The rugged terrain of the Basque provinces was home to one of the densest narrow gauge railway networks in Spain. The harsh topography was, to a great extent, what propitiated the growth of a network which clung to the terrain and reached villages and factories, and what has stimulated the economic development of this area since the last third of the 19th century. A good a part of that network, now managed by Euskotren or Feve, continues to provide an efficient service to Basques and visitors, but another significant portion failed to survive the competition from the roads and disappeared.     

One of the casualties was the Ferrocarril del Urola. Built by the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa, its 36 km of track followed the course of the river Urola practically from its source upstream from Zumarraga to its mouth at the town of Zumaia on the Cantabrian coast, providing a direct connection between the interior and the coast. It was commissioned in 1926 and since the very beginning it was apparent that it was destined to be primarily a passenger line. But what also became apparent from the outset was its low profitability since, apart from the industrial oasis of Azpeitia, the rest of the route scarcely generated loads for the trains. And so the railway struggled to stay in existence. As there was no money for maintenance, by halfway through the 80s the railway had become a living museum, with its rolling stock in a near terminal state of repair, almost devoid of passengers, and with expenses that outstripped revenues by a factor of eight.

The Basque Government considered recovering it and shut it down in order to embark on end-to-end modernization work, but that work was actually stopped soon after it had started and its definitive closure was surprisingly announced in January 1988. Now, with the 21st century well underway, plans are being studied to reopen the Azpeitia-Zumaia section, more as a tram-like operation, which may bring life back to at least part of one of the most beautiful of all Spanish railways.