LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
Spain is famous for building high speed lines for which there is little demand (with long sections remaining single-tracked), and in some cases building new lines to nowhere, ending in a ski-jump in the fields when the money ran out.
But I didn't realise until recently that Renfe had built a new 282km main line from Madrid to Burgos and then abandoned it after 45 years of operation.
The plan, originally from the Franco era, was to shorten the winding Norte route from Madrid to Burgos via Avila and Valladolid by 90km, by building a straighter route more or less due north from Madrid, via Aranda de Duero.
Construction was part of the job-creation policy of the Franco government and utilised political prisoner labour.
The line was opened in 1968, but was only ever single track and un-electrified, although it did carry some long-distance and Talgo trains from places like Bilbao and Irun.
There were no major towns on the route, which included a 3.9km tunnel at Somosierra, 100km from Madrid
By the 1990s Spain had decided to build a high-speed (standard gauge) line between Madrid and Valladolid, which opened in 2007 and instantly became the primary route - this has been extended to Leon and into Galicia, and will reach Burgos later this year, and this line is 69km shorter than the Norte route .
The electrified and double-track Norte route (diverted in Madrid into Chamartin from the Norte station at Principe Pio) is still a major route and carries freight and regional traffic and the Lisbon sleeper.
But the new "Burgos Direct" route fell into disuse and its 160km central section, including the tunnel, was abandoned in 2012.
The northern third is used for freight to and from Aranda, and the southern stub (26km) is part of the Madrid Cercanias electrified network.
In Burgos itself, the railway has been drastically altered in recent years.
The original Norte station (Avenida), and the connection to the "direct" line, was to the south of the city, but Renfe built a new faster alignment across the northern side of the city with a new station (Rosa de Lima), and abandoned the old southern alignment for a distance of about 10km, including the old station (which still stands).
The old railway alignment is now a major road (Boulevar del Ferrocarril), and the remaining "direct" freight line and its connection with the modern railway is further west.
The old alignment is followable on Google Maps.
There was considerable local opposition to the realignment, partly because the new station is "out of town", but Renfe got its way.
There's a lot of detail about the history of the Burgos Direct line, and of the railway changes in Burgos, in the Spanish version of Wikpedia (use translate for a semi-useful English version).
es.wikipedia.org
es.wikipedia.org
es.wikipedia.org
But I didn't realise until recently that Renfe had built a new 282km main line from Madrid to Burgos and then abandoned it after 45 years of operation.
The plan, originally from the Franco era, was to shorten the winding Norte route from Madrid to Burgos via Avila and Valladolid by 90km, by building a straighter route more or less due north from Madrid, via Aranda de Duero.
Construction was part of the job-creation policy of the Franco government and utilised political prisoner labour.
The line was opened in 1968, but was only ever single track and un-electrified, although it did carry some long-distance and Talgo trains from places like Bilbao and Irun.
There were no major towns on the route, which included a 3.9km tunnel at Somosierra, 100km from Madrid
By the 1990s Spain had decided to build a high-speed (standard gauge) line between Madrid and Valladolid, which opened in 2007 and instantly became the primary route - this has been extended to Leon and into Galicia, and will reach Burgos later this year, and this line is 69km shorter than the Norte route .
The electrified and double-track Norte route (diverted in Madrid into Chamartin from the Norte station at Principe Pio) is still a major route and carries freight and regional traffic and the Lisbon sleeper.
But the new "Burgos Direct" route fell into disuse and its 160km central section, including the tunnel, was abandoned in 2012.
The northern third is used for freight to and from Aranda, and the southern stub (26km) is part of the Madrid Cercanias electrified network.
In Burgos itself, the railway has been drastically altered in recent years.
The original Norte station (Avenida), and the connection to the "direct" line, was to the south of the city, but Renfe built a new faster alignment across the northern side of the city with a new station (Rosa de Lima), and abandoned the old southern alignment for a distance of about 10km, including the old station (which still stands).
The old railway alignment is now a major road (Boulevar del Ferrocarril), and the remaining "direct" freight line and its connection with the modern railway is further west.
The old alignment is followable on Google Maps.
There was considerable local opposition to the realignment, partly because the new station is "out of town", but Renfe got its way.
There's a lot of detail about the history of the Burgos Direct line, and of the railway changes in Burgos, in the Spanish version of Wikpedia (use translate for a semi-useful English version).
Ferrocarril directo Madrid-Burgos - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
Estación del Norte (Burgos) - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
Estación de Burgos Rosa Manzano - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
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