The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has restored traffic on the Zaragoza-Huesca-Canfranc line on Monday, June 9th, following the completion of works carried out by Adif for the comprehensive renovation of this infrastructure, with an investment exceeding 180 million euros.
The Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano, accompanied by the Government Delegate in Aragon, Fernando Beltán, attended the reopening of this line, which, after its modernization, «will reduce the travel time between Zaragoza and Canfranc by up to 30 minutes,» as highlighted.
Santano was able to experience the time savings of the new infrastructure on the first trip between Canfranc and Jaca, «a milestone that will improve the lives of people by becoming a hub of connection, development, and opportunities for the residents of the Aragonese Pyrenees, for travelers seeking a sustainable transport alternative, and for companies in need of a modern and competitive logistics network.»
The Secretary of State stated, «Today is one of those days that we can mark as a railway milestone, and I can’t think of a better place than this Canfranc station to talk about the railway’s future.» He mentioned that Canfranc is «a link between the past and the future of the railway in Aragon and throughout Spain.»
The Zaragoza-Huesca-Canfranc line «holds great sentimental value for the people of Aragon, but it will also be very useful for daily life. With this, we want to demonstrate through actions that investment in the railway is not just a speech but a reality. It’s not only a reality in high-speed lines, which are sometimes the most flashy or perhaps the most well-known, but the Ministry of Transport and the Government of Spain are clearly committed to the recovery of conventional railway lines.»
According to Santana, another significant milestone will be reached in Canfranc «when we are able to restore the international connection through the Somport tunnel; we are working on it.» He added, «The president of Adif announced it not long ago, right here in Canfranc. Adif is already working on the project, having tendered the project in January to recover the tunnel, a significant work costing over 90 million euros.»
He continued by mentioning that, at the request of Minister Óscar Puente, during the last summit in Luxembourg, he met with the French Minister of Transport, discussing, among other topics, the Somport tunnel and the possibility of reopening it. «The reception was very positive.»
### Actions
The actions have been focused on the Ayerbe-Caldearenas and Jaca-Canfranc sections, with a total length of 61 km, in addition to the completed works in 2022 between Plasencia del Monte and Ayerbe (20.7 kilometers). Furthermore, new traffic management facilities are being implemented: electronic interlockings, automatic release blocks, and telecommunications with GSM-R technology.
All of this contributes to an increase in reliability, availability, and functionality of the infrastructure, allowing for optimization of maintenance tasks.
FUENTE