€350m refit for Aragon train station once used by Nazis

THE abandoned Canfranc International Railway Station in Huesca, Aragon is to get a €350m refurbishment.

Nearly fifty years have passed since the station was last in use.

Opened in 1928 it sits on the border between Spain and France in the Pyrenees mountains.

Once considered a symbol of architectural elegance, the Nazis referred to it as the ´Titanic of the Mountains´ due to the hundreds of doors and 200-metre platforms.

British media sources state that the local government in Aragon, in north-eastern Spain, has purchased the site, after seeing the amount of tourists who still visit the dilapidated station.

They intend to turn it into a luxury hotel complete with a functioning railway line.

The €350m refurbishment costs are reportedly going to be split between the Spanish government and money raised from EU grants and, if all goes ahead, it could be finished by 2022.

The beginning of the Second World War saw the station act as a lifeline for fleeing Jewish refugees but in 1940 Franco was photographed giving Hitler a tour of the station.

It came under Nazi occupation and was used to smuggle looted gold but later on in the war it was the Nazis using it to flee.

Returning to normal function in the 1950´s, a dwindling population saw it fall into disrepair and it was closed in 1970 following a derailment.

Despite its crumbling structure it still attracted approximately 120,000 tourists between 2013 and 2017.

Since 1985 it has been home to underground physics laboratories where scientists study the existence of dark matter, which many scientists believe comprises 80 per cent of the mass of the universe.

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