The TMZ extension will be ready in October and will allow trains to be unloaded in 18 minutes

The second phase of the expansion of the Zaragoza Maritime Terminal is currently going to be put out to tender.

Vanesa Aso Martín Thursday, February 13, 2025 / 09:14

The Zaragoza Maritime Terminal will begin its second phase of expansion next April. The works, which have an investment of 4.1 million euros, will last seven months and will end in October. They include the construction of a new railway connection to the northeast, converting the Zaragoza Maritime Terminal into a through terminal.

“This means that the trains arriving will be much more effective and efficient, moving in the same direction. As a result, they will be able to be unloaded in 18 minutes . This is a record time compared to the various bottlenecks that occur at other terminals,” said the Mayor of Zaragoza, Natalia Chueca.

Specifically, these works will make it possible to create a railway junction that will unify the three tracks of the terminal, connecting with the railway line with exits to Catalonia, the North and Madrid. This in turn means having the capacity for 1,000-metre trains or allowing two 500-metre trains to be loaded with containers at the same time, as well as the possibility of being open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The mayor of Zaragoza, Natalia Chueca, visited TMZ this Wednesday

The director of TMZ, Ramón Adé, has positively valued this second phase, which will be tendered in March, but also the 50% increase in storage capacity that the first phase represented. “Although we did not operate trains, we were able to provide service to Aragonese customers, receiving the merchandise and storing it. Without this expansion we would have had to close and many industries would have been forced to stop their production,” he said.

TMZ INCREASED TRAIN TRAFFIC BY 46%

Currently, the TMZ has an average of 177 trains per month, although after the significant drop in activity in 2024 due to the impact of the works on the general Adif network, 258 trains were operated in January 2025, which represents an increase of 46%. In this sense, Adé hopes that these works can be completed in March to fully recover normality.

The director of the Maritime Terminal has also spoken out about the works carried out by Adif, which will also interrupt traffic between Zaragoza and Sagunto. He has stated that “we do not expect them to have any impact” , since at present the main connectivity is with the ports of Bilbao, Barcelona or Algeciras.