Session II
Border and Railroads
Organizers: Rafael Barquín (UNED); Carlos Larrinaga (University of Granada); and Pedro Pablo Ortúñez (University of Valladolid)
José Luis Hernández-Marco, University of the Basque Country/E.H.U. (Spain)
Migrants and Tourists: Passenger Rail Traffic at the Borders of the Iberian Peninsula (1941–1980).
The establishment of public rail transport companies in France (SNCF, 1938), Spain (RENFE, 1941), and Portugal (CCFP, 1927/1947), by unifying their respective networks and fares, simplified cross-border rail traffic between France and the two countries on the peninsula, particularly from 1946 onward, once the serious disruptions caused by the Spanish Civil War and World War II had been overcome.
From that date onward, Western Europe embarked on postwar reconstruction, “les Trente Glorieuses” or “the Golden Age,” with its need for labor—migration—and, following the increase in disposable income, the rise in consumption of “luxury goods” such as tourism. Although competition from road and air travel would also grow during both of these processes affecting cross-border mobility, rail would play a prominent role.
To establish the chronology and quantify the scale of this traffic, we present passenger traffic data for RENFE’s main lines and border stations—unfortunately, available only through 1964: with Morocco, the North African Travel Offices, and the ports of Algeciras and Málaga; with Portugal: Badojoz, Valencia de Alcántara, Fuentes de Oñoro, and Tuy/Valencia do Miño; and with France: Irún, Canfranc, Puigcerdá, and Port Bou. Fortunately, consultation of the SNCF archives has made it possible to extend the study through 1980, both quantitatively and qualitatively, at the four French border stations of Hendaye, Canfranc, La Tour de Carol, and Cerbére. The results obtained can be compared with those provided by other Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Moroccan sources that have drawn on the extensive existing literature on both emigration/immigration and tourism.
Csaba Sándor Horváth, Széchenyi István University (Hungary)
The role of the railway between two blocs during the Cold War in Hungary.
World War II did not mark the beginning of a new and peaceful era. By 1947, relations between the victorious powers had become increasingly tense. Both sides proclaimed their own Cold War doctrine: on the American side, it was the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, while on the Soviet side, it was the Zhdanov–Stalin “two camps” doctrine. Furthermore, the war was not even brought to an end by the general peace settlement agreed upon by the victorious powers. As a result, the German question led to a divergence of interests between the two superpowers, resulting in the emergence of two world orders, separated by the Iron Curtain: the Western bloc and the Soviet bloc. Hungary was geopolitically important to the Soviet Union, as it served as a military buffer zone against the West; thus, with the Soviet suppression of the 1956 revolution, it became clear that Hungary would remain within the Eastern Bloc. The Iron Curtain, which had been physically in place since 1949 and separated the two world orders, theoretically cut off the Hungarian railway lines to Austria from the West. In practice, however, this was not the case. Traffic on the main railway hubs of the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV)—Budapest–Győr–Hegyeshalom–Vienna and Székesfehérvár–Szombathely–Graz–Szentgotthárd—remained virtually uninterrupted. Not to mention the main line of the Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurt Railway (GYSEV), founded in 1876, which was an even greater curiosity. Thus, private railways from the Monarchy era and their branch lines did not cease to exist. In fact, they continued to operate in their unique way not only across the two countries but also across the two global political systems—East and West. The purpose of my presentation is to show that the Iron Curtain did not hermetically seal off the two camps, but that there were gaps, the most obvious of which was the railway. In addition to archival sources, the research is primarily based on reports, news stories, and articles about the period published in the Hungarian and international press. I will supplement this with the oral history method, drawing on the accounts of railroad workers to illustrate the uniqueness of the situation and its impact on society. It can be concluded that railway lines spanning the two world orders paved the way for smuggling and illegal migration. The significance of the Hungarian railways, both at that time and today, stems from the fact that they formed a bridge between blocs that were developing ideologically, economically, culturally, and politically in different ways. Following the fall of the Iron Curtain and Hungary’s accession to the European Union, these lines are now striving to fulfill their role of connecting the past by restoring the natural geographical structure.
Paula Azevedo (IP Património) and Ana Sousa (CP)
Railway Stations on the Cáceres Branch Line.
October 28, 2021, marks the 165th anniversary of the history of railroads in Portugal—a history of the construction and operation of lines and stations by various companies in the railroad sector from its inauguration in 1856 to the present.
The history of railroads is also the history of architecture evident in stations and along the tracks (the stretch between stations), as well as the history of urban planning, with the new urban layouts of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries shaped by the arrival of the train.
