The central government has confirmed that it is spending €100,000 on a study to see if it’s worthwhile reopening the Almanzora railway, which runs past Cantoria, Albox, Huercal Overa and eventually down to Pulpí.
The Almanzora railway ran for a hundred years until it was closed in 1985 during the Spanish version of the Beeching report. Since then, it’s laid unused and abandoned. The central government has consistently refused permission to reuse the land for something else, such as cycling tracks or a living museum, so it’s just sat there.
In 2008, the Junta de Andalucia spent €400,000 on a similar study to see if it was economically viable to reopen the line, but the result was that it wasn’t.
However, the new study wants to see if it’s worthwhile reopening and upgrading the line to connect it to the new high speed AVE line (if it’s ever finished) so that freight trains can divert at Pulpi and go up into the marble mountains.