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Pajares Incline

Lena, Caudal, Asturias

1 Villages · 8 Monuments · 6 Nature · 3 Activities · 5 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

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Pajares Incline

Monument · Lena, Caudal, Asturias

Image of Lena, not of the place itself.

The 42.7 kilometres of railway between Puente de los Fierros and Busdongo, built from 1880 to 1884 and opened on 15 August of that year, cross the Cantabrian mountain range through the Pajares pass with 61 tunnels, 156 bridges and viaducts and a characteristic 2% gradient; it is considered one of the greatest works of Spanish engineering of the 19th century, and the British enthusiast Trevor Rowe described it in 1970 as one of the most difficult mountain crossings in Europe. The La Perruca tunnel, the longest at 3,072 metres, was bored by hand in May 1883 and marks the highest point of the line, at 1,270 metres. After the opening of the Pajares bypass in November 2023, the line is expected to be closed because of the high cost of maintaining it.

Photo: Xuliu Pombar (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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