José Luis Ábalos announces boost to reopen international Zaragoza-Canfranc-Pau railway line

The ministry announced that this meeting will lead to the start of the boost to reopen this line, which the two countries committed to at the France-Spain Summit held a month ago.

To this end, and thanks to the agreement signed back in October 2020 with the Regional Government of Nouvelle- Aquitaine, the Spanish minister also reported that the contract will soon be formalised to draw up the rehabilitation studies of Somport Tunnel, which will lay out the characteristics of the future Zaragoza- Canfranc-Pau international line reflected in the convergence studies already completed.

José Luis Ábalos similarly underlined that his ministerial department is making progress on drafting the Informative Study to implement a standard gauge line on the stretch from Huesca to Canfranc and, with the aim of achieving an integral concept of the line that truly provides the inter-modality sought by his department. Standard gauge connections to the PLAZA and PLHUS logistics platforms in Zaragoza and Huesca are also under study.

Improvements in the Huesca-Canfranc railway line

In addition to this work, the minister also referred to the work related to improving the current railway line from Huesca to Canfranc, with such actions as the renovation of the line between Plasencia del Monte and Ayerbe, which has been put out to tender, and the stretches from Ayerbe to Caldearenas and from Jaca to Canfranc, the supervision of the design of which is in its final stage.

The Minister for Transport stressed that the new Canfranc station will also lead to an effective increase in goods transport by railway, in line with the goals of the mobility strategy of his department, so that Spain can bring itself closer to the European average.

Within this framework, a large number of actions will be implemented, among which the minister highlighted the financial support to purchase alternative energy locomotives, of particular interest on this line given that, as announced back in November by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, the consortium in which Adif and Renfe participate is developing a hydrogen train that will be tested on the Zaragoza-Canfranc line.

New station in Canfranc

During his speech, José Luis Ábalos described the opening of the new station in Canfranc as a great achievement because it begins a new era in the important history of this international station, fully incorporating it in the 21st Century.

This station is iconic in Spain's railway architecture, which is more than enough reason for the minister to conserve it, as the Regional Government of Aragon is doing together with the Ministry of Transport, through the 1.5% tax contribution to culture. This is a global project where the ministerial department, Adif, the Regional Government of Aragon and the local council all converge, each in their own area, with a firm and decisive commitment to enhance our heritage and history.

The minister recalled that this new station is a symbol of a gesture from Spain to France so that, henceforth, the connection can be made to convert it into an alternative to the current coastal cross-border crossings, both for passengers and for goods.

Lastly, José Luis Ábalos expressed his gratitude for the efforts being made by all the professionals at Adif and the Regional Government of Aragon, who are working to ensure that the new Canfranc station becomes a reality, and he highly praised the institutional collaboration between his ministerial department, the regional government and the Local Council of Canfranc to continue breathing life into one of the most important fixtures in Spain's historical railway heritage.

At the event, the minister also handed over a copy of the book "Canfranc. The Pyrenean station" to those attending, by the author Ezequiel Usón Guardiol, with his own prologue and promoted by the Spanish Railway Foundation, which outlines the historic journey of this international station until present times.

Non official translation