hen Madrid-Delicias Station started operating in 1880, it triggered an urbanisation process in the land closest to the new railway facility, as well as attracting industries and warehouses to its outskirts. The land not used by the railway began to be occupied at the beginning of the 20th century.

In the early stages of the 1930s, a large number of plots located on the streets leading to Paseo de las Delicias and Calle del Ferrocarril were practically occupied by residential buildings. However, the land closest to the railway ring and the Delicias railway facility itself was sought by commercial firms and businesses, in order to set up their factories and warehouses, due to the proximity of the railway line and its use for transporting freight and raw materials. A large part of this land would be sold by the railway companies, when it was declared unnecessary for railway use.

The addition of railway infrastructures to the Las Delicias neighbourhood also favoured the construction, in the surrounding area, of large-scale industrial installations with the objective of supplying Madrid. A branch line connected Madrid-Delicias with the Cattle Slaughterhouse and Market and with the Central Fruit and Vegetable Market, which was attached to Madrid-Mercados Station.

The period of the greatest occupation of industrial land in the surroundings of Madrid-Delicias was in the early 1950s. The closure of the passenger service in 1969 coincided with the beginning of a gradual deindustrialisation process, which concluded with the implementation of the urban development plan known as “Pasillo Verde Ferroviario” (Green Railway Corridor) in the 1990s.

Construction of the Standard Eléctrica building. 1927. Archivo Fundación Telefónica

'El Águila' brewery with its own siding. 1920s. Archivo Regional de la Comunidad de Madrid

Plan of the sidings in the railway bypass. 1930s. Gerencia de Patrimonio y Urbanismo Centro. Adif

Source: Juan Peris Torner

Source: Juan Peris Torner