Portbou station (PK 273.1 of the Tarragona-Barcelona-Portbou line) was put into service in 1878, with the arrival of the train from Figueres. The facilities, given their situation as a border station, are large, in which it could be divided between the passenger area and the goods area. As for the passenger area, the station has five Iberian-wide tracks with three platforms, connected by level crossings and an underpass. This area of tracks is covered by a large canopy built in 1929, in the image of the famous cover of the Estación de France. The large passenger building is located to the right of the tracks and has three floors. The ground floor houses, among other facilities, the ticket offices, waiting room and a cafeteria. In the past it also housed border control facilities, which have disappeared thanks to the free movement treaty for the European Union. To access the station from the village of Portbou you must use an underpass that leads right into the passenger building. On the east side of the building, there are two international-gauge tracks with side platforms for French trains that arrive at the station with passage and leave empty for Cervera. In order for these trains to carry out maneuvers there is a tunnel heading south with an international gauge track parallel to the Pineda tunnel. Of the facilities dedicated to passengers, the Talgo gauge interchange in operation since 1968, located at the exit of the station on the north side and with access from route 1, should also be highlighted. Parallel to the area of Iberian-wide platforms, there are 8 tracks without a reception-dispatch platform for Renfe trains and 2 more tracks with ditches for train inspection, as well as two workshop tracks for motor equipment. Also worth mentioning between the Iberian and international tracks is the warehouse where parcel and postal traffic was transferred, with a track from each administration entering this facility. The area strictly for goods stands out especially for the combined transport traffic, carrying out transshipment operations of containers with gantry cranes, having eight routes for this task. Other types of goods are also transferred between goods wagons through loading docks flanked by a track of each width. Some of the tracks on the entire freight line (a total of 28 tracks) have three lanes, for the circulation of trains of both track widths. At the exit from Portbou towards Cervera is the Balitres tunnel, which has a track of each width and a blind escape tunnel for maneuvers of 300 meters in length built between 1983 and 1984.
Translated by Google •
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