Madrid to Oviedo

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Home / 2021 / Trip to Spain - November 2021 / Madrid to Oviedo 35

Saturday 13/11/2021 Heading for Oviedo to be in position for the only useful daytime train from there to Santander, which is next morning..... so high speed to Oviedo it is. Photos here are from the descent from the Pajares pass this morning - through the train window so there's some reflections, sorry. This is on the León to Gijón line and descends 927 m with an almost constant slope of 1 in 50 over a distance of 49 km. It opened in 1884 and will close when the new Pajares base tunnels (a pair of tunnels 25 km long) are opened, though that has already taken 16 years and is very late due to the tunnels leaking.
To spend the afternoon usefully, I covered the broad gauge RENFE Cercanías branch from Oviedo to El Entrego then the nearby metre gauge FEVE Cercanías branch to Laviana. El Berrón on the FEVE Asturias metre gauge network is a very rare Grand Junction on a mainline railway, though the south to east curve passes through the depot. Other than the north-south and east-west lines, which are double track, the only other curve with a passenger service presently is the north to west curve, linking Gijón with Oviedo.
Dropping my large bag at the hotel Ibis in Oviedo, I then covered the broad gauge RENFE Cercanías service to Pola de Lena and back, which duly covered different routes avoiding the tunnels used by the fast trains. Finally, to fill the time before dinner I did the metre gauge FEVE run to Gijón and back.
Route:Madrid Charmartín 07:08 (RENFE Alvia 130-001) - via Valladolid, Vilecha gauge changer, León, both tunnels - Oviedo 11:54; 12:25 (RENFE EMU 463-011) - El Entrego 13:04; walk to El Entrego FEVE station; El Entrego 13:27 (FEVE EMU 3308/7) - Laviana 13:40; 13:45 (FEVE EMU 3308/7) - Noreña 14:36; 15:02 (FEVE EMU 3637/8) via El Berron N-W curve - Oviedo 15:19; 16:03 (RENFE EMU 463-008) not via tunnels - Pola de Lena (platform 4) 16:41; 17:13 (RENFE EMU 463-001, from platform 1) via first tunnel only - Oviedo 17:47; 18:05 (FEVE EMU 3638/3637) via El Berron W-N curve - Gijón 18:39; 18:45 (FEVE EMU 3638/3637) via El Berron N-W curve - Oviedo 19:25. Overnight Hotel ibis Oviedo, 15 minutes' walk from Oveido station.