The Val de Zafán railway was a railway project that was never completed. The first attempts to build a railway from the port at San Carlos de la Rápita to La Puebla de Híjar in Teruel date back to 1863. The thinking behind the creation of this railway is unusual and worth mentioning. The military thinkers of the day believed that an attack could come from beyond the Pyrenees. Under this scenario, once over the Pyrenees, the next natural line of defence would be the River Ebro. For this reason it was strategically important to have a railway running along the southern bank of the river to move supplies and troops in the event of having to defend this new position. Thus the military were totally in favour of this railway project.

However, the actual birth of the project was long and laborious, and official starting dates were continually scheduled and then missed. In 1891, the Compañía del Ferrocarril del Val de Zafán started the relevant earthworks, and a year later, in 1895,  the first 32 km section between La Puebla de Híjar and Alcañiz was opened. For decades trains used to turn around at the latter station.

The line did not reach Tortosa until 1942, and from the outset it was operated by Renfe. Sadly it needed a Civil War to get this section built - the railway played a major logistical role during the Battle of the Ebro. Indeed many of the workers who completed the final phase of the railway construction work were Republican prisoners of war.