Manzanares-Soto del Real – Bif. Aranda

The construction of a line between Madrid – Chamartín and Burgos (Aranda Junction) was considered in the ‘Preferred Plan for Urgently Needed Railway Construction’, better known as the ‘Guadalhorce Plan’, approved in 1926. [1] [2]

The railway line was built in different phases and work was interrupted during the Spanish Civil War. In addition, the completed sections suffered a great deal of damage and deterioration, especially in tunnels and viaducts. During the 1940s, work on the direct Madrid–Burgos railway was declared urgent. This led to a notable increase in the speed of the work, especially in the replacement of the sections damaged during the war. Political prisoners from the Franco dictatorship were involved in the construction of the line. Today, the remains of the Bustarviejo prison, where those who suffered reprisals for working on the line were held, can still be seen. In the surrounding area, the remains of some huts that provided shelter for the families of those men, who wanted to or had no choice but to follow them, can still be found today. Finally, the line was inaugurated on 4 July 1968. [3] [4] [5]

From the moment it entered into service, the line was very busy due to the fact that it took over part of the traffic on the Madrid-Hendaye line, as the journey did not have to detour to Ávila, making it much shorter. For this reason, Renfe opted for this route for the direct train service between Madrid, Burgos, Bilbao and Paris. Regional trains would also start to run on this line, such as the TER (Renfe 597 series).

During the 1970s, the increase in traffic was so significant that multiple improvements were made to the track layout.

However, in the 1990s, with strong competition from road transport, which caused a drop in occupancy on regional services, and the progressive lack of investment, there was an increase in journey times, which led to many passenger services being diverted to the Madrid-Hendaye line. This caused a significant loss in traffic.

From the year 2000 onwards, and as a result of low demand, the line began to suffer from a lack of investment in maintenance and modernisation.The section closest to the capital, between the stations of Chamartín and Colmenar Viejo, was used mainly by the Cercanías services of Madrid, while on the rest of the line there were only two daily services covering the Madrid-Bilbao route. [6] [7]

In 2008, a new branch line was opened in Burgos, which led to the removal of the last section of the line and its replacement by the Madrid-Hendaye line, which could be accessed via the Aranda junction. In addition, from July of the same year, the C-4 line became part of the direct Madrid-Burgos railway line. [6] [8]

The progressive deterioration of the line led to a number of accidents during 2010 and 2011. The most notable were the derailment of a Talgo train and a collapse inside the Somosierra tunnel [9], which trapped a train and led to the indefinite interruption of the line and the consequent suspension of services along the entire central section of the route. [9] [10]

Indeed, from that moment on, there has been no commercial service between the stations of Manzanares-Soto del Real and Aranda de Duero. Furthermore, due to this cessation of activity, the infrastructure has been vandalised and all kinds of material have been stolen. The state of conservation of most of the stations is particularly ruinous, and in some cases they have even been demolished.

Today, the section between Madrid and Colmenar Viejo is in service, operating as Cercanías Madrid, while between the city of Burgos and Aranda de Duero only freight trains run. [9]

It is worth mentioning that on 3 February 2023 Adif awarded the ENYSE-TELICE joint venture the contract to carry out the works of the ‘construction project for the elimination of telephone blocking between Aranda de Duero and the Aranda junction’. This intervention has made it possible to modernise the installations, which in most cases were more than 30 years old, as well as to improve the safety conditions of the service, thanks to the implementation of Automatic Blocking on Single Track (BAU) and the installation of electronic interlockings. [11] [12]

On the other hand, there are plans to extend the Cercanías commuter rail service on line C-4 in Madrid and to build a new Cercanías station in Soto del Real. This project aims to electrify and remodel the part of the conventional line between the stations of Colmenar Viejo and Soto del Real. To do this, the current track will be lifted to install a new superstructure, ballast bed, sleepers and rails. [13] [14]

In terms of the landscape, two clear areas can be distinguished, the first corresponding to the landscapes crossed by the line between Madrid and Aranda de Duero and the second from this town to the vicinity of Burgos.The southernmost section is characterised by the landscapes of the southern and northern slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama, the Campo de San Pedro plain, in the historic community of Maderuelo, and the Hoces del Río Riaza Natural Park. All the stations on this section are of the same type and are out of service. In general, the closer they are to Madrid, the better state of conservation they are in. The route is dotted with public works of some interest to overcome orographic difficulties, such as the Taboada viaduct over the Lozoya river. The landscape value is very high and there is a certain potential for tourism development due to its proximity to the metropolis.

Category C2.

Abandoned section with partially dismantled stations.