Page 107 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

South Madrid and High Speed. An example of symbiosis

4. ‘A deadly beast arrives, flashing fire and smoke’. Railway in the 19th century

4.1 Early railway development

A hollow area south of Atocha gate, the bed
of a modest brook, was chosen to start the
second railway line in the country, from
Madrid to Aranjuez, in 1851. The line was
the first section of the railway to Alicante,
intended to connect Madrid with the coast,
completed in 1856. A modest building called
Embarcadero was the first terminal station.
Twenty years after its opening, Atocha was
the central terminal of the company MZA,
whose lines connected the most important
cities in the south and east of the country.

4.2 Station enlargements

The first station soon proved insufficient Figure 12: Embarcadero Station in Atocha. Madrid Aranjuez
for the increased services. A new building, line opening in 1851. Source: FFE
designed by Victor Lenoir in 1863 was set in
front of the old station to house MZA offices.
In 1880, a railway by‐pass connected Atocha
with the Norte station, the head of MZA
competitor Compañía del Norte. This new
link totally changed the character of the
south part of the town, which turned into
an industrial area. This character remained
unchanged until the second half of the 20th
century.

A new building designed by engineer Alberto
del Palacio substituted in 1892 the old
‘Embarcadero’. The shape of its canopy
turned into an urban landmark for 100 years Figure 13: By‐pass line between Atocha and Norte stations.
and is still the most identifiable element of Source: Ferropedia
the station nowadays.

Figure 14: Atocha station projected by Alberto del Palacio. Source: Via Libre

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 105