Bilbao's Long-Awaited Rail Bypass Adds a Second Tunnel Section, Won Not by the Lowest Bidder But the Best Technical Case

Standfirst

Euskal Trenbide Sarea, the Basque Railway Network, has awarded a EUR 58 905 094.89 contract for the second section of Bilbao's long delayed Southern Railway Bypass to a consortium of Bycam, Altuna y Uria and Jaizubia, beating five rival bids from Spain's largest construction groups, including two that actually offered lower prices. The notice's own reported total value, however, does not match the winning bid at all.

Introduction

For more than two decades, freight trains bound for the Port of Bilbao have rumbled directly through the town centres of Santurtzi, Portugalete, Sestao and Barakaldo, along the left bank of the Nervión estuary. The Variante Sur Ferroviaria, Bilbao's Southern Railway Bypass, is meant to end that, rerouting freight traffic away from residential streets and finally giving the port a direct rail link to Spain's high speed and international rail network and from there to the rest of Europe.

The project's second construction section has just been awarded, a 1.8 kilometre stretch running entirely through Barakaldo, including a mined tunnel and an emergency exit. Six of Spain's leading construction groups competed for the work and the winning bid was not the cheapest on the table, a detail that says a great deal about how this contract was actually decided.

Why This Contract Matters

The Southern Railway Bypass has been a long standing priority for the Basque Country, formalised through a 2017 collaboration agreement between Spain's central government, the Basque Government and ADIF, Spain's national rail infrastructure manager, under which the Basque Government's Euskal Trenbide Sarea executes the project on the central government's behalf, with costs offset through Spain's regional fiscal compensation mechanism rather than paid directly by the Basque budget. The bypass will connect the Port of Bilbao to Spain's high speed rail network and, through the Atlantic Corridor of the EU's Trans-European Transport Network, onward into Europe, a link the port currently lacks entirely.

This specific section, running between the Burtxako and Río Castaños points, is the second of Phase 1's seven planned sections to be awarded, following the Serantes tunnel section already under construction. A third section, between Río Castaños and the Baxatxu tunnel, was separately put out to tender in August 2026 at an estimated EUR 97.2 million, meaning more than half of Phase 1's roughly 12 kilometre route is now either under construction or actively being procured.

Contract Timeline

• Procedure type: Open procedure under Directive 2014/24/EU
• Contract concluded: 29 July 2026
• Notice dispatched to the Publications Office: 11 August 2026
• Published in the Official Journal, OJ S 154/2026: 12 August 2026
• Execution period: 36 months from commencement

Contract Overview

Euskal Trenbide Sarea ran an open procedure for construction of the Burtxako to Río Castaños section of the Southern Railway Bypass's first phase, with an estimated value of EUR 76 641 129.64. Six tenders were submitted and the contract was awarded to a joint venture of Bycam, Altuna y Uria and Jaizubia, with a winning bid of EUR 58 905 094.89, notably not the lowest of the six bids received.

The notice's results section states the total value of all contracts awarded as EUR 357 459 185.42, a figure roughly six times larger than the actual winning tender value and unsupported by any other figure in the document. This appears to be a data reporting error and readers should treat the EUR 58 905 094.89 tender value, consistent with the procedure's estimated value and the range of competing bids, as the reliable figure for this contract.

Key Contract Details

Project Scope

The section runs 1.8 kilometres entirely within the municipality of Barakaldo and includes a mined tunnel of that length plus a 477 metre emergency exit emerging onto Mesperuza street. The rail platform is designed for a double track, electrified line on slab track built to mixed gauge, capable of carrying both standard European gauge and Iberian gauge trains, reflecting the bypass's role connecting the Port of Bilbao to both Spain's domestic network and the wider European high speed system. Both the main tunnel and the emergency exit incorporate artificial tunnel sections at their portals, designed to improve landscape integration and support environmental restoration of the surrounding slopes.

About the Contracting Authority

Euskal Trenbide Sarea, the Basque Railway Network, is a regional authority based in Bilbao, active in general public services, functioning as the Basque Country's railway infrastructure manager. Under a 2017 collaboration agreement between Spain's central government, the Basque Government and ADIF, ETS was entrusted with drafting the studies and construction projects, contracting and executing the works and managing related administrative processes for the Southern Railway Bypass, with the central government ultimately bearing the cost through Spain's regional fiscal compensation system.

