Spanish Supreme Court upholds closure of Tarancón-Utiel railway line

The Spanish Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the CCOO union against a 2023 government decision to close the railway section between Tarancón and Utiel on the Aranjuez-Valencia line.

CCOO Cuenca expressed strong disagreement with the ruling, arguing that the decision dismantles an essential public service for the Cuenca province. Carlos Hortelano, the general secretary of CCOO Cuenca, criticized the technical report by the state-owned company Ineco used to justify the closure, claiming it lacks objectivity and was tailored to support a predetermined political decision.

Hortelano argued that the line's low profitability and declining passenger numbers are the direct result of years of institutional neglect, lack of maintenance investment, and safety degradation rather than inherent lack of demand. He noted that while the Ineco report analyzes demand between 2007 and 2019, it fails to account for unexecuted budget allocations for infrastructure improvements between 2011 and 2017.