High speed from Madrid to the AtlanticThe 87.1 km-long section from Ourense to Santiago de Compostela on the Madrid-Galicia electrified high-speed line is European standard, double track. It passes through difficult topography and geology, requiring the construction of 30 tunnels with a total length of 28.5 km, of which about 4 km are cut/cover. Currently work is underway on 82 km of the alignment and excavation of the 17 tunnels shown below is completed. At Santiago the line will connect with the Atlantic axis from Ferrol and La Coruna to Vigo and the Portuguese border, which is also under construction. Visit tunnelbuilder archive es/45 for more contract details and www.adif.es for more about the Spanish high-speed rail system, which will be the longest in the world by 2012, and by 2020 will have 10,000 km in use.