La Bañeza – Astorga

The line currently known as 806. La Bañeza – Astorga, is part of the Plasencia-Astorga railway line, which, with a total length of 347 kilometres, was part of the ‘Vía de la Plata’, a railway corridor between Seville and Gijón.

The Plasencia-Astorga line emerged as a grouping of several sections that were merged into a single concession whose public auction was authorised in July 1870, after the sections between Zamora and Astorga via Benavente, and Salamanca and Malpartida de Plasencia via Béjar, were studied. However, it took several years for the planned route to be completed. [1]

In August 1882, the line connecting Astorga with the Madrid-Cáceres line, passing through Béjar, Salamanca, Zamora and Benavente, was declared to be of public interest, thus repealing the previous projects for the Zamora-Astorga and Malpartida-Salamanca lines. [2]

In June 1888 the Compañía del Ferrocarril del Oeste de España obtained the concession. In August 1983 the Plasencia-Hervás section was put into service and that same year, despite the fact that a large part of the line was still under construction, the concessionaire declared itself in suspension of payments, which raised doubts about the profitability of the project. [7] [8] Despite this, the Hervás-Béjar section was put into service in August 1984.

In 1895, the merger between the Western Spain Railway Company and the Madrid to Cáceres and Portugal Railway Company was formalised. The resulting company, the Madrid to Cáceres and Portugal and Western Spain Railway Company, MCP-O, integrated the concession and took responsibility for the line, which was inaugurated in its entirety in June 1896. [3] [4] [5] [6] [9]

In the 1920s, the financial situation of MCP-O was precarious and there were fears for the viability of its network. Faced with this situation, the government seized its lines in 1928 and integrated them into a new company, the Compañía Nacional de los Ferrocarriles del Oeste, which modernised the rolling stock. [10] [11]

In 1935, the National Western Railway Company presented a proposal for the construction of a new variant that would connect the railway to Portugal with the Plasencia-Astorga line, by means of the construction of a new track south of Salamanca known as the La Serna Bifurcation. However, the outbreak of the Civil War brought this project to a standstill until, in 1944, under the administration of RENFE, which had been responsible for it since 1941 when the Iberian gauge national railway network was nationalised, it was finally approved. Work began around 1946, and the new variant was inaugurated in August 1954. [12]

In 1935, the National Western Railway Company presented a proposal for the construction of a new variant that would connect the railway to Portugal with the Plasencia-Astorga line, by means of the construction of a new track south of Salamanca known as the La Serna Bifurcation. However, the outbreak of the Civil War brought this project to a standstill until, in 1944, under the administration of RENFE, which had been responsible for it since 1941 when the Iberian gauge national railway network was nationalised, it was finally approved. Work began around 1946, and the new variant was inaugurated in August 1954.

From January 1985, passenger services were withdrawn from the entire line as part of RENFE’s plan to close loss-making lines, agreed by the Council of Ministers in September 1984. However, freight trains continued to run until September 1996. From that year until 1998, only a small section near Salamanca remained in service. Since 1998, the cessation of activity has led to the progressive abandonment of almost all the infrastructure, as is the case of the section between La Bañeza and Astorga.

In 2005, with the extinction of RENFE, under the framework of Law 39/2003 of the Railway Sector, the line came under the control of Adif like the rest of the RFIG of the State. Currently, line 806 Astorga-La Bañeza has been excluded from the General Interest Railway Network (RFIG) because it is not in operation.

In June 2014, ownership of the section between Plasencia and the Madrid-Valencia de Alcántara line was transferred to ‘Adif Alta Velocidad’, with the aim of facilitating the connection between the Madrid-Extremadura High Speed Line and the existing railway infrastructure in Plasencia. It is therefore the access section to Plasencia that is currently the only one in use. [13] [14] [15]

As for the rest of the line, although various associations and local administrations are calling for the reopening of the railway line as a whole, it does not seem to be a viable project in the short term. In fact, Adif signed an agreement for the conversion of 26 km of railway line into a greenway in the province of Salamanca in 2022, [16] although the final decision could come from the feasibility study between Plasencia and León awarded in January 2024 by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility. [17]

In terms of the landscape, the line runs along the western edge of the Leonese moorland, in a predominantly agricultural landscape, with crops of cereals, corn and vines, dotted with kermes oak and pine forests to the west. Although it is a well-organised landscape, which preserves the traditional layout of small or medium-sized population centres, some industrial activity can be seen on the outskirts of the villages, on the edges of the line. The municipalities at the start and end of the route are the most interesting from a cultural and architectural point of view. Astorga is a centre of intense tourist activity linked to the Camino de Santiago, offering a wide range of gastronomic and hotel options. La Bañeza is a welcoming town, less touristy, but with monumental buildings and traditions that are of national interest, such as its carnival. For all these reasons, this line would be suitable for offering a tourist service.

Category C2.
A disused railway line in an abandoned or partially dismantled state.