A series of announcements last week renewed pressure to preserve and modernise Portbou railway station, according to a report published by L'Empordà on Monday 21 September.

For Portbou residents and businesses, the dispute concerns the future role of the historic border station after Renfe, Spain’s state rail operator, announced plans to close its train maintenance base there. The station is also the northern end of the rail link between Figueres and France, where different track gauges affect cross-border train compatibility.

Calls to retain maintenance and prepare mixed-gauge track

L'Empordà reported that Sílvia Paneque, the Catalan government minister responsible for territory and infrastructure, said on Tuesday that Portbou must play “a fundamental role in the future” during the presentation of the Catalan railway-terminal strategy. Her remarks accompanied the inclusion of funding for a new station at Vilamalla.

On Wednesday, the newspaper said Miquel Noguer, president of the Diputació de Girona, the provincial council, wrote to Renfe president Álvaro Fernández Heredia requesting that the Portbou maintenance base be retained.

On Friday, Figueres City Council’s Commissioner for Rail Transformation drew up a public manifesto calling for works between Figueres and Portbou to be prioritised.

“Prioritise the execution of the works needed to introduce mixed gauge between Figueres and Portbou, thus guaranteeing compatibility between Iberian and international gauge.”

Mixed-gauge track would allow trains designed for Spain’s wider Iberian gauge and those using the standard international gauge to use the route, as set out in the manifesto cited by L'Empordà.

Rail training course announced for former station building

The newspaper also reported that Ester Niubó, the Catalan education minister, had announced a railway training course for the former staff-store building at Portbou station during a visit with the town’s mayor, Gael Rodríguez.

Rodríguez criticised Renfe’s approach in comments reported by L'Empordà from an interview with SER radio: “A centralist philosophy governs how things are done at Renfe.”

  • Paneque said Portbou should retain a fundamental future role in Catalonia’s rail strategy.
  • Noguer asked Renfe to keep the Portbou maintenance base.
  • Figueres’ rail commission called for mixed-gauge works between Figueres and Portbou.

Reported by emporda.info, L'Empordà.