Issue date: 17 Oct, 2014
CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURES
Entitled Civil Infrastructures, a stamp dedicated to the Irun Railway Station (Guipuzkoa), the last station on the Madrid-Irun rail line that borders France, is a new issue.
The history of Irun and its economy have been linked with the service sector and with activities relating to cross-border commerce and transport since Spanish Customs offices were transferred there in 1841. From then on, business relationships between Spain and France began to grow and the city of Irun likewise developed at the same rate as the increasing business interchanges. The arrival of the railway in 1863 converted Irun into a terminus station in the Spanish railway network and a point of connection with Europe.
In the history of the Spanish railways, the Madrid-Irun (or General Northern) line is especially interesting. Its trajectory, 641.6 kilometres long, reaches the French site of Hendaye, separated by the Bidasoa River. This was the only one of the great radial lines that was wholly constructed in the same time period and by the same company.
It all began in 1856, when Sociedad de Crédito Mobiliario Español, a subsidiary of the French company Sociedad de Crédito Mobiliario Francés, which belonged to the Pereira brothers, was awarded the construction of the Madrid-Irun railway line. The work started immediately in the town of Valladolid, because of its central position on the route and the Northern Spain Railroad Company (Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España), which would be in charge of the construction, was then created in 1858.
The final route, as we know it today, was divided into three sections: from Madrid to Valladolid, passing through Avila; from Valladolid to Burgos; and from Burgos to Irun, passing through Miranda and Vitoria. The route through Bilbao was ruled out, which gave rise to pressure on the government. The construction took place at a good pace and the Northern Spain Company had 326 kilometres of track open to traffic by December 1860.
In 1863 the first train arrived in Irun and the site became the terminus station for the Spanish railway network. A year later, the line was extended to Hendaye and the first international railway was inaugurated on 15 August 1864. Today the Irun station has a network of local and long-distance trains that join cross-country destinations such as Catalonia and Galicia, and remains one of the main points of connection between the centre and the north of the peninsula.
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Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
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Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.