| Coordinates: | 40.7932°N -6.2484°W |
| Line: |
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| Borough: | La Fuente de San Esteban |
| Country: | Spain |
| La Fuente de San Esteban-Boadilla railway station | |
| Name Lang: | en |
| Native Name: | Estación de La Fuente de San Esteban-Boadilla |
| Native Name Lang: | es |
| Code: | 33008 |
| Map Type: | Spain |
La Fuente de San Esteban-Boadilla is a railway station located in the Spanish municipality of La Fuente de San Esteban, in the province of Salamanca, autonomous community of Castilla y León. It has no passenger services, although it can be used as a switch for crossing trains. Historically, the La Fuente de San Esteban-Boadilla station was a railway junction of some importance, where the Medina del Campo-Vilar Formoso and Barca d'Alva–La Fuente de San Esteban lines converged, both of international character. As a result, it had considerable passenger and freight rail traffic, as well as a number of large-scale facilities. The closure of the line to Barca d'Alva in 1985[1] [2] meant that the station lost its importance, the situation got worse when the Barca d'Alva railway station closed in 1988.[3]
The station is located at kilometre point 58.1 of the Iberian gauge railway line Medina del Campo-Vilar Formoso,[4] at an altitude of 776 metres above sea level. The kilometre corresponds to the historic route of the Salamanca-Vilar Formoso railway.
It was also the terminus of the Barca d'Alva–La Fuente de San Esteban line, now closed.[5]
The station was opened to traffic on 25 May 1886 with the opening of the Salamanca-Vilar Formoso section of the line that was intended to link Salamanca with the Portuguese border.[6] Its construction was the work of the Compañía del Ferrocarril de Salamanca a la frontera de Portugal, a company that was set up to extend the railway from Salamanca to link up with the Portuguese railways at Barca d'Alva to the north, and Vilar Formoso, to the south. The section between La Fuente de San Esteban and Barca d'Alva was opened to traffic on 8 December 1887, which turned the station into a railway junction.
As a consequence of its strategic position, La Fuente de San Esteban-Boadilla station had an important railway traffic and became a stop for international trains. Such trains, like the Sud Express, ran the Paris-Lisbon route via Salamanca and La Fuente de San Esteban without ever passing through Madrid.
In 1928 the facilities passed into the hands of the Compañía Nacional de los Ferrocarriles del Oeste, a situation that continued until 1941, after the nationalisation of all the Iberian gauge railways, when they were transferred to the recently created RENFE. On 1 January 1985 the La Fuente de San Esteban-Barca d'Alva line was closed to traffic due to its low economic profitability, which meant that the station La Fuente de San Esteban-Boadilla station lost its importance and its status as a railway junction.
Since January 2005, Adif is the owner of the railway facilities, while Renfe Operadora operates the line.