Joaquín García Raya (ASHIF / ADIF).
The Renfe workshops in the province of Ciudad Real. 

The history of railway workshops has varied widely, depending on the researcher’s perspective. Drawing on this historical literature, we aim to analyze the railway workshops operated by RENFE in the province of Ciudad Real, from their establishment in 1941 through the Ten-Year Modernization Plan (1974). It is of interest to examine the productivity of these workshops, the staff employed there, the assigned rolling stock, and their relationship with the rest of the workshops across the entire network. PDF

Leticia Martínez García (Spanish Railways Foundation).
The Development of Railways and Railway Hubs in Castilla-La Mancha: Their Impact on the Documentary Heritage Preserved in the Historical Railway Archive of the Spanish Railways Foundation.

The region of Castilla-La Mancha was a prime witness to the early days of rail travel in Spain, as early as 1851, with the opening of the line from Madrid to Aranjuez, which included a stop in the Toledo municipality of Seseña.
Thus, practically from the very beginning of the introduction of this new mode of transportation in Spain, Castilla-La Mancha became accustomed to the presence of rolling stock and railway infrastructure, which would continue to develop and expand over the following decades with the opening of various standard- and narrow-gauge lines serving the region, such as those from Madrid to Almansa, Madrid to Alicante, Castillejo to Toledo, Madrid to Zaragoza, Alcázar de San Juan to Ciudad Real, Manzanares to Córdoba, Ciudad Real to Badajoz, Valdepeñas to Puertollano, Villacañas to Quintanar, Argamasilla to Tomelloso, etc.
These lines would be operated by various companies during the private era of the railways, notably on the broad-gauge lines the Madrid to Zaragoza and Alicante Railway Company (MZA), of which our Historical Railway Archive preserves an impressive collection comprising various documentary series derived from its professional activities, which document the development of the infrastructure, financial management, and business model, personnel, the technical evolution of rolling stock and facilities, etc.
This documentation generated by MZA, along with other collections from other railway companies and those preserved in our archive, will allow us to gain insight into the documentary heritage and legacy left by the development of the railway in Castilla-La Mancha, with special attention to one of the main railway hubs in Spain, the one established in Alcázar de San Juan, which facilitated the convergence of various radial lines, connecting Madrid with the Levante and Andalusia regions, for both passenger and freight traffic. PDF

Francisco Polo Muriel (Spanish Railway Foundation).
Railways in the Castile-La Mancha region during the period of public management (1936–2025).

The autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, comprising the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, and Guadalajara, has a railway network that has undergone a profound transformation during the period of public management, which began following the establishment of RENFE in 1941. Throughout this period, the region has both benefited from and been affected by the railway policy decisions adopted during the Franco regime and following the restoration of democracy, resulting today in a regional railway system characterized by the established presence of two networks: one with Iberian gauge, which was completed in the mid-1950s, and another, more recent one, dedicated to providing high-speed services, which also runs through the five provinces.
This paper aims to present the most significant aspects that have influenced this evolutionary process, reflecting the indicators of regional railway infrastructure and operations available during the period of public management and comparing them with the national railway network as a whole.  

Miguel Antonio Maldonado Felipe (Institute of La Mancha Studies).
Cooperative railroads. Francisco Martínez Ramírez’s last resort to prevent the ruin and ostracism ofthe Argamasilla-Tomelloso Railroad.

Three factors made it possible to establish a railway between Tomelloso and the Argamasilla de MZA station: the passage of the Tax Law, the Banco Hispano Romano’s endorsement of the project, and the MZA Company’s agreement to operate the line using its own resources. Of these three factors, the one that most facilitated the project’s success was the enactment of the Special Tax Law, authorizing the municipalities of Tomelloso and Argamasilla to impose a tax on the transport of the wines, spirits, and derivatives they produced, the proceeds of which would be used to subsidize a railroad linking both towns to the Andalusian line. An initiative conceived and promoted by Francisco Martínez Ramírez “El Obrero, ” based on cooperative principles.
After more than a decade of operational, economic, and administrative setbacks, the Tomelloso-based company succumbed to functional isolation. Above all, this followed MZA’s inflexible rejection of the marshalling yard project at the Cinco Casas station, the only feasible solution to ensure the continuity of the railway from Tomelloso to Villarrobledo.
The study to establish a railway between Villarrobledo and San Clemente, requested from the Company by the latter town in 1926, led “El Obrero” to conceive a unique financial initiative that, in a somewhat different form but identical in essence, had been successfully implemented on the Tomelloso railway. The aim was to build new railway lines, of a local scope and economical nature, based on the cooperative principle.
The goal pursued by Martínez Ramírez was to mitigate, in general, the state’s arbitrariness in leaving out of the network important towns and wealthy regions and, in particular, as a last resort to ensure the continuity of the railway from Cinco Casas to Tomelloso. The government viewed the project very favorably, enacting the Royal Decree-Law on Cooperative Railways in 1929. PDF

Daniel Marín Arroyo (Regional Government of Castile-La Mancha and UNED).
From Huerta to Villasequilla via Dos Bocas.

