Northwest Atlantic Corridor

Independent observatory · Asturias · León · Galicia

NorthwestAtlanticCorridor

Open report on the Northwest extension of the Atlantic Corridor —Asturias, León and Galicia. Official data and sources: Adif, the Ministry of Transport (MITMA), Eurostat, OFE, BOE and IDEADIF.

Read the case See programme status Explore the map

The route

From the plateau to the Atlantic

The Atlantic Corridor runs across the plateau to León and forks there: towards Asturias and Galicia, aiming for the Asturian and Galician ports.

0

years of accumulated delay

Sum of slippages against the first publicly promised delivery date. 14 of 62 milestones completed.

See the breakdown in the tracker

Economic context

What is at stake in the northwest

0 bn €

Export powerhouse

Combined exports of Asturias, León and Galicia (2024): real demand for rail.

0 %

Modal gap

Rail share in land freight t-km (2024). EU-27 average: 16.6%. The gap is widening.

0 bn €

Investment under way

Awards recorded on the corridor: the money is moving; the network remains unfinished.

The underlying issue

The delay is the symptom. The missing plan, the disease.

In the Northwest the corridor has been run as a cluster of isolated works; the European Union frames it as a network.

Its infrastructure in Asturias, León and Galicia falls short of the TEN-T standard (Regulation EU 2024/1679): no UIC gauge, no ERTMS signalling, no capacity for 740 m freight trains.

Read the full case

Headline findings

What this monitor says on one page

  • 01

    The plan does not meet the European standard

    The works under way fall short of TEN-T guidelines: no UIC gauge, no ERTMS, no 740 m train capacity. We risk losing core-network status after investing billions.

  • 02

    The numbers confirm the gap, they do not deny it

    In Spain's international freight transport, rail carries just 0.7% of tonnes and it has kept losing share to road since 2019. The corridor's ports barely load freight onto trains: Gijón 4%, Vigo 0.01%. And where access is good, it works: Marín reaches 13.93%, second in Spain.

  • 03

    The programme is running behind schedule

    The sum of the individual slippages of the works across the three territories exceeds a century.

  • 04

    The European window is open; competing requires mature projects

    CEF 2028-2034 multiplies military mobility tenfold: from €1.69bn to €17.6bn (a Commission proposal, now negotiated by Council and Parliament). The northwest barely captured funds from the 2021-2027 cycle, not for ineligibility, but because its key sections are still in drafting. Maturing those projects is precisely what this report asks for.

Start with the case

Structure of the report

One argument, four ways in

See the current state of the corridor at a glance.

  1. 01

    The corridor

    What it is and where it runs

    Asturias, León and Galicia share the northwest end of the Atlantic Corridor. The problem in each, at a glance.

    Open section
  2. 02

    The case

    Why it must be completed

    European mandate, technical gap, economic case and business demand. It ends in what we ask, and of whom.

    Open section
  3. 03

    Evidence

    What the figures say

    Rail share, port traffic across the three territories and business demand. Every figure links to its official source.

    Open section
  4. 04

    Tracking

    How delivery is going

    Programme status, milestone-by-milestone audit and corridor map. Schedule, cost and the UIC freight critical path.

    Open section