Here, we define the concept of a station as the complex of buildings, tracks, and platforms located within the area between the train entry and exit switches—passenger buildings and other elements such as housing for workers, schools, food warehouses, covered platforms, water tanks, depots, and control stations, as well as other components that make up the distinctive railway landscape. It constitutes an extensive industrial, historical, and cultural heritage dating back to the three eras of operation of the national railway network—steam, diesel, and electric—which remains on both active and decommissioned lines.
The railway stations of the Cáceres Branch Line are the focus of this paper: to study how the functional, aesthetic/architectural, and urban planning program was implemented within the local topography; the relationship with the existing surrounding landscape; pedestrian accessibility; and connections to other modes of land transportation; as well as an analysis of the station and building typologies adopted.
The same issues regarding the remaining five border railway stations between Portugal and Spain—Valença, Barca d’Alva, Vilar Formoso, Elvas, and Vila Real de Santo António—and the lines on which they are located, as well as their current status, are the subject of ongoing studies that will be presented at future academic events.
Drawing on the inventory conducted in recent years by IP Património, the documentary heritage held in the Technical Archive of Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) and the Historical Archive of CP-Comboios de Portugal at the IP Documentation Center, the records of SIPA (the Architectural Heritage Information Service of the DGPC), and specialized bibliography, we will present the current state of these built complexes with a view to the conservation and preservation of their constituent elements—architectural and otherwise—present in the stations, the railway landscape, and their history, for enjoyment in the present and for future remembrance.
The approach based on industrial archaeology methods has allowed us to consider the stations not only as architectural and urban/topographical typologies, but as part of a structured historical and architectural system, embedded in a functional complex shaped by urban and topographical factors, the limitations imposed by technology and economic development, local interests, international influences and dependencies, and the strategies of social actors, among other factors.
The fact that the material object of industrial archaeology is the significance of industrial monuments in social, technological, and artistic history contributes, from a scientific and methodological standpoint, to innovative ideas and approaches.
Andrea Giuntini, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy)
The Euphrates Valley Railway: a grand project of political and economic domination.
The Euphrates Railway represents an extremely interesting chapter in nineteenth-century international railway history and within the broader context of telegraph communications during a historical period marked by significant dynamism in this regard. It was a major challenge among the leading nations, which were strengthening their international infrastructure networks across all sectors: railways, telegraphs, and shipping lines. At the same time, this line—which was widely debated on a global scale—served as a colonial instrument of conquest and economic hegemony. The project aimed to connect Great Britain to India via Persia and Baluchistan. At the time, it was one of the first long-distance transnational railway projects. In British strategic planning, the Euphrates Valley Railway was conceived as an alternative to the Suez Canal, which the British had fiercely and long opposed. The importance attached to the railway line is understandable: it served as a perfect and crucial axis of penetration, aimed at dominating Central Asia, countering Russian power, and establishing a direct link to India—a connection the British Crown was unwilling to relinquish. The project was conceived and developed around the mid-19th century, with contributions from many prominent engineers and businessmen. The British government also played a major role in the matter, promoting and supporting the initiative. In 1856, the British engineer Francis Chesney was granted the concession to build the line, but the issue remained unresolved throughout the 1870s.
Hugo Silveira Pereira, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal)
Borders and Railways: Globalization vs. Nationalism in the Portuguese Mainland and Colonial Networks (1850s–1910s).
Literature on railway history typically describes railways as drivers of progress and modernity, pioneers of civilization, conquerors of time and space, unrivaled facilitators of migration and long-distance freight transport, or instruments of empire (Adas, 2006). Less common is their portrayal as agents of globalization. In this paper, I analyze how railways assumed the role of facilitators of global cross-border flows in Portugal and the territories of its former colonies—Angola, Mozambique, and Goa (India)—even though the development of the nation-state and the rise of nationalist sentiments (which characterized the second half of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century) hindered these flows across borders. In my analysis, the concept of globalization is used in a very broad sense, encompassing not only trade and commercial movements but also the transnational and cross-border circulation of ideas, expertise, skills, capital, workers, commuters, and tourists. I will also highlight the role of private actors who acted as informal/track-two diplomats (McDonald and Bendahmane, 1987) to promote these cross-border flows, despite the obstacles raised by stakeholders in central governments. The methodology I used is based on the concept of “portals of globalization,” as defined by Matthias Middell and Katja Naumann (2010), and “technodiplomacy” (Pereira, 2017), which are applied to the existing literature on Portuguese railways and a wide array of sources, including technical reports by Portuguese mainland and colonial authorities and various statistics on railway operations.
Pavel Galkin, State Social-Humanitarian University (Moscow)
Railway tourism in Russia: current state and prospects for development.
