Carcaixent – ​​Dénia railway line

Carcaixent – ​​Dénia
Route length:	66 km
Opening of Carcaixent- Gandía :	February 8, 1864
Opening of Gandía- Dénia :	April 1, 1884
Gauge at opening:	1380 mm
Track gauge total distance last:	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Last operator total route:	FEVE
Current operator section:	RENFE
Legend C-1, C-2 from Valencia Silla several breakpoints each Beginning of the former narrow-gauge line 0.000 Carcaixent C-2 according to Moixent 8,920 La Barraca 76.17  msnm 16.020 Simat de la Valldigna 62.93  msnm Cullera 20th Tabernes de la Valldigna 26.728 Xeraco 17.88  msnm 28.680 Xeresa 10.9  msnm Platja i Grau de Gandia C-1 32.788 L'Ull del Bou quarry - Gandía port 34,543 Alcoi- Gandía port 34,951 Gandía C-1 29.7  msnm until today broad gauge Riu Serpis (75 m) 42.708 Oliva 15.29  msnm 52.328 Molinell 12.27  msnm 56,331 El Verger 2.63  msnm El Palmar 65.455 Dénia-Norte 2.27  msnm to Dénia port Dénia to Benidorm - Alicante

The Carcaixent – ​​Dénia railway connected Carcaixent with Dénia in Spain . The section from Tabernes de la Valldigna to Gandía is still in operation today. There, S-Bahn- like Rodalies trains go to Valencia .

history

The 66 kilometer long railway line from ( Valencian :) Carcaixent ( Spanish : Carcagente) to Dénia was opened in two sections. Starting in 1864, a “tramway” pulled by animals drove from Carcaixent to Gandía on the unusual track width of 1.38 meters. In 1884, the line was switched to operation with steam locomotives with meter gauge and extended to Dénia. In Gandía there was a connection to the line from Alcoi to the port of Gandía and in Dénia to the line to Alicante .

After several operator changes, the section from Carcaixent to Gandía was closed in 1969. Part of it (Tabernes to Gandía) was reopened in 1973 in broad gauge and integrated into the RENFE railway network. The other section from Gandía to Dénia was closed in 1974 and has not yet been replaced in any way.

Todays situation

The Tavernes – Gandía section is part of the Cercanías Valencia S-Bahn network and is served by the C1 Valencia Norte – Gandía trains every half hour. Because of the single-track section Cullera – Gandía and the load on the Valencia junction, the cycle is not completely rigid, the travel times differ by a few minutes. In addition, three pairs of trains run daily between Valencia Norte and Platia i Grau de Gandia / Playa y Grao de Gandía at the port of Gandía. The Gandía station has been a tunnel station with arched platform tracks since the reopening, a continuation in the direction of Dénia is thus structurally prepared.

Between Gandía and Oliva and between el Verger and Dénia, the planum that has been preserved serves as a cycle path (“vía verde”), and between Oliva and el Verger a connecting road roughly follows the course of the route. The Oliva station area is a public park, the water tower and some outbuildings have been preserved.

Between Valencia and Alicante there is now a gap on the coastal route between Gandía and Dénia, where there is no longer any train. This unsatisfactory situation repeatedly leads to protests from the population and local politicians along the affected route.

future plans

In order to close the gap, three fundamentally different solutions are discussed:

• The line from Alicante to Dénia will be extended as a narrow-gauge line to Gandía. This would roughly restore the state before decommissioning.
• The Rodalies trains on line C-1 from Valencia to Gandía will be extended to broad gauge to Dénia. This possibility was requested at the demonstration in January 2010.
• The big solution would be a single train run from Valencia to Alicante. The Gandía – Dénia section would have to be rebuilt. Administrative and technical problems would have to be solved here: The stretch from Valencia to Dénia is under the control of the central government in Madrid , while the Generalitat Valenciana is responsible for the Dénia – Alicante section . In addition, the sections in operation have different gauges. Therefore, either the Dénia – Alicante line would have to be rebuilt in broad gauge (probably as a continuation of the AVE Madrid – Alicante) or vehicles designed for the gauge change would have to be used. Despite these difficulties, the big solution was promoted by regional politicians in June 2010. According to these plans, the travel time from Valencia to Alicante should then be reduced to less than one and a half hours, while it is now two and a half hours on the route from Alicante to Dénia alone. However, the mountainous terrain requires practically continuous re-routing, and a main line between Dénia and Alicante would not have the same development function for the coastal towns as the existing meter-gauge route.

literature

• Vicent Ferrer i Hermenegildo, Del Tramway al Ferrocarril, la línea Carcaixent-Dénia, Ajuntament de Dénia 2005 ( Spanish , with Valencian foreword).

Web links

• Carcagente to Denia ( English )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Thousands of residents of Marina Alta are demanding the Gandía-Dénia line before 2015 ( Spanish )
2. ↑ Future coastal train will connect Valencia with Alicante in less than an hour and a half (Spanish)