The Sagrada Família church asks the Spanish courts to halt construction on the high-speed rail train

They say the protection walls are being constructed one meter from the temple instead of two, as specified by Adif's project • They also denounce that the construction has begun before the security report has been completed

The Junta Constructora de la Sagrada Família [Board of the Sagrada Familia Church] has presented a request to the National Court of Spain that the construction on the walls of the future tunnel of the high-speed rail trains that pass underneath Mallorca Street be partially halted. The temple's architect, Jordi Bonet, explained that this wall can not be so close to the temple, and that this will "completely" change the calculations made up until now on the possible effects on the temple and that the construction must be immediately stopped "before it's too late".

The president of the board, Joan Rigol, explained that "constructing the pillars of the wall six feet away "was already risky, and constructing them four feet away is extremely worrisome."

This is the third suit that the Board has presented to the National Court against the construction. So far, the two earlier suits have been denied. They also consider that Adif is pursuing a policy of "fait accomplis" because it has begun the construction on the screen that has to protect the structure of the temple before the presentation of the technical security report.

Originally published in VilaWeb on 23 October 2009 at 18:15h