GeoEstacions: Canfranc
ESPAÑOL
La Estación Internacional de Canfranc es una estación de ferrocarril situada en el municipio español de Canfranc (Huesca), muy cerca de la frontera con Francia. Se inauguró el 18 de julio de 1928. Declarada Bien de Interés Cultural, está catalogada como monumento desde el 6 de marzo de 2002. La estación cuenta con servicios logísticos.
Dispone únicamente de servicios de Media Distancia, operados por Renfe, que la unen con Zaragoza. También ofrecía conexiones internacionales con Francia, pero éstas quedaron suspendidas el 27 de marzo de 1970 cuando un tren de mercancías descarriló del lado francés provocando el derrumbe del puente de L'Estanguet, con la consiguiente interrupción del servicio entre ambos países. Desde esa fecha, el transporte de viajeros se hace por carretera con un autobús que pone la S.N.C.F.
En la actualidad se está acometiendo una reforma completa del complejo ferroviario de la explanada de Canfranc con el objetivo de transformar en hotel la estación histórica de viajeros y rehabilitar el resto de edificios en una de las tres subsedes del Museo del Ferrocarril de Aragón, nuevas estación de viajeros, centro de visitantes del Camino de Santiago, viviendas y equipamientos de uso terciario, además de la urbanización de dos grandes plazas peatonales, zonas verdes y aparcamientos. El 15 de abril de 2021 se inauguró la nueva estación de viajeros, rehabilitando parcialmente dos antiguos hangares de mercancías.
ENGLISH
Canfranc International railway station (Spanish: Estación Internacional de Canfranc) is a former international railway station in the village of Canfranc in the Spanish Pyrenees. The Somport railway tunnel, which carried the Pau–Canfranc railway under the Pyrenees into France, is located at one end of the station.
The station, which was opened during July 1928, was constructed on a grand scale to serve as a major hub for cross-border railway traffic. Its main building incorporates elaborate Beaux-Arts architecture, featuring 365 windows and 156 doors, along a length of 240 metres (790 ft). The station experienced numerous highs and lows, services having been temporarily interrupted by the intentional sealing of the Somport tunnel during the Spanish Civil War, while being extensively used by international traffic during the Second World War as the "Casablanca in the Pyrenees". The postwar era brought a period of stability and prosperity for the station and the line, although officials became increasingly pessimistic for its future during the 1960s. International services came to an abrupt end during 1970 following a train derailment that damaged a key bridge in France.
Canfranc station has remained open despite the international line's curtailment in 1970, but is served only by a handful of trains from the Spanish side alone. It has experienced a major decline and neglect, resulting in much of the site becoming derelict. The local government has ambitions to reopen the international line and to redevelop the station, which would involve the renovation of the existing station building for use as a hotel and its replacement by a new facility. In February 2020, funding for both the relaunch of international services and the station's rehabilitation was made available by the European Union.