The gestation of the ‘Renewals Plan’, which was launched in 2000 and came about thanks to the Contract Programme signed by the Spanish central Administration and ADIF, led to a great number of renewal works executed on tracks and railway electrification systems of regular lines belonging to ADIF.

Renewal of section Xàtiva-Silla forms part of the improvement works performed in the line Valencia-Encina, intended to improve railway transport of such line and, specifically, the commuting railway service in the province of Valencia. Operations developed throughout the project were based on the definition of the section needs, which are included in the Functional Analysis and encompass the section’s comprehensive renewal.

The section to be renewed was approximately 34km long from Pobla Llarga station entrance (K.P. 68/295) up to Silla train station exit (K.P. 101/328) -a dual-electrified track. In the section, 6 train stations, 2 halts and a great number of bridges among which the 45m central span steel bridge over river Júcar stands out can be found. The horizontal alignment of the line shows wide radius curvatures between 450m and 4,850m, and up to 5km long straight sections. In terms of elevation, the section runs through a flat area, being the maximum slope 5.48 thousandths.

Operations were intended to repair detected singularities affecting the safety of railway installations in the rail section analyzed. Works were executed both in the infrastructure (longitudinal and transverse drainage, embankments and trenches, 14 bridges and viaducts were repaired, etc.) and superstructure (alignment enhancement, full renewal of section ballast, lane and sleeper, renewal of a number of track devices in different stations, electrification, etc.).