On November 9, a trip described by the Principality’s president, Adrián Barbón, as historic marked a milestone for Asturias. Although its 20-minute duration and 50-kilometer distance might not seem long, this voyage signaled the first phase of the Pajares high-speed railway, linking La Robla in León with Campomanes in Lena. For more than four decades, this project has been a black hole for expectations—detailed headlines, logistical puzzles, technical hiccups, big budget swings, and, above all, political contention. The gap complicated connections between Asturias and the rest of Spain, particularly Madrid, hampering investment, talent retention, and freight movement. On its maiden run, Barbón declared that surpassing the Cantabrian mountains at speeds up to 160 kilometers per hour would mean the region could finally leave isolation behind.
The initial trip was a test, not a promise of what lies ahead, according to the Principality. Adif’s tests suggest the AVE could soon reach 200 kph, with 275 kph in the longer term. The goal is to cut travel time; the current route via Pajares tops out at about 80 kph on certain stretches. The plan is to drop the Asturias-to-León leg to under an hour, instead of the current two hours and 12 minutes. Travel to Madrid is projected to settle around three hours—four hours and 24 minutes at worst, per the Ministry of Transport.
Work remains substantial on the Gijón–Madrid corridor. In 2023, circulation tests on the 21-kilometer segment between León and La Robla were postponed. The regional government estimates that the 31-kilometer link from Pola de Lena to Oviedo should be completed this year, though the project remains under scrutiny and track gauge concerns for the 24-kilometer span between Oviedo and Gijón are still under review.
Even as Pajares began, the broader response from Asturias was largely positive after decades of calling for a rail connection to Castilla y León and Madrid. The central government’s pledge that high-speed service would become commercially operational in May was welcomed, even as election timing loomed over the announcements.
Asturias first mapped its Infrastructure and Mobility Master Plan (PIMA) in 2015, valid through 2030. The project’s economic and social impacts aren’t fully captured by today’s pandemic uncertainties, but the AVE’s operation has the potential to double daily train counts through Pajares, rising from roughly 30 to about 60. The plan also notes cost savings for local industries, with a steel sector forecast to save around 4 million euros by 2024 and 5 million euros by 2030, alongside reductions in coal traffic and freight for grain, containers, and automobile components—potentially reaching 118 million euros by 2030. Passenger savings from intercity alternatives such as air travel, private cars, and buses could total around 24 million euros by the decade’s end.
The network’s horizontal expansion is on the agenda. While the national government has ruled out a Cantabrian AVE from Galicia to the Basque Country due to demand doubts, Asturias could benefit from future high-speed links. The Ministry of Transport has proposed a Bilbao–Santander connection delivering travel times of about one hour, much faster than today.
The current Oviedo–Santander route, once part of the Feve network, operates with limited frequency and modest speeds. Trains run only a few times each week, and the journey from Oviedo to Bilbao can take more than eight hours with transfers. The forthcoming bullet-train network could bring Llanes within reach in a little over an hour at typical speeds.
New routes by plane
Asturias is not solely a rail story. Air connectivity is expanding in the spring. Starting April 23, Lufthansa will operate direct flights to Frankfurt and Munich, connecting Asturias with two major European hubs. Three weekly departures to Frankfurt are planned on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, with return flights aligning to convenient morning and afternoon slots. These routes are set to complement existing links from Volotea to Milan-Bergamo and Lisbon, joining services from Brussels, Düsseldorf-Weeze, Rome-Fiumicino, Dublin, London Stansted, London Gatwick, Paris Orly, and Amsterdam.
Within Spain, there are fifteen domestic destinations including Alicante, Barcelona, Gran Canaria, Granada, Madrid, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Tenerife, Valencia, among others. Asturias Airport posted a strong late-2023 performance, with November recording 121,334 passengers, up 16.9 percent from pre-pandemic levels in 2019 and marking the best November in over a decade. In the first eleven months of the year, passenger traffic reached 1,315,546, a signal of stabilizing mobility. Of these, most travelers were within Spain, with a notable international component.
A momentum arose from Brussels
The Principality has benefited from European Recovery and Resilience Mechanism funds, totaling 605.8 million euros for Asturias. These funds, aimed at energy efficiency, transport modernization, and green industry, support the shift toward sustainable mobility and lower-emission technology. Spain hopes to secure a large share of these resources by 2026. Of the total, 112 million are earmarked for energy transition initiatives such as energy efficiency upgrades and electrified mobility, signaling an opportunity to modernize the productive base and boost competitiveness. These investments are framed as a path to a more resilient economy in a post-pandemic world.
Today, many Asturian companies are shaping mid-term strategies with European support. In a broader European context of inflation and uncertainty, Brussels is viewed as a potential accelerator for restoring pre-pandemic momentum.
At the Beginning of Just Transition
The Just Transition Fund represents the European Union’s strategy to help regions historically reliant on fossil fuels shift toward a climate-aligned economy. Asturias, given its steel industry and related sectors, exemplifies this decarbonization drive. It stands to receive up to 263 million euros under the 2021-2027 plan, with 66 million euros anticipated for 2023. The Principality has organized its Just Transition plan around six axes: strengthening social infrastructures; driving ecological industry transformation, sustainable mobility, and a circular economy; expanding renewable energy, storage, and the hydrogen value chain; guiding SME-backed projects for economic diversification; boosting R&D, ICT, and digital transformation; and conserving nature while promoting heritage and sustainable tourism.