In 1902, the Sociedad Minas de Hierro y Ferrocarril de Carreño obtained a government concession to build a mining railway from Aboño to Candás, with branches to Caoyanca, Piedeloro, and Regueral, for transporting iron ore from the mines in the municipality.

The line was officially inaugurated on 8 June 1909, with a ceremonial trip between Candás and Aboño. Although it began as a mining railway, passenger services started as early as 1910. Poor financial results, however, led to the company’s liquidation in August 1915. Then , the Marqués de Urquijo, its main creditor, assumed full control and, on 11th June 1917, established the new Compañía del Ferrocarril de Carreño S.A., soon popularly known as “El Carreño”. 

The Marqués gave a strong boost to passenger services and introduced other technical improvements, which helped El Carreño achieve better financial results in the 1950s. The closure in 1967 of the Llumeres iron mines (the company’s main source of freight) marked the beginning of a long decline, culminating in its shutdown on 10 January 1974. The line was then absorbed into what was at the time FEVE, becoming the Avilés-Gijón section of the Ferrol-Gijón route. El Carreño thus went down in history as the last private railway in Asturias and one of the last anywhere along Spain’s northern coast. 

Alongside El Carreño, the other major public-service railway project undertaken in the municipality was the construction of the Ferrol-Gijón line, better known as the Ferrocarril Estratégico. This long-planned project was never completed and was eventually abandoned.

Its origins date back to the late 19th century, when there was a strategic desire to connect the naval base at Ferrol with the arms factories in Trubia and Oviedo and with the port of Gijón, following the coast of Galicia and Asturias. Work began in late 1922, soon after El Carreño inaugurated its own line. Just before the Civil War, materials for track installation were stockpiled in Gijón, but the conflict halted construction. Post-war difficulties meant the works were never resumed, and the project was ultimately abandoned.