Rail transport in Catalonia explained

Color:97d700
Catalonia
Nationalrailway:FGC
Infrastructure:Ifercat and Adif
Majoroperators:FGC, Renfe, Ouigo and Iryo
Ridership:235.7 million (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2019)[1]
Ferrocarril. Transport de viatgers i mercaderies
Publisher:Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya
Date:12 May 2021
Access-Date:29 April 2023
Freight:6.8 million tons per year (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2019)[2]
Ferrocarril. Transport de viatgers i mercaderies
Publisher:Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya
Date:12 May 2021
Access-Date:29 April 2023
Length:Total 1865km (1,159miles), FGC 297km (185miles),[3]
Ferrocarril. Transport de viatgers i mercaderies
Publisher:Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya
Date:12 May 2021
Access-Date:29 April 2023 Renfe 1568km (974miles) [4]
Más de 15.500 kilómetros de vías de tren: así ha evolucionado la red ferroviaria
Date:21 April 2022
Access-Date:29 April 2023
Gauge1:Broad gauge
Gauge2:Standard gauge
Gauge3:Metre gauge
Nostations:316 (110 served by FGC and 206 served by Renfe)[5]
Ferrocarril. Transport de viatgers i mercaderies
Publisher:Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya
Date:12 May 2021
Access-Date:29 April 2023

Rail transport in Catalonia operates on three rail gauges and services are operated by a variety of public operators:[6]

Transport authorities

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

See main article: Rodalies Barcelona.

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:

Rodalies de Lleida

FGC Lleida-La Pobla line:

Rodalies de Tarragona

Renfe Operadora Tarragona's lines:

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.

and Regional Exprés

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

8 lines (broad gauge) and one of standard gauge:[9]

or (in Catalan or Castilian) are Renfe lines that used other Renfe lines, or Rodalies, and connect Catalonia with other Spanish towns or European cities. Some of them are high speed lines.[10]

Alta Velocidad Española

See main article: 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.

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

See main article: Metro de Barcelona.

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

7 underground lines, one of them in old Spanish broad gauge (line 1); the others have standard gauge.

Metro de Barcelona! Name! Color! Terminal! Terminal! Opened! First
service! Operator! Km! Stations! Time
(m)! Gauge
(mm)
L1RedHospital de BellvitgeFondo19261926 TMB20'730351674
L2PurpleParal·lelBadalona Pompeu Fabra19951959 TMB13'517241435
L3GreenZona UniversitàriaTrinitat Nova19241924 TMB18'526361435
L4YellowTrinitat NovaLa Pau19731926 TMB16'722361435
L5BlueCornellà CentreVall d'Hebron19591959 TMB16'623371435
L6Navy bluePlaça CatalunyaReina Elisenda192918634 FGC5'29141435
L7BrownPlaça CatalunyaAvinguda Tibidabo195418634 FGC4'637101435
L8PinkPlaça EspanyaMolí Nou-C.C.20001912 FGC1211211000
L9OrangeTerminal SudCan Zam2009-14- TMB47'839 (51)-1435
L10Light blueGorgPolígon Pratenc2009-14- TMB-32-1435
L11Light greenTrinitat NovaCan Cuiàs20032003 TMB2'1561435

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 with medium- or long-distance stations and nine without rail service.

Catalan; Valencian: Comarcas (rodalies and/or MD and/or LD):

Catalan; Valencian: Comarcas (MD or LD):

Catalan; Valencian: Comarcas without service:

References

  1. https://www.idescat.cat/indicadors/?id=aec&n=15580&tema=trans&lang=es
  2. https://www.idescat.cat/indicadors/?id=aec&n=15580&tema=trans&lang=es
  3. https://www.idescat.cat/indicadors/?id=aec&n=15580&tema=trans&lang=es
  4. https://maldita.es/malditodato/20220421/mas-15500-km-vias-tren-red-ferroviaria-espana/
  5. https://www.idescat.cat/indicadors/?id=aec&n=15580&tema=trans&lang=es
  6. http://www.trenscat.cat Trenscat
  7. http://www.renfe.es/cercanias/barcelona/mapa_zonas.html Rodalies map
  8. http://www.fgc.net/accesible/cat/viatjar/xarxa.htm Xarxa FGC
  9. http://www.renfe.es/mediadistancia/mapa_catalunya.html Mitjana Distància Renfe map
  10. http://www.renfe.es/productos/index_ld.html Llarga distància Renfe

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