Line C3 of Valencia Cercanías returns to Buñol on December 22 without date to reach Utiel

Renfe has scheduled the circulation of 26 daily trains, 13 in each direction, between València Font de Sant Lluís and Buñol with intermediate stops, according to the established schedules, in València Sant Isidre, Xirivella-Alqueries and Aldaia, Loriguilla, Ricardo Tormo Circuit stop, Cheste and Chiva.

Travelers on the C3 line to València Nord will be able to use a C6 train from Font de Sant Lluís to complete your trip to Valencia North. Another option for users of line C3 to access the center of Valencia is to take the metro at València Sant Isidre station.

The rail service is complemented, until the consolidation of the new offer, by 46 bus services, 33 in each direction, which run daily between Valencia and Buñol, with stops also in all the intermediate towns of the C3 line.

The ministry explains that the C3 line train services were established from the València Font de Sant Lluis station due to the works carried out by Adif to remodel the glass roof of the València Nord station, which are incompatible with the parking of diesel trains (those serving C3) in the platform areas covered by the glass roof.

The resumption of service between Valencia and Buñol occurs once the complex and laborious operations of reconstruction of structuresthe railway platform and all the systems and installations devastated by the damage.

On the same C3 line, between Buñol and Utiel (a route approximately 46 kilometers long), once the damage has been repaired, rail traffic remains interrupted to continue the extensive renovation and modernization work on infrastructure and facilities with an investment in this section of more than one hundred million euros.

New viaducts in Cheste

The most complex work was the reconstruction of the Barranco Grande, Cheste 1 and Cheste 2 Viaductswith original lengths of 55 meters, one hundred and 76, respectively. Their structures were seriously affected, or even disappeared, carried away by the waters.

These are new viaducts of greater length and greater spans to adapt them to the new conditions of the canal: the Barranco Grande viaduct has become 136 meters long and the Cheste 1 and Cheste 2 viaducts have a length of 216 each.

The height of the bridges has also been increased, according to current hydraulic and structural criteria which maximize their capacity. The railway infrastructure is given greater resistance, robustness and durability in the face of new episodes of major flooding, which could also be worsened by the effects of climate change.

In addition to the Cheste viaducts, these actions stand out in the Valencia-Buñol section: construction of 14 transverse drainage structures and 2,500 meters of longitudinal drainage; execution of 9,200 meters of platform; assembly of 10,000 meters of track, tamping, profiling and stabilization; replacement of 5,400 meters of track; completion of 350 welds and neutralization of rail tensions; replacement of 53,000 tonnes of ballast; construction of 9,800 m3 of breakwaters to protect the embankments; complete renovation of the Chiva level crossing; complete reconstruction of the Chiva station building and rehabilitation of the Cheste station building; dismantling and assembly of eight tracked devices; assembly of three expansion devices; replacement of signaling elements and wiring of safety installations over the entire section.

THE line C3 Valence-Buñol-Utiel was seriously affected by dana. On December 12, 2024, the train service was restored on the Valencia-Aldaia section, on November 17, 2025, the service to Loriguilla was restored and from next Monday the train service will be extended to Buñol. At the same time, the ministry continues to work on the recovery and reconstruction of the entire infrastructure, without however setting a date for the complete recovery of the line to Utiel.

Complaints about the alternative shuttle

Precisely this Friday, the Buñol Town Hall indicated that it had transferred to Renfe the “numerous complaints” received concerning the “deficiencies” of the shuttle Buñol-Requena-Utiel, “a service with schedules incompatible with the school day and insufficient capacity that causes daily harm to students in the municipality”.

Buñol students, the town hall said, arrive to class about an hour late each day because the first bus leaves at 8 a.m., just when they should start the school day.

“We are not talking about a specific day, it is a daily situation that directly affects students who must arrive on time at their center,” said the mayor, Virginia Sanz, who insisted that the municipality has been communicating these incidents for some time “without a response having been given to resolve the problem.”

To this “lag” is added “the lack of places and saturation of the service”. Families report that the bus arrives in Buñol “almost full”, making it difficult to get on and off “under normal conditions”.

“On several routes, students are forced to travel in the corridor or on the stairs, and sometimes the bus is so full that some students remain at the stop without being able to get on,” he commented and added: “Different families from the municipality have formally transmitted their complaint to the Town Hall, through a request for entry registration, in which they request authorization for an alternative or reinforcement service on the Buñol-Requena-Utiel route due to non-compliance timetables and lack of places.

From the consistory, we need an “immediate response” which goes through “strengthen the service, adjust schedules and guarantee sufficient capacity to cover actual student demand. A meeting was then requested with the Ministry of Transport for the same purpose, “without to date any response having been received”.

“An interurban trip cannot be made under these conditions. It is unreasonable for minors to travel without enough seats, and even less reasonable for them to stay on the ground because the bus is full,” Sanz stressed.

The mayor stressed that the Town Hall had filed complaints “on numerous occasions” concerning the “poor functioning of the service” and regretted that the parties concerned “have ignored it until now”.

The Town Hall will submit this request to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, to which Renfe depends, with the aim of having it adopted. “urgent measures” which guarantee “adequate and safe” transportation for students in their daily travels. “In the event of continuation without receiving a response and solution to the problem, the town hall will address the request to the competent Department,” he concluded.