Vall de Núria Rack Railway

Historia

The Vall de Núria Rack Railway is a mountain railway in the Pyrenees mountains in the north of the Catalonia region of Spain. The line connects Ribes de Freser with Queralbs and Vall de Núria in Ripollès, Girona. As Queralbs is the highest point in the valley reachable by road, the rack railway is – along with the old footpath / mule track – the only way to reach the shrine and ski resort at Núria.The line opened on March 22, 1931, and has been electrically operated from the start. It became part of the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) on January 2, 1984 and remains in their ownership. The line connects to the main R3 line at Ribes de Freser, but the stations have separate access.The line is 12.5km long and has a rail gauge of. The first 5.5km of the line is operated by conventional rail adhesion. The remainder of the line is operated as a rack railway, using the Abt system and with a maximum gradient of 15%. In total the line overcomes a height difference of 1062m. The line is electrified with an overhead supply at 1500 V DC.