Tudela Veguín – Lugo de Llanera

The railway line between Tudela-Veguín and Lugo de Llanera only has a freight service. It was built to meet the new demand for coal to supply Spanish industry after the end of the Civil War and was clearly intended for mining. [1] [2]

The aim of the line was to avoid the passage of goods trains through the city of Oviedo, with a route that would at the same time shorten the journey and smooth out the gradients. The project, ‘Railway deviation of the line from Soto de Rey to Ciaño, from Tudela-Veguín to Lugo de Llanera’, was approved on 13 April 1946. Its construction made it possible to establish a direct connection between the lines from Ciaño to San Juan de Nieva, giving access to the coals of the Nalón.

The Ministry of Public Works’ General Directorate of Railways and Road Transport declared it an urgent construction project for the purposes of expropriation and set a deadline of three years for its construction. The greatest construction difficulty was the 3,756-metre-long La Grandota tunnel, which crosses the divide between the Nalón and Nora rivers, due to the continuous flooding that paralysed the works and which finally led to a reform that considerably increased the initial budget.

The line was inaugurated in September 1957 and the continuous problems in the Grandota tunnel caused by water leaks and failures in the lining have forced new reinforcing and improvement investments to keep it in service. [1]

The line was managed by RENFE from 1941, with the nationalisation of the Iberian gauge network, until 2005 when, with the extinction of RENFE, within the framework of Law 39/2003 of the Railway Sector, it came under the control of Adif like the rest of the RFIG of the State.

The line has limited tourist interest, despite the characteristic Asturian landscape through which it runs. The line runs close to Oviedo and the three stations that make up the line are a suburban station in a fully urbanised area on the outskirts of Oviedo, a closed station, currently occupied, with the platform area in a dilapidated state, and a suburban station that is also used as a loading bay for a cement factory. Despite this, we must consider the possibilities that the existence of the Fernando Alonso Museum in Lugo de Llanera or the El Bosque zoo and the Olloniego Historic Site in Tudela-Veguín could offer.

Category A1.
Electrified track with concrete sleepers in good condition.