Aranda de Duero (Burgos)/Madrid June (EFE).- Half a hundred people gathered this Saturday at the Madrid-Chamartín station, after six of them completed the more than 185 kilometers that separate, by secondary roads, by bicycle Aranda de Duero (Burgos) and the capital of Spain.
They have demanded the reopening of railway line 102, known as Directo Madrid-Aranda de Duero-Burgos, which has been closed since a landslide in the Somosierra tunnel in February 2011 interrupted rail traffic along it.
The concentration has been the final point of the popular initiative promoted by Pablo de la Rubia to demand the reopening of this railway line and its enhancement, both for the transport of goods and passenger transfers.
The train guarantees progress
“We have always been a progressive society and we sense that we are falling behind. For us the train is the coupling to the future. We don’t want it to be too late”, De la Rubia pointed out during the reading of a manifesto.
The Arandina region, included within depopulated Spain, stands out for its economic strength motivated by industrial and wine-producing wealth “which is being conditioned in a decisive way and for the worse by the terrible communications,” he added.
“We will not stop until the train is returned to us and we reactivate this Madrid-Aranda-Burgos line. We are sure that we will achieve it and this and all the effort put in will have been worth it ”, he concluded.
Support from Madrid and Segovia
The concentration has been joined by representatives of the movements of the Sierra Norte de Madrid and Segovia who also support the claim.
About thirty cyclists have participated in this march that has left Aranda de Duero at seven in the morning, although only six have covered the 185 kilometers of the route.
The route has had the support of vehicles, a mobile workshop and supplies thanks to the involvement and free transfer of material from Arandina companies and their region.
The intention is for this mobilization to be one of a series that will be called to give visibility to the demand for the reopening of the Tren Directo and to involve the political class in its inclusion within the Atlantic Corridor.
The train, a matter of politics
“Right now it is a political question. We have to get the political class involved in what we are demanding because the European funds for infrastructures end in 2026, and if the Direct is not contemplated now, for goods and passengers, it will not be possible to reopen it”, said Jorge Núñez, president of the platform for the reopening.
This approach has been seconded by Cristina Martín, president of the Association of Entrepreneurs of Aranda and La Ribera (Asemar), one of the main applicants for the recovery of this railway line, who has announced that a meeting will be convened shortly to see what more mobilizations are carried out and how to finance them. EFE