The AVE tunnels under the Cabrera mountains in Sorbas are being sealed up, in order to protect them and save costs until work on the line can be restarted.
ADIF, the railways operator, recognising that Almería probably won’t see a high speed train this decade, has decided the best thing to do is wall them up so it doesn’t have to worry about kids getting in, etc.
The tunnels are the second longest in Spain, and are supposed to be a technological marvel. They cost about 500 million to build.
About 28 km of AVE high speed train network has been built through the Levante of Almeria, costing between 800 million and a billion euros (including those tunnels). The whole project is now abandoned, at least until 2020.
Well, at least they didn’t just dig a great big whole, pour a load of money in, and seal it up again…. Oh wait, that’s exactly what they did. *headdesk*