Cercanías Explained

Owner:Renfe Operadora & Regional Rail Operators (FGC)
Transit Type:Commuter rail
Began Operation:1989 (creation of Renfe Cercanías division)

The commuter rail systems of Spain's major metropolitan areas are called Cercanías (pronounced as /es/) in most of Spain, Rodalia (roðaˈli.a/) in the Valencian Community, Aldiriak (in Basque aldiɾiak/) in the Basque Country and Rodalies (in Catalan; Valencian ruðəˈli.əs/) in Catalonia. There are twelve Cercanías systems in and around the cities and regions of Asturias, Bilbao, Cádiz, Catalonia, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia/Alicante, Santander, San Sebastián, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza. They are linked to Metro systems in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia.

The Cercanías division of Renfe was created in 1989 on the advice of engineer and transit planner Javier Bustinduy (es; 1949–2016), as part of a major effort to massively increase ridership, frequencies and hence attractiveness of commuter rail systems in Spain. Cercanías systems are gradually in the process of being transferred to the regional autonomous governments; the first such system to be transferred was the management of the former Cercanías Barcelona/Rodalia Barcelona to the Government of Catalonia and renaming to "Rodalies de Catalunya" in 2010. The Madrid Cercanías network was the target of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. The attacks, which killed 191 people in Santa Eugenia, El Pozo and Atocha stations, were the bloodiest terrorist actions in Spain to date.

List of Cercanías / Rodalies / Rodalia / Aldiriak systems

System Name Major Cities Served Annual patronage (2017)[1] Lines Stations Length (km)
227,800,00010 90 370
117,000,000 19 228 615
15,860,000 6 66 252
Málaga11,338,341[2] 2 26 70
Bilbao10,180,000 3 44 67
Seville7,480,000 5 37 251
Cercanías San SebastiánSan Sebastián6,150,000 1 30 80.5
Gijón, Oviedo, Avilés5,140,000 3 - -
Murcia, Alicante3,730,000 3 26 202
Cádiz, Jerez de la Frontera2,800,000 2 13 61
Santander670,000 1 27 92
Zaragoza290,000 1 6 16.6

Rolling stock

The Cercanías services use the following rolling stock. In 2021, Renfe announced the purchase of 59 Stadler KISS trainsets to complement the fleet.[3]

Series Area Image
Madrid (C-9)
Madrid
Barcelona
Asturias
Cádiz
Madrid
Barcelona
Girona
Málaga
Sevilla
Valencia
Zaragoza
Santander

References

  1. Web site: Los trenes de cercanías van casi vacíos y apenas superan la cifra de usuarios de hace diez años. 11 June 2018. 5 June 2019.
  2. Web site: Los Cercanías de Málaga alcanzan los 11,3 millones de usuarios. La Opinión de. Málaga. Laopiniondemalaga.es. 3 March 2018 . 14 March 2019.
  3. Web site: 2021-07-15. Renfe y Stadler firman la compra de 59 trenes para Cercanías. 2021-10-03. Economia3. es.

External links