The Community of Madrid has awarded the consortium formed by FCC and Caja Madrid the concession to build and operate the extension of line 8 of Metro de Madrid from the Barajas underground station to the new intermodal transfer facility at Terminal T-4 of the Madrid airport.

The concession will be for a twenty-year period, which includes construction. The forecast investment in this project comes to over 50 million euros.

The winning bid offers the lowest technical fare of the six consortiums participating in the tender.

The project consists in 2.5 kilometres of tunnel, 1.6 kilometres of which will be drilled with a tunnelling machine from the current cul-de-sac station at the town of Barajas to the new combined railway/metro station at the airport's new terminal area.

FCC and Caja Madrid will create a concessionaire company to carry out the investments. The necessary financing will be covered entirely with equity.

Construction will last seven months and is therefore anticipated to finish in February 2007. The first train is scheduled to run in April, after two months of testing. It is calculated that in the first year the section will be used by over four million passengers.

A special ticket will be created for travellers riding the new infrastructure. Nevertheless the "abono transporte" travelcard will be accepted. The concession holder's remuneration will depend on the payments the Regional Transport Consortium will make, on the basis of actual demand by travellers using the special ticket and the technical fare offered in the bid. This remuneration will also be subject to deductions, which will be set on the basis of compliance with quality standards.

This activity forms part of the Community of Madrid's 2003-2007 Metro System Expansion Programme. The new section will be integrated into the Metro system, such that passenger transport service will be the responsibility of Metro de Madrid.