The railway line, which was popularly known as the 40 Day Railway, only operated for a brief but intense period during the Spanish Civil War. Its route connected Torrejón de Ardoz with Villacañas, providing a railway link between besieged Madrid and the Republican held Levante coast,along tracks that were out of range of Franco’s howitzers.Its name reflects the haste with which this line was built, after the battle of Jarama cut the Madrid-Alicante railway line. This primitive railway line, which was also called the Negrín Line after the Republican minister who launched the project, barely outlasted that sad civil conflict.

Once hostilities had ceased, the section from Torrejón to Tarancón (which includes the stretch which has now been converted into our Greenway) was dismantled almost entirely: only the first section, from Torrejón to Mejorada, was saved to provide access to a sugar plant at La Poveda. The Santa Cruz de la Zarza to Villacañas section was rebuilt to provide commercial services. The route was improved and stations were built and it was finally reopened in 1954, before closing down definitively a little over 10 years later.