At the 9th Congress on Railway History held in Mataró, I presented a paper on the Huerta de Valdecarábanos station, which analyzed the interaction between the station, the company, and the staff who worked there. On this occasion, I am submitting for the scientific committee’s consideration the possibility of expanding that study to include two stations located near Huerta: the Villasequilla station and the Dos Bocas siding.
In the first case, I would like to present the results of the analysis of the documentation on this station preserved by the AHF and the reviews of it found in the press of the time. Originally a small station on the Madrid-Alicante line, Villasequilla evolved with the times, experiencing some surprising events and circumstances, such as a major fire in 1876, the construction of the signal box in 1912, and the unsuccessful attempt to renovate the station between 1929 and 1931.
On the other hand, the Dos Bocas siding is of great interest due to its original function, which was none other than to supply water to the steam locomotives traveling between Madrid, Alicante, and Andalusia. Although it has now completely disappeared from the landscape, traces of it remain on the site, so the presentation will also offer a heritage perspective on what remains and how this station connected to the nearby spring that supplied it with water.
Through the study of these two stations, I aim to complete the analysis of these small railway enclaves which, far from grand epics, managed to revitalize and diversify the economy, society, and character of the towns where they were established. PDF

José Ruiz López and José Latova Fernández-Luna.
The railway line from Ciudad Real to Badajoz via Almadenejos-Almadén, between the Caracollera and Chillón stations.

My study of the mining origins of the municipality of Almadenejos has led me to consider the significant impact that the railway’s passage through the town had, effectively turning its station into that of Almadén—located two leagues away—and creating a certain logistical conflict between them, since the railway never actually passed through the latter municipality, even though it had a larger population and greater economic importance due to its mercury mines. Since then, there has been a call for a detour or branch line to it.
For this purpose, we have access to the excellent sources preserved in the Historical Railway Archive of the Spanish Railways Foundation, where the initial project for the line under the direction of engineer Manuel Peironcely is preserved, along with part of its history within the MZA company, which was its developer.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a chronological account of the most significant events and activities that took place along the proposed section, as well as the changes and transformations in its various civil engineering works from the time of its construction until the end of the Civil War. All of this is based on a survey of the section to assess the current state of the historic infrastructure that still survives in ruins or remains in use.
We believe this is a good time, although somewhat late, as the track superstructure at the Almadenejos-Almadén and Guadalmez-Los Pedroches stations and along the section we are proposing has recently been renovated. PDF

Agustín Jiménez Cano.
The Railroad in Ciudad Real from Its Origins to the Present Day.

Since its inception, the railroad has been—and continues to be—an essential means of transportation for the development of humanity. Its history has been chronicled in countless books, magazines, articles, films, documentaries, etc.
As Ciudad Real is a provincial capital with a long railway tradition, we decided to take the time—slowly but surely—to compile and recount the “History of the Railroad in Ciudad Real” from its arrival in 1861 to the present day. Since this is a very long period, we have studied how to divide it into sections corresponding to “historical” periods, which are as follows:
1) From the arrival of the train in Ciudad Real in 1861 until the formation of Renfe in 1941, thus describing the events involving the companies M.Z.A. and CR-B.
2) From the founding of Renfe in 1941 until the arrival of the AVE in Ciudad Real in 1992.
3) From 1992 to the year 2026, marking more than three decades of high-speed rail in the capital.

The first two points have been the subject of separate books by the author, and work is currently underway on the third. The proposed paper for the 10th International Congress on Railway History would aim to provide an overview of the history of the railway in the city of Ciudad Real. PDF

José Ángel Gallego Palomares (Regional Government of Castile-La Mancha).
Railways in Castile-La Mancha, 1851–1914. A region crisscrossed by railways.

