Contracting authority: Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (Adif).

The works at Sants Station consist of constructing three shafts with an inner diameter of 9 metres to be used as an evacuation exit from the LAV tunnel, redeveloping the affected area, and integrating the four emergency exits. In response to the need for three new emergency exits in the Sants-Sagrera tunnel, three new shafts were designed: 41.00 m deep at the junctions of Urgel and Provenza streets, 40.00 m deep at the junctions of Nápoles and Mallorca streets, and 49.00 m deep at the junctions of Independencia and Mallorca streets.

A vertical tunnel boring machine, a technology rarely used in the country, is used for this operation. The European Quality Assurance agency certified a Sando construction solution as a technological innovation, called SALIEMELAV, which the company’s R&D&i Department designed for the works at Sants Station. This innovation ensured the stability of the shaft excavation without the risk of siphoning, sand and gravel entrainment or bottom uplift. Approximately 120,000 m³ of land and 220,000 m³ of embankment will be cleared.