The City Council will remove the old tram rails found in Puerta de Alcalá to “museumize” them

The remodeling works being carried out around the Puerta de Alcalá last week uncovered the rails of Madrid’s old tramway ―which ran until June 1972―, which were covered by asphalt when the lines were closed. Days after the discovery, which fueled debate on social media about what to do with the found railway remains, the Community announced that it would study their architectural and patrimonial value. The City Council confirmed this Thursday that they have already received the regional government’s letter, which indicates that the rails do not fall under the protection assumptions of the heritage law, and recommends that the Consistory extract them, in a controlled manner, and display them in another space. The deputy mayor, Inma Sanz, has announced that this is presumably what they will do and that they are studying where to take them, with the aim of exhibiting and preserving them.

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“We understand that they have an almost emotional value for the people of Madrid. We are going to see what could be the appropriate location to museumize these remains or a part of them,” Sanz said at the press conference after the Governing Council. For the moment, nothing is planned, as the City Council must analyze the found rails and determine with technicians how to remove them so that they do not suffer damage. “From the Community, they convey that there is no inconvenience for the dismantling of these tram remains and that a controlled extraction can be carried out,” she indicated. She also explained that old rails have already appeared in other areas of the city with similar works and it is likely to happen again. The residents of the Retiro Norte association, among the first to publish the discovery on social media, asked for it to be integrated into the landscape.

Sanz explained that the current project ―a boulevard between Cibeles and the Puerta de Alcalá― would be greatly affected and would vary “substantially” if the rails were left, which can be preserved and exhibited in another “more suitable” environment. “If there were a project modification, a consultation with Unesco would have to be made. But [the decision to remove them] is not so much for that reason, but because we understand that it fits better in another place without altering the project we have planned for that area,” added the deputy mayor.

They are still evaluating the space where they could “museumize” them, and it is too early to anticipate possibilities. Sanz did comment that they will be “very well located, but not in that area, but in another part of the city.”

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