The first part of this presentation will focus on the development of railway lines in Castilla-La Mancha, which was almost always linked to the major national lines.
The early history of the railroad in Spain was fraught with difficulties. The Royal Order of 1844 granted two concessions that we will examine: the Aranjuez-Almansa line and the Almansa-Alicante line.
During the Progressive Biennium, the 1855 Basic Railway Law was passed, transforming the railway landscape. With this law, foreign capital poured in, as seen on the Mediterranean line to Alicante, which was still under construction. Valencia entered the race with the line to Almansa, creating the Almansa-Valencia-Tarragona route. With the line to Murcia, starting from Albacete, there was greater synergy, as the Madrid to Zaragoza and Alicante Railway Company (M.Z.A.) took over operations.
Following this law, M.Z.A. consolidated most of the lines. This was the case with the Madrid-to-Zaragoza concession via Guadalajara (completed in 1859), which marked the company’s inception. The same applied to the Alcázar-to-Ciudad Real railway (completed in 1861). To link the central peninsula with southern Spain toward Córdoba, M.Z.A. connected at Manzanares (the Alcázar-Ciudad Real line).
In contrast, connections with Portugal were marginal. There was a lack of interest from all economic actors in both lines: the Badajoz-Ciudad Real line (completed in 1866 and purchased by M.Z.A. in 1880) and the line via Cáceres from Talavera (Tajo Railway).
Finally, the minor railway lines: those supplying Madrid, mining railways, and those used for wine transport, already in the 20th century. These were very modest and plagued by serious problems.
To conclude this presentation, as a second subject of study, we analyze the railroad as a shaper of the territory. In this regard, Castilla-La Mancha will be traversed by major lines, yet remains poorly connected. Our argument is based on the social and institutional performance of certain railroad lines. PDF

Dolores S. Rodero Madrid (ADIF) and Francisco Polo Muriel (Spanish Railways Foundation).
Tracing the route of the railway in the municipality of Alcázar de San Juan: the earliest administrative documents (1852–1853).

The study of the expropriation processes preceding the subsequent construction of a railway line remains, as Professor Telesforo Hernández Sempere noted in his doctoral dissertation in the late 1970s, an unexplored field of research. Undoubtedly, understanding how an expropriation procedure was carried out would shed light on a little-known aspect of concessionary companies’ efforts to acquire ownership of the land necessary to build a railway line.
ADIF’s Real Estate Inventory preserves part of the administrative documentation related to that initial phase preceding the construction of the railway line. Through this inventory, it is possible to obtain information about the territory through which the railway line was to be laid: the structure of ownership, the nature of the landowners, the uses to which the plots of land were put prior to their compulsory expropriation, and the fair market value paid by the companies. This information, combined with other documents and reports on the construction processes preserved in state, provincial, and local archives, along with the companies’ annual reports containing the accounts of the initial establishment, can contribute to a broader understanding of the phase preceding the start of railway operations.
The proposed paper aims to conduct a practical analysis of the expropriations carried out in the municipality of Alcázar de San Juan by the Aranjuez-Almansa Railway Company between 1852 and 1853 for the construction of the section between Tembleque and Alcázar de San Juan. This analysis will be supplemented by information on the aforementioned expropriation proceedings held in the Municipal Historical Archive of Alcázar de San Juan. PDF

Francisco José Atienza Santiago (Historical Archive of Alcázar de San Juan).
Railway Safety, Public Order, and Social Control at the Alcázar de San Juan Station (1892–1945). From a Strategic Transportation Hub to a Space of Institutional and Police Surveillance.

This paper analyzes the Alcázar de San Juan railway station as a space for railway safety, public order, and social control between 1892 and 1945, with a particular focus on the period from 1930 to 1942. Drawing on documentation from the Historical Railway Archive, the Municipal Archive, and other sources from Alcázar, the station is interpreted as a strategic regional hub where technical operations, police surveillance, social unrest, passive defense, and territorial governance converged. The study demonstrates that railway safety was not merely a matter of technical operations but also an institutional practice involving observation, control of mobility, and the day-to-day management of risk. PDF

Francisco de los Cobos Arteaga (University of Castilla-La Mancha).
Railways in Castilla-La Mancha (1914–1936): Between Modernization and Crisis.

During the second decade of the 20th century, the increase in rail traffic spurred improvements on the main transportation routes, but it also led to a sustained rise in operating costs that culminated in the so-called Railway Problem. The government’s response took two forms: direct aid to the companies and the approval of the 1926 Urgent Construction Plan, which proposed new lines intended to complete the network or establish direct connections (Baeza-Utiel-Lérida-Saint Girons, Cuenca-Utiel, Puertollano-Marmolejo, among others).
These internal factors were compounded by two external elements that exacerbated the crisis: the economic depression of 1929 and the consolidation of road transport as a competitive alternative, capable of attracting the most profitable traffic thanks to its flexibility and lower costs. The railroad, with a rigid cost structure and growing investment needs, fell into financial imbalance, forcing increasing state intervention to ensure the continuity of public service.
The study also focuses on narrow-gauge railways, analyzing cases that illustrate the different adaptation strategies of these smaller companies in the face of the crisis.
In short, the period 1914–1936 constitutes a key stage in the history of the Castilian-Manchegan railway, marked by the coexistence of modernization projects and a structural crisis that foreshadowed the sector’s transformations in the following decades. PDF

Dolores S. Rodero Madrid (ADIF) and Francisco Polo Muriel (Spanish Railways Foundation).
The historic railway stations of the eastern broad-gauge network in the province of Ciudad Real.