Railway tourism in Russia is currently developing rapidly. The state-run “Russian Railways” (Joint Stock Company “Russian Railways”) has created several standard tours for different categories of tourists. The most popular are weekend tours from Moscow to cities in Central Russia. As a rule, each tour includes themed excursion programs. In some cases, these are specially adapted for school groups and have an educational focus. One-day trips on the Circum-Baikal Railway are organized from Irkutsk. There are popular Christmas family routes “to Santa Claus” in Veliky Ustyug, with departures from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Samara.
The specialized company “Russian Railways Tour” has designed multi-day travel routes along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Such tours are popular among foreign tourists, who are amazed by the vast expanses of Siberia. The “Imperial Russia” and “Golden Eagle” trains run on the Moscow–Beijing and Moscow–Vladivostok routes.
As an additional service, “Russian Railways Tour” offers the organization of custom tours, where the train can be configured with luxury and premium cars. The customer determines the travel route. It is possible to rent either a single car or an entire special train.
In addition to “Russian Railways Tour,” there are several companies specializing in rail tourism in the Russian tourism market. They offer weekend tours to Belarus, to cities in the European North and Northwest of Russia, to the cities of the “Golden Ring,” and multi-day trips to Kaliningrad, the Caucasus, and Kamchatka. These routes feature unique excursion programs. However, these itineraries are integrated into the regular rail schedule, with tickets provided by “Russian Railways.”
An analysis of existing offerings in the tourism market shows that interest in rail travel is growing, but the main demand is for low-cost weekend tours. It is clear that in this area, there will be further development of tour programs and expansion of the destinations covered.
Olga Galkina, State Social-Humanitarian University (Moscow)
The Railways of Spain and Portugal as Covered by British Periodicals in the Second Half of the 19th Century.
The second half of the 19th century was a period of intensive railway construction on the Iberian Peninsula. This trend was a major focus of British periodicals. The interest of the British press was driven by two main factors.
Economic. The active role of British capital in the construction of Portuguese railways explains the publication of articles describing the agreements between British businesses and the Portuguese government, the rivalry between British and French capital in the region, as well as the role of Morton Peto in the construction of the first railway line in Portugal. Regarding the construction of Spanish railways, where French capital played a significant role, the British press wrote less, but regularly noted the problems with financing the construction. Nevertheless, British journalists covered all major projects, including the construction of the Paris-Madrid highway.
Tourism. At that time, railways became an important part of the tourism infrastructure. The pages of British newspapers highlighted tourist routes and national historic sites in both countries, as well as the types of railcars and the cost of travel. Some articles described the experience of traveling on Spanish Railways and warned of the dangers travelers might face (strikes by engine drivers, sleeplessness, starvation, general horrors… “in the company of seven smoking Spaniards”). Travelers’ accounts mentioned frequent cases of theft on the trains. Criminals used duplicate keys while officials looked the other way.
Thus, the study of materials from the British press is of interest in the context of imagology; it allows us to trace the evolution of the British government’s and business community’s interest in investing in railway construction on the Iberian Peninsula and helps to reconstruct in detail the atmosphere of travel on the Iberian railways during the second half of the 19th century.
Laurent Bonnaud, ESSEC Business School (France)
The Frustrated but Persistent Drive for International Rail Links, 19th–21st Centuries.
The Industrial Revolution broke down traditional territorial boundaries by strengthening specialization and accelerating trade. From the dawn of railroads in the 1830s, the issue of cross-border connections arose. It was fueled by utopian visions throughout the 19th century (for example, Saint-Simonism) and planned by transnational interest groups, such as the Rothschild Bank, but was only partially achieved due to numerous technical, strategic, and political obstacles. For example, the Cologne–London link via Ostend was an early success, and from the 1870s onward, major transalpine advances were made; however, in 1882, a well-advanced project for a Channel Tunnel was halted.
During the interwar period, new projects for cooperative European integration through cross-border networks emerged (e.g., D.N. Heineman, 1930), perpetuating the utopian visions of the previous century amid a backdrop of nationalist retrenchment and economic crisis. But it was not until the 1950s that plans for a trans-European rail network were institutionalized, particularly in the context of the Common Market. Following a period of unprecedented progress in the 1990s, driven by both high-speed technology and the establishment of the Single Market and the Single Currency, railway integration has stagnated, even as environmental challenges highlight its necessity.
The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the long-term persistence of cross-border railway dynamics in Europe; to identify, based on specific cases, the reasons for its successes and the causes of its failures; and to draw lessons from history to address the challenges of today and tomorrow. The author will draw particularly on recent research on trans-European networks. In this presentation, the interactions between technology, social demand, and institutions will be highlighted.