The Lleida–La Pobla Line () is a

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

linking

Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...

and

La Pobla de Segur La Pobla de Segur () is a municipality located in the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Pallars Jussà, province of Lleida, Catalonia, in northern Spain. It has a population of . It is situated at the confluence of the Flamicell and Noguera Palla ...

, in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Spain. Most of its users concentrate between Lleida and

Balaguer Balaguer () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Noguera, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It is located by the river Segre, a tributary to the Ebro. The municipality includes an exclave to the east. Balaguer also has a sister city ...

, where a frequent service is offered, with few trains continuing to La Pobla de Segur. Since 2009, a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

service branded ''Tren dels Llacs'' (English: "''Lakes Train''"), in reference to the number of reservoirs skirted by the line north of Balaguer, has been running on the railway. The line is part of the ATM Àrea de Lleida fare-integrated public transport system between Lleida and

Àger Àger (; ) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Noguera in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the north-west of the ''comarca'', and the territory of the municipality stretches between the Noguera Ribagorçana and Noguera Pallaresa rive ...

. On 3 February 1924, the line's first stretch opened between Lleida and Balaguer, initially as part of a planned international rail line through the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

mountains between Lleida and Saint-Girons in France. Between 1949 and 1951, it was extended to the current northern terminus in La Pobla de Segur. The line was targeted for closure by the

Spanish government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...

in the 1980s, with great opposition from regional and local administrations. This led to the eventual transfer of the line to the

Catalan government The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Governme ...

in 2004, though operations continued to be carried on by the national rail operator

Renfe Operadora Renfe (, ), officially Renfe-Operadora, is Spain's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. It was created in 2005 upon the split of the former Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles, Spanish National Railway Netwo ...

. In 2016, the line's operation was fully taken over by the regional company

Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (, "Catalan Government Railways"; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Ferrocarriles de la Generalidad de Cataluña''), or FGC, is a railway company which operates several unconnected lines in Catalonia, Spain. The lines operated include metro and commu ...

(FGC) following the introduction of new rolling stock and service improvements.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

*
''Tren dels Llacs'' official website

Information and photos of the line
at trenscat.cat * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lleida-La Pobla Line Railway lines in Catalonia Iberian-gauge railways Transport in Segrià Transport in Noguera (comarca) Pallars Jussà Transport in Lleida Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya Railway lines opened in 1924