IU calls for regional train network restoration

Regional rail is the issue here — not flashy high-speed service, but the slower network people actually use to get to work, school, and nearby cities. That is the gap Izquierda Unida Castilla-La Mancha tried to fill on May 12, when it presented a “Plan Integral Ferroviario” for the region. The pitch was blunt: Castilla-La Mancha has been built as a territory people cross, not one its residents can easily move around inside. And IU wants that reversed. ### What did IU actually announce? IU’s regional leadership presented a rail plan in Toledo with Pedro Mellado, rail activists Eugenio Parreño and Ángel de Cabo, and Mora-Orgaz platform coordinator Olvido Valero. The idea is a regional network that reconnects comarcas inside Castilla-La Mancha and serves daily life first. Mellado’s line was basically that this should be “a train to live here,” not a system designed mainly for tourists or for passing through at maximum speed. (europapress.es) ### Why are they talking about workers? Because the political argument is really about cost and time. IU says people are getting pushed into cars, long highway commutes, and fuel bills that eat into wages. Mellado pointed to crowded worker routes like Ciudad Real–Madrid as proof that demand is not abstract. The plan ties rail directly to staying in smaller towns without having to leave them for work — which is why IU links it to depopulation and energy transition, not just transport policy. (europapress.es) ### Which lines matter most? Two missing links carry most of the weight. One is Aranjuez–Cuenca–Utiel, the conventional line that used to connect Cuenca and a chain of smaller municipalities. The other is the Chinchilla–Cartagena corridor, which IU wants back for passengers as part of a broader east-south connection. In local terms, these are not side issues — they are the bones of a regional map that many towns feel has been dismantled. (europapress.es) ### Why is Aranjuez–Cuenca–Utiel such a sore point? Because it is already gone. Spain shut the line in July 2022 after the XCuenca process, and a European Parliament filing later summarized the impact as hitting 20 municipalities across three autonomous communities and four provinces. Then, in December 2024, Spain’s Supreme Court upheld the closure of the Tarancón–Utiel stretch, backing the government’s case that the line had weak traffic and poor infrastructure conditions. (latribunadealbacete.es) So when IU asks for restoration, it is not asking to stop a cut — it is asking to undo one that has already survived the courts. ### And what is happening with Chinchilla–Cartagena? That fight is more about delay than legal finality. Murcia’s regional government and consumer groups have been pressing to recover the Cartagena–Albacete/Madrid route through Chinchilla, which has been out since 2022 during works. Early this year, officials in Murcia were still demanding reopening, while Adif’s planning pointed to electrification only by 2040 and left open questions about when full service would really return. (europarl.europa.eu) Another public commitment put passenger recovery at the end of 2026 — which tells you the line is still politically alive, but not settled. ### Is this only about old lines? No — that is the catch. IU is using the lost lines as the clearest example, but the bigger complaint is structural. Castilla-La Mancha has AVE and major through-routes, yet many internal connections are weak. IU’s argument is that a region can have impressive headline infrastructure and still fail basic mobility if towns cannot connect to one another cheaply and reliably. (laopiniondemurcia.es) ### Why does this matter beyond transport? Because rail here stands in for a whole model of regional development. If travel inside the region depends on highways and private cars, smaller towns lose people faster and job access narrows. If a regional network comes back, even partially, it changes who can live where without being cut off. That is why this proposal is already being framed as part of IU’s run-up to the 2027 regional election cycle. (europapress.es) ### Bottom line? IU is trying to turn forgotten rail lines into a bigger argument about how Castilla-La Mancha is organized. The immediate demand is concrete — reopen or restore specific routes. But the real message is wider: a region is not well connected just because fast trains pass through it. (europapress.es)