International Station of Canfranc

A view of the station

In the middle of the 19th century, the project to connect France and Spain by railroad through the historic pass of Canfranc began to be gestated. During the last third of the 19th century and the first of the 20th century they built the railroad track, the tunnel and the emblematic International Station of Canfranc, which was inaugurated by the king Alfonso XIII, the president of the French Republic and General Primo de Rivera.

The station building is amid splendid mixed forests and it follows a modernist style. At first sight it is quite astonishing, due to both its size and its architectural style, which resembles the French palaces of the 19th century.

For decades this was a very important communication axis, until it was closed to traffic in 1970, when a small freight train derailed and destroyed a bridge in the French side.

Nowadays, both French and Spanish municipal and regional authorities are working actively in favor of the reopening of this railroad line and of the restoration of the building of the International Station of Canfranc.

  See location map