About the Organisations Involved

Euskal Trenbide Sarea

As covered above, ETS is the buyer and executing body for this contract, delegated authority for the Southern Railway Bypass by Spain's central government.

Órgano Administrativo de Recursos Contractuales

The Basque Country's Administrative Body for Contractual Appeals is named as the review organisation for this contract, with a 15 day window from the day following publication or notification of the contested decision to file a challenge.

UTE Bycam + Altuna y Uria + Jaizubia

The winning consortium pairs three construction firms under a Unión Temporal de Empresas, Spain's standard joint venture structure for public works. Independent reporting on the award confirms the consortium comprises Bycam, Altuna y Uria and Jaizubia and that their winning bid carried a 36 month execution period, matching this notice.

Ferrovial Construcción, Construcciones Amenabar and Construcciones Mariezcurrena

This consortium submitted the lowest bid received, EUR 58 104 702.61, roughly EUR 800 000 below the eventual winner, yet did not win the contract. Ferrovial is one of Spain's and the world's largest infrastructure and construction groups and its consortium's loss despite the lowest price underscores how heavily this tender's evaluation weighted technical and quality factors over cost.

UTE Viuda de Sainz - Lurpelan - Copasa, FCC - Nortunel - Cycasa, UTE Campezo - AZVI - IZA and TECSA

Four further consortiums and firms competed unsuccessfully: Viuda de Sainz, Lurpelan and Copasa as a joint venture at EUR 59 078 233.99; FCC, Nortunel and Cycasa at EUR 58 342 980.58, also below the winning bid; Campezo, AZVI and IZA as a joint venture at EUR 63 867 608.03, the highest bid received; and TECSA, Empresa Constructora, S.A. bidding alone at EUR 59 160 565.32. Together with the winner and the Ferrovial led consortium, this represents a genuinely blue chip field of Spanish infrastructure contractors, all based in or operating from Bizkaia for this tender.

Procurement Analysis

This was a conventional open procedure, but its award criteria tell an important story. Price, described as the economic proposal, carried only 31 of 100 points, while technical and quality factors combined carried 69: a technical report worth 49 points, technician experience worth 8, gender equality within the assigned team worth 4, an extended work warranty worth 4 and quality control measures worth a further 4. That weighting explains why the contract went to a bid that was neither the cheapest nor close to it: two competing consortiums, including one led by Ferrovial, one of Spain's largest construction companies, offered lower prices and still lost.

Six tenders for a single, large scale tunnel construction contract is a strong, genuinely competitive field, with all six bids clustering within a fairly narrow band between roughly EUR 58.1 million and EUR 63.9 million, aside from the highest bid. That tight clustering suggests the market had a clear, shared view of what this specific scope of tunnel work should cost, leaving quality and technical differentiation, rather than price alone, to decide the outcome.

The notice's reported total awarded value of EUR 357 459 185.42 does not correspond to the winning tender, the estimated value or any evident combination of the competing bids and appears to be a data entry error rather than a genuine figure. Businesses and analysts referencing this notice for market sizing should rely on the EUR 58 905 094.89 tender value instead.

Additional Procurement Facts

• This contract is confirmed as not covered by the Government Procurement Agreement and as not financed with EU funds.
• None of the six tenders received, winning or otherwise, involve subcontracting.
• Two of the six tenders came from micro, small or medium enterprises; no tenders were received from bidders registered outside Spain.
• The award criteria's inclusion of a specific gender equality in the assigned team criterion reflects a social sustainability dimension increasingly common in major Spanish public works tenders.

Market and Industry Perspective

This tender offers a clear snapshot of which firms dominate large scale Spanish tunnel and rail infrastructure construction: Ferrovial, FCC, TECSA, COPASA and a cluster of established Basque and Spanish civil engineering specialists all competed directly, confirming Bizkaia's rail infrastructure programme as a genuine draw for the country's biggest contractors, not solely regional players. That the contract went to a smaller, three firm regional consortium over a Ferrovial led bid and did so on technical merit rather than price, is a notable data point for how ETS evaluates its infrastructure contracts.

Economic Significance

At EUR 58 905 094.89 for a single 1.8 kilometre section, this contract sits within a Phase 1 programme previously estimated at EUR 484.7 million in total, itself part of a project decades in the making. The bypass's broader economic significance lies in unlocking direct rail access between the Port of Bilbao and Europe's high speed and international rail network, a connection with implications for the port's long term competitiveness and the wider logistics economy of the Basque Country.

