Trains have not passed through the Nord station for almost half a century, but the RENFE acronym still presides over its facade. They are not the only vestige of the building's railway past; however, not all of them are so obvious.
For example, the five-pointed stars that can be seen in the woodwork, in stained glass and, more clearly, on the facade. They can easily be confused with an ornamental element without more, but they are actually a vestige that reveals the origin of the station's name.
What is now known as Estación del Nord was inaugurated on May 21, 1862. At the time it was Saragossa station, because it was the head of the railway line that went to the Aragonese capital, passing through Lleida.
The Barcelona terminal was located on land known as the Hort de Sant Pere, next to Fort Pius and, therefore, within what had been the military perimeter of the Citadel. The station was designed by Pedro de Andrés Puigdollers, chief engineer of the line. The main facade of the enclosure, with the access door, faced Carrer de Vilanova. This is why the terminal ended up being known as Vilanova station, especially when the line was extended beyond Zaragoza.
In 1878 the company that owns the railway in Zaragoza, which was going through financial difficulties, was absorbed by the company Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España. Norte's emblem was a five-pointed star, which most likely represented Polaris, the star of the North.