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Rail transport in Catalonia

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  Catalonia
An FGC 113 series at Valldoreix station
Operation
National railwayFGC
Infrastructure companyIfercat and Adif
Major operatorsFGC, Renfe, Ouigo and Iryo
Statistics
Ridership235.7 million (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2019)[1]
Freight6.8 million tons per year (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2019)[1]
System length
TotalTotal 1,865 km (1,159 mi), FGC 297 km (185 mi),[1] Renfe 1,568 km (974 mi) [2]
Features
No. stations316 (110 served by FGC and 206 served by Renfe)[1]
Map
Suburban rail system of Barcelona as of 2023

Rail transport in Catalonia operates on three rail gauges and services are operated by a variety of public operators:[3]

Transport authorities

Catalan transport authorities map.

Transport authorities are inter-administrative voluntary corporations responsible for coordinating the public transportation system. There are currently four transport authorities in Catalonia:

Rodalies de Barcelona

Main article: Rodalies Barcelona
New Cornellà station entrance
112 FGC train stock

Rodalies Barcelona is the principal element of Barcelona metropolitan area transport and in some municipalities of Girona and Tarragona.

There are 15 lines (R1-R2-R3-R4-R7-R10-S1-S2-S5-S55-S1-S8-S33-R5-R6) operated by:

Rodalies de Girona

Renfe Operadora RG1 line:

  • S3 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat - Figueres - Portbou

Rodalies de Lleida

FGC Lleida-La Pobla line:

  • S3 Lleida-Pirineus - Balaguer
  • S3 Lleida-Pirineus - La Pobla de Segur

Rodalies de Tarragona

Renfe Operadora Tarragona's lines:

  • S3 Tarragona - Reus (service suspended due to Covid pandemic and not reactivated yet as of May 2023. The route is covered by Regional Exprés' lines R14 and R15)
  • S3 Salou- PortAventura - Tarragona - L'Arboç (service suspended due to Covid pandemic and not reactivated yet as of may 2023. The route is covered by Barcelona's R4 from L'Arboç to Sant Vicenç de Calders and by Regional Exprés' R17 from there to Salou)

The Generalitat de Catalunya is building a tramway system connecting several cities of the Camp de Tarragona, those being Reus, Tarragona, Vila-seca, Cambrils and Salou. This service, the Tramvia del Camp de Tarragona (also called TramCamp) will comprise around 46km of tracks and 47 stations, with a first part of 14km (between Cambrils, Salou and Vila-seca) being finished in 2026 and the Vila-seca - Tarragona and Vila-seca - Reus sections finishing in no longer than 10 years from the initial announcement in 2023. The whole system will be built in Standard-gauge railway and operated by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya.

Mitjana distància and Regional Exprés

R1 train between Calella and Sant Pol de Mar
Portbou railway station

Mitjana distància or Regional Exprés: Those lines cover the four Catalan provinces. Lines are operated by:

Llarga distància

Estrella train
Talgo 350 - AVE
Trenhotel Salvador Dalí
Euromed to València Nord station
Alaris to Silla (València).
Arco García Lorca to Alzira (València).

Llarga distància or Larga distancia (in Catalan or Castilian) are Renfe lines that used other Renfe lines, mitjana distància or Rodalies, and connect Catalonia with other Spanish towns or European cities. Some of them are high speed lines.[7]

Alta Velocidad Española

Main articles: AVE and Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line

High speed lines are operated by Renfe in a commercial branch called Alta Velocidad Española (AVE). Those lines run on new standard gauge railways.

102-014 stock to Montblanc station

Railway gauge

Most of Catalan's railway gauge is broad gauge, as in other parts of Spain, and new railways are built in standard gauge to be able to connect with European railways; therefore, some stations exist where trains can change gauges. Currently, there are only two stations in Catalonia with that capability:

Metropolitan railways

Main article: Metro de Barcelona
Barcelona metro map

There are 11 metropolitan lines in Barcelona (L1-L2-L3-L4-L5-L6-L7-L8-L9-L10-L11) operated by:

  • Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona: 7 underground lines, one of them in old Spanish broad gauge (line 1); the others have standard gauge.
    • L1 (Opened on 1926 called Ferrocarril Metropolità Transversal de Barcelona) Hospital de Bellvitge - Fondo
    • L2 (Opened on 1995) Paral·lel - Badalona Pompeu Fabra
    • L3 (Opened on 1924 called Gran Metropolità de Barcelona) Zona Universitària - Trinitat Nova
    • L4 (Opened on 1973) Trinitat Nova - La Pau
    • L5 (Opened in 1969) Cornellà Centre - Vall d'Hebron
    • L9 (Line 9 will open partially in September 2009 and totally in 2014) Aeroport-Terminal sud - Can Zam
    • L10 (Line 9 branch) Zona Franca ZAL - Gorg
    • L11 (Opened in 2003) Trinitat Nova - Can Cuiàs
  • Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya:
    • Metro del Vallès:
      • L6 (Opened in 1863) Plaça Catalunya - Reina Elisenda.
      • L7 (Opened in 1954) Plaça Catalunya - Avinguda Tibidabo.
    • Metro del Baix Llobregat:
      • L8 (Opened in 1912) Plaça Espanya - Molí Nou-Ciutat Cooperativa.
Metro de Barcelona
Name Color Terminal Terminal Opened First
service 		Operator Km Stations Time
(m) 		Gauge
(mm)
L1 Red Hospital de Bellvitge Fondo 1926 1926 TMB 20'7 30 35 1674
L2 Purple Paral·lel Badalona Pompeu Fabra 1995 1959 TMB 13'5 17 24 1435
L3 Green Zona Universitària Trinitat Nova 1924 1924 TMB 18'5 26 36 1435
L4 Yellow Trinitat Nova La Pau 1973 1926 TMB 16'7 22 36 1435
L5 Blue Cornellà Centre Vall d'Hebron 1959 1959 TMB 16'6 23 37 1435
L6 Navy blue Plaça Catalunya Reina Elisenda 1929 18634 FGC 5'2 9 14 1435
L7 Brown Plaça Catalunya Avinguda Tibidabo 1954 18634 FGC 4'63 7 10 1435
L8 Pink Plaça Espanya Molí Nou-C.C. 2000 1912 FGC 12 11 21 1000
L9 Orange Terminal Sud Can Zam 2009-14 - TMB 47'8 39 (51) - 1435
L10 Light blue Gorg Polígon Pratenc 2009-14 - TMB - 32 - 1435
L11 Light green Trinitat Nova Can Cuiàs 2003 2003 TMB 2'1 5 6 1435

Territory

Nowadays there are 32 comarcas (group of municipalities) with some kind of rail service; 14 of those have Rodalies Barcelona and/or FGC services. There are comarcas with medium- or long-distance stations and nine comarcas without rail service.

References

  1. ^ a b c d https://www.idescat.cat/indicadors/?id=aec&n=15580&tema=trans&lang=es%7Ctitle=Ferrocarril. Transport de viatgers i mercaderies|publisher=Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya|date=12 May 2021|access-date=29 April 2023
  2. ^ https://maldita.es/malditodato/20220421/mas-15500-km-vias-tren-red-ferroviaria-espana/%7Ctitle=Más de 15.500 kilómetros de vías de tren: así ha evolucionado la red ferroviaria|date=21 April 2022|access-date=29 April 2023
  3. ^ Trenscat, Catalan trains web (in Catalan)
  4. ^ Rodalies map
  5. ^ Xarxa FGC Archived 2008-08-22 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Mitjana Distància Renfe map
  7. ^ Llarga distància Renfe (in Spanish)
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