Móra la Nova was historically a very important station because, when this section of the Direct line became operational, at the end of the 19th century, its main mission was to connect Barcelona to Madrid, two very distant cities. This required change points for the steam locomotive engines, which had to be replaced at intervals along the route to maintain competitive travel times and ensure optimal performance.

At that time, locomotives and their technology meant that these types of changes were carried out every 150-180 kilometres. The Madrid-Barcelona section, which is 633 kilometres long, was therefore divided into four sections and Mora la Nova happened to be approximately 150 kilometres from Barcelona and 180 kilometres from Zaragoza.

The train crews also changed at Mora la Nova. The captain was the conductor of the train, and he was in charge of the engineer, the fireman, and other staff depending on the type of train. On passenger trains, staff included train porters, a ticket collector and other staff at the passengers’ service, while freight trains had cargo handlers and brakemen. Due to the changeover, the station needed a series of buildings for the crews to eat and sleep.

Móra la Nova also has another peculiarity, which is that freight trains were sorted. Trains would arrive from their points of origin with a large number of wagons loaded with different products and would leave for different destinations. Back then, there were no direct trains from origin and destination, nor were there ‘pure’ trains, that is to say, those carrying only one type of cargo. At some point along the route, the carriages had to be sorted and this operation was carried out at very few stations. Between Barcelona and Madrid, this sorting took place in Móra la Nova.