New Rail Infrastructure Intelligence

The aim of the New Rail Infrastructure Observation Project (NRIOP) is an educational initiative to provide deeper geographic understanding of developing Long Distance / High Speed Railway network infrastructures. I invite the interested enthusiast to dig into Google Earth close up views to follow civil construction and reflect how new rail infrastructure interacts with territory and existing networks. Or just feed and enjoy curiosity discovering all the details when zooming in...

The maps show new alignments effectively built during the past 25years. Only new alignemnts are included, no double tracking or speed upgrading of existing lines.

Please note that Maps (Links on the left) use Google Maps technology, and thus Data may transferred to Google.
If this is an issue for you, please consult Google's privacy policies.

Suggestoions / Kudos are welcome (see "comment on this page" below)!

Country: Algeria
Algeria is currently constructing thousands line kilometers for speeds up to 220km/h. Mainly enabled by its strong oil exports, the country currently offers itself an extremely ambitious infrastructure program. Follow the red link below to access the Algeria Railway Map
Region: Kashmir Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL) line
Mapping research project of USBRL (Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line) project. USBRL is a remarkably tough construction project being executed in India.
The line should connect Kashmir Valley in north western India with Jammu railway station and hence to the national network.
The 356 km railway is partly in service, but its 129km central section crossing the difficult himalayan mountain range faces ongoing severe problems and delays since construction began in 2002.
Country: Saudi Arabia
A 450km high speed line is being built through desertic landscapes to link Makkah with Madinah via Jeddah should be in operation from ~~2016~~,~~2017~~,2018 with 36 Talgo 350 trainsets running at speeds up to 320km/h.
Country: Spain
Behind China, Spain has so far build the second longest high-speed railway network. Despite the crisis the network is developing at fast pace, but not all projects that have been initiated will be terminated.
Country: Turkey
Country: Venezuela
Venezuela is engaged in an ambition railway infrastructure construction plan. Four lines totaling around 1000km were tendered during the 1990ies and the decade 2000, but only one line of 108km has been put into service (2006).
The most intriguing motivation however for the creation of this map was the fact that there seems to be no reliable map available showing new line status with works under way, abandoned or never started.
Also, satellite imagery reveals where new lines lead to ...

Sample screen shots

Three screenshots showing how High Speed infrastructure as documented by the NRIOP maps.

Spain: La Encina Junction

Spain: LAV south of Madrid

Spain: LAV Murcia - Almeria

Isolated section of what should have once become the LAV Murcia - Almeria whose works were abandoned after the financial crisis. A 7,6km tunnel and some dozen kilometers of track plattforms have been built.

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