Middle of the 19th century, southwest of France, Pyrénées-Atlantiques department. The mid-19th century idea of linking the French (Béarn) and Spanish (Aragon) sides of the Pyrenees by railway was marked by multiple fruitless attempts, in large part due to the difficulty of traversing the mountain range.
Many objections to this project were voiced, particularly because a railroad track had already been built some 1864 kilometers from there, following the Basque shore, which avoided the technically difficult crossing of the Pyrenees mountains.
Yet work started in 1904 after the signing of a treaty between France and Spain. The construction of this railway marked an enormous challenge to the railway engineering and building methods of the day.
Dream finally became reality. On the 18th of August 1928, Spanish King Alfonso XIII and French President Gaston Doumergue celebrated the inauguration of the railway with great pomp. This was the official opening of the International railway station of Canfranc and of the underground Trans-Pyrenean tunnel, measuring 7875 meters in length! The cities of Pau and Saragossa via Oloron-Sainte Marie (France) and Canfranc, Jaca and Huesca (Spain) were now linked by rail.
More than 80 bridges, 24 tunnels, 4 viaducts and huge deforestation works would be necessary to cross the very steep and tight Aspe Valley on the French side.
About 50% of the railway on the French side would consist of engineered structures built using massive dressed stone.
The line was never profitable. 1929's Great Depression, 1931's large fire and 1936's Spanish civil war would condemn the railway to official disuse. The trans-Pyrenean tunnel would even be bricked up to prevent access by French invaders. With the start of the 2nd World War, activity would restart, with Germany taking advantage of the railway link. The Resistance would even dynamite some of the railway bridges on the French side in 1944.
1948 marks the relaunch of non-military trans-Pyrenean traffic. As it would never become a profitable enterprise, the rail line would only survive until the accident of the 27th of March 1970. On this day the brakes of a loaded freight train would fail, destroying the bridge 'of the Estanguet'. The runaway train would come to rest in a mountain stream without killing anyone.
SNCF (the French National Rail Company) were never really committed to reopening the line. The accident was a good pretext for closure and repairs, estimated to cost too much, were never done.
2003 was the year of the inauguration of the trans-Pyrenean road tunnel, topic of much debate, after more than 10 years of work. Its opening put an end to the hope of an eventual relaunch of rail activity between the cities of Pau and Saragossa.
The construction of this building, created by Spanish architect Fernando Ramírez de Dampierre, lasted from 1921 to 1925. The structure would feature a total length of 241m, with 75 doors on each side and 'more windows than days in a year'! In 1928 this was the largest train station in Europe.
The building is bordered by the French pier on one side and the Spanish pier on the other. The style is a mix of classicism and Art Nouveau with French influence.
Materials used were the usual for this time period: concrete, glass, steel and marble. The length of the building may be surprising, but it should be noted that it is also three stories high, with many small windows strewn across the upmost level.
The main passengers’ hall exhibits much splendor: 3 story high ceilings, white marble stairs, wooden counters...
Also found in this station was a luxurious international hotel, custom offices, an infirmary, bars and restaurants, as well as SNCF and RENFE (the French rail company’s Spanish counterpart) offices.
Waiting time was usually long, and it was thought that passengers deserved a high level of comfort to offset the inconvenience.
Until 2006 this place was open to all, both to Urban Explorers but also to taggers and burglars. It became more and more difficult to identify the last remains of a once grand building.
Damage was extensive, and the fate of the beautiful station was unfortunately becoming more and more uncertain... Since then, it has been renovated to a luxurious hotel and leisure center. New life for Canfranc!
- The Canfranc Project : beautiful site of 2 German photographers. Do not miss 'The Nazi gold' story... - Le transpyrénéen Pau-Canfranc-Saragosse: in French only. Very complete and detailed story of the station and the line. Thanks to this site's author for the use of his old photos (spiral tunnel, accident photo and sign showing the 'temporary' interruption of the line).
Thanks to Lisa for the english translation! Check her website here.
Thank you for the many questions answered in your site. Several friends have asked me to write up my story of traveling this route in 1971, and it is now posted in my website: "Berlin 1969" (found in Google). I traveled from Berlin to ride this rail line, based on the train schedules still published in the DB's "Ausland Kursbuch" and the French "Indicateur Officiel Grandes Relations" with no reference to the bus. Local people were wonderful, but it was a shock to find out that a year after the line's closure, information about the "bustitution" had not been circulated.
1998-2018 (c) - www.Forbidden-Places.net - Contact
[fr] 
