The Basque Government's Ministry of Sustainable Mobility completing the excavation work for the future Centro-La Concha station on the Topo railway bypass

The Basque Government's Ministry of Sustainable Mobility, through Euskal Trenbide Sarea, will complete the excavation work for the future Centro-La Concha station on the Miraconcha-Easo section of the Topo railway bypass in the first fortnight of September. Work will then begin on the concrete coating and waterproofing for the terminal to start taking shape; the Bentaberri station will have been finished, and the civil work for the Easo station completed this month with the tiles being laid on the mezzanines or entrance hall. 

This morning, the new Basque Government Minister for Sustainable Mobility, Susana García Chueca, held her first work meeting with the Mayor of Donostia/San Sebastián, Eneko Goia, at the Pío Baroja site offices; they there discussed the progress of the Topo railway bypass works. It is a strategic project for the future of the mobility of the capital of Gipuzkoa that the Minister wanted to see for herself during her first public visit after taking up her post. Both institutional representatives, accompanied by the Basque Deputy Minister for Infrastructures and Transport, Pedro Marco, and municipal and ETS representatives, went down into the Centro-La Concha excavation site; the Topo station being built there is expected to be the one with the largest number of passengers once it comes into service. 

Two roadheaders are currently working on site, on the Pío Baroja and Morlans fronts. The ETS construction manager explained in situ about the situation of the station's track access. The concrete coating of the Xabier Zubiri one will be completed this month. Work on the concrete coating of the Loiola access is going to begin and will be finished by the end of this year. The sill concreting of the San Bartolomé access will start this month, and everything will be left ready for when the City Council has approved the urban planning for the slope of the same name.

As regards the external works, four out of the 6 wells to be made using the raise-boring method have been dug. One of the two emergency ventilation wells planned in the Plaza Zaragoza square still has to be dug, while the other has to be coated. The coating of the emergency ventilations on Calle San Bartolomé will be completed by August; that will mean that one of the two existing lanes can be opened to road traffic, as the section between the Easo and Urbieta streets is currently close off for the excavation work to be carried out. In that same month, the canopy will be fitted for the lift to access the Centro-La Concha station from Calle Easo. The urban development work for this street and San Bartolomé will be put out to tender in that same month. 

During her first visit to the Topo site as minister, Susana García Chueca stressed the importance of this "strategic project for the future of mobility in Gipuzkoa". “In just a few years", she pointed out, "nobody will be able to imagine this city without the Topo, public transport that will provide the city with universal, modern and accessible mobility; it will also free up space to provide the Amara neighbourhood and San Sebastián with more housing, space for amenities and leisure, and that will improve the quality of life of the local residents". 

The Topo railway bypass will run underground for 4.2 kilometres, divided into two sections, Lugaritz-Miraconcha — whose civil works ended in June 2022 — and Miraconcha-Easo.