Future Procurement Opportunities

With five of Phase 1's seven sections still to be awarded beyond this one, including the already tendered Río Castaños to Baxatxu section at an estimated EUR 97.2 million, substantial further contracting activity is expected as ETS continues rolling out the bypass. Contractors who competed but did not win this section, including Ferrovial's consortium, remain well positioned to bid on the sections still to come.

Opportunities for Suppliers

Civil engineering and tunnelling contractors active in northern Spain should treat this award as confirmation of a substantial, multi year pipeline of further Southern Railway Bypass sections still to be tendered. Given the evaluation's heavy technical weighting, firms preparing future bids should prioritise the strength of their technical proposals, team experience and quality assurance commitments as much as or more than, price competitiveness.

What Businesses Should Watch

• The outcome of the Río Castaños to Baxatxu section, already tendered at an estimated EUR 97.2 million with a 40 month execution period.
• Progress on the Serantes tunnel section, the first Phase 1 section awarded and already under construction.
• Whether ETS or the Publications Office corrects the notice's unreconciled total awarded value figure.
• Broader progress toward Phase 1's completion, connecting the Serantes tunnel to Olabeaga and subsequent planning for Phase 2 extending to Arrigorriaga.

SpainTenders.com Procurement Intelligence

This award is one of the clearer illustrations available of how a heavily quality weighted evaluation formula can genuinely change a tender's outcome, not just in theory but in practice. With price worth less than a third of the total score, a consortium bidding roughly EUR 800 000 above the cheapest offer still won, on the strength of its technical proposal, team experience and quality commitments. Contractors bidding into similarly structured Spanish infrastructure tenders should treat that outcome as confirmation that price competitiveness alone is not a reliable path to winning when quality criteria carry this much weight.

The unreconciled total value figure in this notice is also a useful reminder for anyone building market intelligence from TED data at scale: individual notice fields can and do contain errors and cross checking a headline number against the underlying tender values, as this case required, remains essential practice rather than an optional refinement.

Strategically, this contract is best understood as one instalment in a genuinely significant, decades awaited infrastructure programme. Suppliers positioning for the Basque Country's continued rail investment, spanning the remaining Southern Railway Bypass sections and its planned second phase toward Arrigorriaga, should treat ETS as a sustained, multi year source of major civil engineering contracts rather than a one off opportunity.

Supplier Takeaways

• Price carried only 31 percent of the evaluation score here and the winning bid was not the cheapest of six received, underscoring the real weight of technical and quality criteria in this tender.
• Six major Spanish and Basque contractors competed, including Ferrovial, FCC, TECSA and COPASA, confirming this as a genuinely contested, blue chip infrastructure market.
• The notice's stated total awarded value does not match the actual winning tender, a reminder to verify headline figures against underlying data.
• Further Southern Railway Bypass sections remain to be tendered, including one already launched at an estimated EUR 97.2 million.
• Social criteria, including a specific gender equality measure for the assigned project team, are now a standard, scored component of major Basque public works tenders.

Key Takeaways

• Euskal Trenbide Sarea awarded the Burtxako to Río Castaños section of Bilbao's Southern Railway Bypass to a consortium of Bycam, Altuna y Uria and Jaizubia, for EUR 58 905 094.89.
• Six tenders were received from major Spanish construction groups and the winning bid was not the lowest, reflecting a 69 percent quality weighted evaluation.
• This is the second of seven Phase 1 sections of the Southern Railway Bypass to be awarded, following the Serantes tunnel section already under construction.
• The notice's own stated total awarded value, EUR 357 459 185.42, does not match the actual winning tender and appears to be a reporting error.
• The bypass will connect the Port of Bilbao directly to Spain's high speed rail network and Europe's Atlantic Corridor, removing freight traffic from several Left Bank municipalities.
• Execution is scheduled to take 36 months from commencement.

Conclusion

A rail bypass more than twenty years in the making has just added its second confirmed section, awarded not to the lowest bidder but to the consortium judged best able to deliver the technical and quality standard Bilbao's authorities were looking for. For the towns along the Nervión's left bank still waiting for freight trains to leave their streets and for the Port of Bilbao still waiting for its European rail connection, that is one more concrete step, quite literally, toward a project whose full completion remains several contracts and several years away.

Source: Tenders Electronic Daily (TED), Contract Award Notice 557105-2026, Official Journal of the European Union, OJ S 154/2026, published on 12 August 2026.