The engineer who dreamed of bringing the train to the Vall d'Aran

The last decades of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th were a time when electrification became fashionable. The realization that the Pyrenean waterfalls could be a source of energy forever changed both the landscape and the country's business ecosystem. Some key figures in this process were Carles Montañès Criquillion, Frederick S. Pearson, and Emili Riu Periquet, among others. But less well-known today, yet with the same entrepreneurial spirit as the others, was the engineer Lluís Rouvière Bula, who not only dedicated himself to electricity but also designed highly significant railway projects.

Once he graduated in 1866, he distinguished himself in the intellectual and reflective sphere, publishing works in defense of the working class (Notes on the present and future of the working class in Catalonia) and also in favor of universal suffrage (Four words about electoral lawand, therefore, taking progressive stances. These are just two examples of his vast literary output. From a very young age, he was in charge of organizing the large railway workshops built in Sant Andreu de Palomar, when this town was still an independent municipality from Barcelona. In 1880, he obtained a concession to build a railway line connecting Galicia and Portugal, but faced with the large amount of money that had to be raised to put it into operation, he opted to transfer the rights to a company operating in that area of the country, the MZOV (Medina-Zamora-Orense). Incidentally, this company, decades later, became a construction company under the name Cubiertas y MZOV, which over the years would eventually become the current Acciona. After the sale of the rights to MZOV, Rouvière held management positions in this company, specifically that of chief operating engineer between 1880 and 1882. His experience in the railway sector led to his appointment as director of another company, the Zaragoza Railway, until it merged with the Northern Railways, at which point he left the position. Outside the railway sector, he was also manager of the Compañía Transatlántica Española, one of the main Spanish shipping companies, linked to the Marquesses of Comillas. In 1901, he presented a railway project to which he had dedicated considerable effort. In fact, the initiative became known as the Rouvière Project and consisted of connecting the Vall d'Aran with the Lleida region, as well as providing a link to France. The high cost of the project and the lack of interest from the authorities in establishing a connection with the neighboring country meant that the idea was shelved, and Rouvière never saw his dream realized. The most important part of the route, the Viella tunnel, wasn't finished until the late 1940s, many years after the Catalan engineer's death. As we mentioned from the beginning, he was also interested in harnessing the Pyrenean waterfalls as a source of hydroelectric power and, thus, designed projects for the Garona and Joeu rivers, the latter in the Vall d'Aran. This project eventually fell into the hands of Emili Riu, a fierce rival of La Canadiense. In the late 1880s, the idea arose for Barcelona to host a world's fair, a project that Rouvière quickly embraced. As a result, he was appointed Delegate General of the 1888 World's Fair and a member of the Committee of Eight that organized the event. There he shared a table with prominent figures such as Mayor Rius i Taulet, architect Elies Rogent, banker Manuel Girona, textile entrepreneur Josep Ferrer Vidal, and aristocrat and magnate Claudio López Bru. He also served as president of the International Engineering Congress held in conjunction with the exhibition.

Aside from major projects and important positions, Rouvière also dedicated himself to more technical engineering, as evidenced by his 1875 patent for an innovation used to lubricate vehicle axles, which was very well received in the railway sector. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Advisory Board of the Víctor Balaguer Museum in Vilanova i la Geltrú and a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona. Earlier, in the final years of the 19th century, he had served on the board of directors of the Ateneu Barcelonès.