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Culture
Former Valladolid-Ariza Railway Line
The former Valladolid-Ariza railway line connected the towns of Valladolid and Ariza via the provinces of Burgos, Soria, Valladolid and Zaragoza.
The route covered 254 kilometres, with most of the journey taking place along the Duero river valley, within the historic region of Castilla la Vieja. There were approximately thirty stations and halts along the way.
The initial project for this line commenced in the 19th century, in response to the need to connect the cereal-producing areas of Castile with the railway lines that ran from Zaragoza to Barcelona.
The construction of the line commenced in 1882 and was completed by Antonio Marqués y Rivas. The Iberian Gauge project, which connected Valladolid and Ariza, crossed the emblematic municipalities of Aranda de Duero, San Esteban de Gormazán and Almazán.
The route was inaugurated in 1895 as part of the Compañía de los Ferrocarriles de Madrid a Zaragoza y Alicante (MZA), but due to the limited financial contribution of the line, it was subsequently configured as a secondary line of the company and became known colloquially as the Duero Railway.
Along the route, this line connected with other significant railway lines in the area, including the Madrid-Zaragoza line and the Torralba-Soria line. Following the nationalisation of the railway network in 1941, it became part of the Spanish National Railway Network (RENFE).
Over the past few years, the line has experienced a gradual decline in traffic, which has led to the closure of passenger services in 1985 and the line's definitive closure in 1994.
At present, only the section between Valladolid and the La Carrera loading bay (Aranda del Duero) remains operational.