Page 183 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

Processes, urban impact and evaluation of the high-speed rail in the city of Zaragoza, Spain.

2. The arrival of HSR seen as an opportunity for the city

In the mid-nineties the city looked enviously how other Spanish cities celebrated great events
involving major urban transformations. Barcelona hosted the Olympic Games in 1992 achieving
a renowned urban renewal and Seville hosted the World Exhibition in the same year. The Expo in
Seville did not imply as ambitious urban renewal as the one in Barcelona, but served to improve
the infrastructural level of the city. In October 1993 construction works also had started in
Bilbao on Guggenheim Museum, finishing in October 1997 (2).
In this context, the arrival of the high-speed train generated in Zaragoza a new level of
expectation for a depressed city. It was seen as the opportunity to pursuing a qualitative urban,
social and economic growth and to finish some desired infrastructures. It also generated a new
public concern about the urban issues much broader than previously.

The first HSR line in Spain was inaugurated in the year 1992 from Madrid to Seville on the
occasion of the World Exhibition. In the year 1994, the National Plan of Infrastructures gave
priority to the HSR line Madrid-Barcelona until the French frontier and, in the route, Zaragoza
stood as the main stop between the two cities. Due to the economic recession since 1993, the
pace of construction slowed, which allowed to Zaragoza rethinking about the urban integration
of the rail infrastructure across the city.

3. The railway infrastructure in the city

The first train in history arrived to Zaragoza in September 1861 from Barcelona, according to
Lezáun (2011). The first station was located in the northern shore of the river Ebro. This station
was called Arrabal, because of the name of the neighborhood. Two years later, in 1863, the city
was also connected to Madrid. The two lines were operated by two different companies, so the
company of the Madrid line, MZA, built another station in the southwestern outskirts of the city,
finished in 1864. This station was located in El Portillo area, what means “little door” and it
was referred to one of the city entrances. These two lines were connected by a bridge across
the Ebro River in the Almozara area. The following years more stations were built, such as the
Delicias station, in the west and Utrillas, in the eastern part.

Fig 3. Plan of Zaragoza in the year 1869. The train arriving in the southwest periphery of the city, in El Portillo area. Source:
Official College of Architects of Aragón

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 181