The Chinchilla–Cartagena railway is an Iberian-gauge railway in Spain.
| Chinchilla–Cartagena railway | |
|---|---|
 Cartagena estacion | |
| Overview | |
| Status | Operational |
| Owner | Adif |
| Termini | |
| Service | |
| Operator(s) | Renfe Operadora |
| History | |
| Opened | 1863 (Murcia–Cartagena) 1865 (Chinchilla–Murcia) |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 227.7 km (141.5 mi) |
| Track gauge | 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in) Iberian gauge |
History
editThe line was completed between 1863 and 1863. In 2003, the Chinchilla train crash occurred on the line, where a passenger train and a freight train collided, killing 19 people and injuring 38.[1][2]
In 2018, the Alvia 730 service began, enabling travel times between Cartagena to Madrid, via the line to Chinchilla, of three hours and thirty-two minutes.[3]
Route
editThe line begins as a branch from the Madrid–Valencia railway at Chinchilla and passes through Murcia del Carmen to terminate in Cartagena. In 2019, 26 km of new, more direct track between Cieza and Agramón opened, shortening journey times by 20 minutes.[4]
References
edit- ^ «Las mayores tragedias ferroviarias en los últimos años», El Mundo (July 24, 2013)
- ^ «Train crashes in Spain», article in Today’s News Herald, 05 June 2003, page 16A
- ^ "El tren híbrido permitirá viajar a Madrid en tres horas y media desde el lunes". La Verdad (in Spanish). 14 September 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- ^ "Murcia-Madrid train journey times cut to 3 hours 16 minutes". Murcia Today. 21 March 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.