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Inside the coverage of Portbou Station, in the border between France and Spain (Catalunya region) Roberto V. Sousa (devil.lips63@gmail.com) 19-08-2011

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Vue générale du site ferroviaire de PORTBOU (03/2006) Photo Christian et Daniel Fincato (dfg@waika9.com)

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RENFE - Stations Portbou, 27.07.2001 Photo: Darko Pahic Szabo <dp.szabo@ipc-corp.si>

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RENFE - Stations Portbou, 27.07.2001 Photo: Darko Pahic Szabo <dp.szabo@ipc-corp.si>

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RENFE - Stations Portbou, 27.07.2001 Photo: Darko Pahic Szabo <dp.szabo@ipc-corp.si>

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RENFE - Stations Portbou, 27.07.2001 Photo: Darko Pahic Szabo <dp.szabo@ipc-corp.si>

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RENFE - Stations Portbou, 27.07.2001 Photo: Darko Pahic Szabo <dp.szabo@ipc-corp.si>

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RENFE - Stations Portbou, 27.07.2001 Photo: Darko Pahic Szabo <dp.szabo@ipc-corp.si>

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RENFE - Stations Portbou, 27.07.2001 Photo: Darko Pahic Szabo <dp.szabo@ipc-corp.si>

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RENFE - Stations Portbou, 27.07.2001 Photo: Darko Pahic Szabo <dp.szabo@ipc-corp.si>

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Spain (RENFE) Station Port Bou - Spanish tracks 05.07.18 ; Photo by P. Zielinski

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Spain (RENFE) Station Port Bou - European tracks 05.07.18 ; Photo by P. Zielinski

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Spain (RENFE) Station Port Bou - European tracks 05.07.18 ; Photo by P. Zielinski

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Platform 1 at Portbou Station. Tracks on the left are UIC-gauge (1435mm-4ft8in) and serve the French sector. Tracks on the right are Iberic-gauge (1668mm-5ft6in) and serve the Spanish sector. Pre-Schengen, this platform was partitioned with a high barrier, which has eventually gone in the late-90s. Irun and Canfranc stations have been built along the same layout, with 2 sectors (French and Spanish) segregated with the Station Building. 19th December 2003 P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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French sector of Portbou Station, with UIC-gauge tracks (1435mm-4ft8in), looking towards France and the cross-border Balitres Tunnel. One can see a remnant of the segregation from the Spanish sector in the background. 19th December 2003 P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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French sector of Portbou Station, with UIC-gauge tracks (1435mm-4ft8in), looking towards the "Tunnel Borgne" ("One-eyed Tunnel"), where the French tracks terminate. Actually, the French sector used to have a third track, left of the two remaining tracks. It was lifted in the mid-90s. The former trackbed (still in evidence) has been obturated to extend the platform. 19th December 2003 P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Portbou Station, seen from Carrer Estaçió. The pedestrian tunnel passes under the French sector with UIC-gauge tracks (1435mm-4ft8in), and ends up in the concourse of the station building. 19th December 2003 P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Talgo gauge-changer ("Cambiador") in Portbou Station, seen from Platform 1, looking towards France and the cross-border Balitres Tunnel. This was the first Talgo gauge-changer ever built for revenue service (1969). On the right, one can see the UIC-gauge (1435mm-4ft8in) single track connecting Cerbère (France) with the French sector of Portbou Station. Tracks on the left are Iberic-gauge (1668mm-5ft6in) and serve the Spanish sector. The track from the gauge-changer is broad-gauge, and crosses the UIC-gauge single track to join the Spanish sector. The gauge-changer at Irun is also located between the border and the Spanish station. Beyond the gauge-changer stands BB7298 of SNCF. That morning, it pushed Talgo 463 "Mare Nostrum" (Montpellier-Cartagena) from Cerbère and is awaiting Talgo 72 "Catalan-Talgo" (Barcelona-Montpellier), which it will haul until Montpellier. 19th December 2003 P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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This is the place whre talgo trains change their gauge. Observe the crossing in front, the track on right is at 1435 , the other, the one where the train is, is 1676. Look at the light under the train, there is a place where an agent look that the wheel shift correctly. The train after arriving lose its locomotive an is pushed by a shunter in the gauige changer at low speed. When the trains exit on the other side of the 20 m tunnel is taken the locomotive that will lead it to Geneve. Photo taken at Port Bou on 5-6-1989 by Leonardo boselli leo@dicea.unifi.it

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17 September 2000, Portbou, Spain Night train 'Estrella Costa Brava' entering the station. Digital photo by Klaus Föhl (kf@ph.ed.ac.uk)

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17 September 2000, Portbou, Spain Tunnel portals at the south end of Portbou. The right tunnel takes the broad gauge line into Spain. The left tunnel with normal gauge rails seems to be a dead end and only used for shunting. Digital photo by Klaus Föhl (kf@ph.ed.ac.uk)

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Spain: Port Bou station. A night view of Port Bou station (morning of 5.10.2002). Port Bou is a border station with France. The train running through on the right is the night Talgo from Paris to Barcelona which has just changed over from the standard to the iberian broad gauge. On the left is a class 440 e.m.u. waiting to depart on a local service to Barcelona. Photo and scan by A. Moglestue amogles@yahoo.com