Soto del Real will get a Cercanías station with an investment of 15.2 million

The investment amounts to €15.2 million and represents a key step for an area that has depended heavily on cars and buses for years to reach the capital. For many residents of Soto del Real and nearby municipalities, the station could change how they organise daily journeys, study, work and leisure.

The new station will be the terminus of the C-4b extension, a line that currently reaches Colmenar Viejo. With this extension, Cercanías will move closer to the mountains and serve an area where the M-607 carries a large share of journeys to Madrid.

The project will restore the former Manzanares-Soto del Real station, opened in 1955 and closed to passenger traffic since the 1990s. The building, listed as a Bien de Interés Patrimonial by the Comunidad de Madrid, will be refurbished while respecting its exterior appearance and original architectural features.

The work will not be limited to restoring a historic building. The interior will be reorganised to adapt it for a modern station, with a concourse, ticket sales, toilets and passenger service areas. The aim is to combine railway heritage with everyday use without turning the station into a mere decorative feature.

Accessibility will be one of the central points of the work. The station will have 240-metre platforms, an accessible underpass, lifts and stairs to make movement between platforms and entrances easier. The aim is for it to be used comfortably by older people, passengers with reduced mobility, families with pushchairs and users with luggage.

Sustainability criteria will also be incorporated. The project provides for natural ventilation systems and solar energy to reduce energy consumption, as well as solutions designed to improve how the building works in the natural mountain setting.

An adjacent building with a café and technical spaces will be constructed next to the station. This element will complement the historic building and make it possible to expand services without altering the original structure that is to be preserved.

The surrounding area will also change significantly. The scheme includes a car park with more than 500 spaces, intended to facilitate intermodality and attract users arriving from Soto del Real, Miraflores de la Sierra, Guadalix de la Sierra or Manzanares el Real.

In addition, road and pedestrian access will be remodelled, the cycle lane will be reinstated and green areas will be created to integrate the station more effectively into the landscape. The connection with other modes of transport will be key to ensuring that the train is not isolated and can genuinely serve the region.

The reopening has strong symbolic value. The former Madrid-Burgos line was part of the railway imagination of northern Madrid for decades, but the suspension of passenger service left many stations off the everyday map. Soto Sur seeks to recover that role, now within the Cercanías network.

For the Madrid mountains, the impact could be significant. Less dependence on cars, more options for those who do not drive and an alternative to inbound and outbound traffic towards Madrid. The station will not solve every mobility problem in the north, but it does introduce an option that has been pending for decades.

The work forms part of the Plan de Cercanías de Madrid, which includes new stations, extensions and improvements at strategic hubs such as Atocha and Chamartín. In this case, the project looks towards a metropolitan area that has grown much faster than its rail connections.

Soto del Real thus gains a long-awaited promise: to be connected by train again. The real test will come when trains start stopping there and the station ceases to be an old railway postcard and becomes a real gateway to Madrid and the mountains.