History of Galdames mining railway

To transport iron ore from the mines to the loading docks, starting in the 1870s, several private mining companies were founded with foreign capital interested in iron ore from Bizkaia.
One of them was the mining railway in Galdames, inaugurated in 1876 by the English company The Bilbao River & Cantabrian Railway Co. Ltd.

Go to content

A bit of history

  • In order to transport the approximately 210 million tonnes of iron ore exported between 1875 and 1950 to the loading docks on the estuary, a complex network of infrastructure had to be created. Thus, several private mining companies funded by foreign capital interested in iron ore from Bizkaia were founded starting in the 1870s. They began to plan to build private railways, as at the time the mineral transport monopoly was held by Triano, owned by the Bizkaia Provincial Council.

  • One of them was the mining railway in Galdames, inaugurated in 1876 by the English company The Bilbao River & Cantabrian Railway Co. Ltd. This railway was more than 22 km long and was 1.14 m wide. It was the longest mining railway in all of Ezkerraldea-Meatzaldea, as it ran from La Aceña, in Galdames, went along the edge of the Triano mountains and ended at the loading docks on the Benedicta jetty between Sestao and Portugalete, where remains can still be found today.

  • The material extracted from the mines reached the space known as the Galdames dock on the Ibaizabal-Nervión estuary after crossing the towns of Galdames, Muskiz, Abanto-Zierbena, Ortuella, San Salvador del Valle (today Valle de Trápaga-Trapagaran), Portugalete and Sestao. The last section was a long 620 metre tunnel that flowed into the wide plaza to deposit the iron ore on the dock now known as La Benedicta.

  • Next to one of the iron ore ports, the company also built the La Balastrera neighbourhood with housing for the people who worked in the mines and the inspector's house.

  • Along the route, which has been partially recovered as a greenway, today you’ll be able to view the footprint of mining infrastructure: inclined planes, mineral ports, loading docks and more. It has six tunnels, four of which are more than 100 metres long, and nine bridges that allowed the railway to cross the various cliffs in its path.