Road sign replacement
Introduction
The Huelva Station, also known as Huelva-Las Metas, is the terminal railway station of Huelva located in the area of Las Metas, in the Spanish city of Huelva in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It was inaugurated in 2018.
Initially the station was going to have the capacity to receive high-speed trains but at the moment the same trains that arrived at the old railway station continue to arrive,[1] although it is confirmed that the High Speed will arrive in Huelva.[2].
The station is located in the area of Las Metas, near the Plaza de El Punto, about a thousand meters from the old station in the direction of Seville on the railway line and framed as the star project of the new Ensanche Sur that will be carried out in said area of the city.[3].
The infrastructure had a budgeted cost of 46.2 million euros[4] and the works were scheduled to last 24 months, extending to 36. Although the completion date (after delaying it on several occasions) was established in the first quarter of 2018,[5] it was finally inaugurated with the first passenger train on April 25, 2018, when it replaced the old Station Huelva-Término[6][7].
Although the station was put into operation on April 25, 2018, 1 week and 1 day later, on May 3, it was officially inaugurated by the Minister of Development Íñigo de la Serna and the Minister of Employment and Social Security Fátima Báñez, along with 150 other political authorities.[8].
The project
Initially, a definitive, high-cost building was going to be built, for which Santiago Calatrava had designed a station with a 300-meter tower, although it did not fit the needs of the city. The Ministry of Development and Adif chose to make a building similar to other stations on the AVE network (León, Vigo...), more economical.[9].
The station had an initial budget that amounted to 61.2 million euros.[10] On April 30, 2010, of the total budget, just over 53 million euros was awarded to the UTE formed by Agrupación Guinovart Obras y Servicios Hispania and Detea for its construction, specifically for the definition of the track yard, electrification, railway safety facilities, platforms, canopies, technical buildings and the services and facilities necessary for their operation. The award period was 24 months, which would conclude with the construction at kilometer point 107 of the Seville-Huelva line of a four-track station divided into two platforms "Andén (transport)") of 400 and 220 meters in length respectively, in principle all of Iberian gauge, although they would be adaptable to international gauge, for high speed.[11] Of the nearly 5,000 meters of tracks, 2,175 m will be on slab and 2,413 m on ballast.[12].