The Trenet de la Marina is a narrow-gauge railway, which is more than a century old and runs from Alicante to Denia along the entire coastline. It stops at important tourist towns along the way, such as Villajoyosa, Benidorm, Alfaz del Pi, Altea, Calpe, Teulada, Gata and Denia. The route lasts two and a half hours, and if you have not tried it yet, we highly recommend it because it is one of those things to visit near Benidorm. The scenery is spectacular, as it crosses mountains, tunnels and bridges situated at considerable heights.
The Trenet de la Marina
Its creation was very slow and plagued with obstacles. You can see this from the fact that the proceedings for it began in 1882, yet the first section was not inaugurated until 1914. The reasons were varied and of a different nature. The country was experiencing a permanent economic, social and political crisis. The numerous fronts that were open, both internal and external, plunged Spain into chaos. It is true, however, that, thanks to certain measures, the entry of foreign capital facilitated the financing of these civil works.
If you add to all this the difficulties presented by our orography to face this kind of constructions and, perhaps, a scarce interest by the monarchy of the time, you can get an idea of how difficult it was to get a licence.
History
The Marina railway, moreover, suffered its own obstacles. One of them was that another civil work coincided with it: the road linking Alicante and Valencia. This road, which had been started decades earlier, was not completed until 1889 with the creation of the Mascarat Bridge and tunnel, one of those natural obstacles that are so abundant in our lands.
The licence to build and operate the railway
In 1882, the engineer Juan Bautista Lafora obtained permission from the administration to carry out technical studies for three railway sections: Alicante-Villajoyosa, Villajoyosa-Altea and Altea-Denia. His aim was, in fact, the extension of the broad gauge railway that already linked Murcia and Alicante, so it could reach Valencia.
However, it was not until 1889 that he received permission to build and operate this infrastructure, with two important conditions: he was only granted the section from Alicante to Villajoyosa and it had to be narrow gauge. The 1882 project had to be adapted to a one metre width. In the Royal Order with which it was approved, it also declared the section to be a public utility and granted the concession for 99 years with another condition: it had to be built in two years.
Creation of Ferrocarril de Alicante a la Marina S.A.
Lafora was unable to meet the construction deadline due to financial reasons and transferred his concession to the engineer Josep Carbonell Morand. He created the company Ferrocarril de Alicante a la Marina S.A.
The new project was approved in 1902 and also imposed a deadline for completion, which the company repeatedly failed to meet. In addition, Carbonell’s management incurred exorbitant expenses that the shareholders’ meeting did not accept. In 1906, he resigned, leaving the company with large debts that it could not recover and, in 1910, the State intervened and seized all the company’s assets. Finally, it was liquidated at a shareholders’ meeting.
Creation of the Compañía de Hierros Estratégicos y Secundarios de Alicante (ESA)
Once the call for public tender for the submission of projects for the construction of the train between Denia and Villajoyosa had taken place, the Ministry of Public Works awarded it to a French company in 1911. Josep Carbonell was a shareholder of this company. ESA was created shortly thereafter.
After the award, this new company took part in the public tender for the works of the failed company Ferrocarril de Alicante a la Marina S.A. It won this tender and ESA could build the entire section from Alicante to Denia.
The section from Alicante to Villajoyosa was inaugurated in 1914. However due to the orography, the one between Villajoyosa and Denia had to wait until the following year.
Amongst the delay, the competition with buses and trucks, and the political and economic conjunctures, the railway never offered the profitability that was expected and accumulated decades of losses. Finally, the state entity EFE took over the line in 1964.
At present, the Trenet de la Marina is run by the Generalitat Valenciana. The beauty of its route is very attractive for tourism and to find out about a small chapter of the history of the railway in our country. Visit us and don’t miss it.