ventilation and safety in case of fire.
The management and surveillance of this network is the responsibility of the Madrid Calle 30 control center, where more than 1,600 cameras and sensors monitor any incident in real time. A team of more than 100 people, including intervention agents and maintenance technicians, works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to deal with emergencies and maintain the infrastructure in perfect condition. The response time to an incident is just five and a half minutes, and they can close or open the tunnels in a matter of seconds. As was the case during the major blackout of April 28.