Between 1854 and 1878, the province of Ciudad Real established its main broad-gauge railway lines, becoming one of the first provinces in Spain to have a railway network covering a significant portion of its territory. The convergence in the province of two railway lines connecting to the Spanish capital—one heading toward the Mediterranean and the other toward the west and south of the peninsula—formed the basis for the construction of railway facilities in the towns through which both lines passed. Thus, stations and auxiliary buildings for railway operations were constructed, some of which are still preserved today, maintaining the architectural characteristics and aesthetic features typical of the period in which they were built.
This paper aims to provide an overview of the railway heritage preserved by the Railway Infrastructure Administrator in the province of Ciudad Real, with special attention to the passenger stations, as they are the main landmarks in the region and a hallmark of the towns where they are located, contributing through their presence and maintenance to the cultural heritage of local communities. PDF

Eva Mª Jesús Morales (UNED-Ciudad Real).
Sociability and Urban Planning in the Age of the Railroad: Innovation, Custom, and Representation in the Towns of La Mancha.

Esta propuesta aborda las potencialidades del ferrocarril como medio privilegiado en las economías locales para potenciar el vínculo entre las comunidades surcadas por sus vías. En este marco se observa cómo en los años crepusculares del siglo XIX los vagones dirigidos por la locomotora abastecían de combustible fósil a las escuelas o surtían a los ayuntamientos del revolucionario material capaz de dotar a las poblaciones del primer alumbrado eléctrico.
Ferrocarril y ciudad crecerán de la mano, generando grandilocuentes bulevares arbolados en las inmediaciones de la estación. Ésta se convertiría, por tanto, en el eje director de la expansión urbanística decimonónica, reflejo de la realidad de las grandes capitales. Veremos varios ejemplos ilustrativos de esta evidencia en el tejido urbano de la provincia de Ciudad Real, con resonancias en otros lugares.
La Mancha, trasunto de emergencia y dinamismo, pronto vestirá sus paseos de la expresión urbanística de la modernidad. La villa del siglo XVIII entra en contacto con la mentalidad burguesa que hará del XIX su siglo por excelencia.
Una reflexión que conecta urbanismo y hábitos sociales, profundizando en las raíces del cambio de paradigma operado en el engranaje social y su deriva cultural en el cambio de siglo. El 1900 aguardaba con su gran eclosión ciudadana, pero su arraigo en el último tercio del siglo XIX convierte su estudio en especialmente interesante. PDF

Jesús Sánchez Sánchez (University of Castilla-La Mancha).
The Unfinished Railroad from Alcázar de San Juan to Quintanar de la Orden and the Proposed Extension through Cuenca to Calatayud.

The aim of this paper is to review the current state of knowledge regarding the uncompleted railway line that was intended to connect Alcázar de San Juan (Ciudad Real) with Quintanar de las Orden (Toledo). Even in its initial plans, there were provisions to extend the line toward Zaragoza, passing through Cuenca and Calatayud.
The key points of this study are: 1. This is a railway that was never put into operation, despite the track bed being practically complete. 2. Construction began following the administrative concession granted in 1864. The first concessionaire’s failure was due to financial reasons. This was followed by a complex series of corporate, administrative, and legal proceedings. Several attempts were made to transfer the concession, as well as to have the MZA Company take over operations. None of these efforts succeeded. The concession expired in 1878. 4. The study examines the biographies of the most prominent figures in the history of this railway. Carlos Vázquez Cervela was the first concessionaire. The last was José María Villamar. 5. Primary sources were prioritized in the research. These include the Archivo Histórico Ferroviario (AHF) in Madrid, the issues of the Gaceta de Madrid, as well as contemporary general and specialized press. 6. Emphasis was placed on the economic issues underlying the project’s bankruptcy. 7. Fieldwork was conducted to identify and document the structural remains that still exist within the municipalities through which the line passes. 8. In conclusion, the general optimism surrounding railways in the second half of the 19th century is contrasted with the country’s economic difficulties. PDF