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Rail transport in Catalonia

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

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

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:

  • L'Hospitalet de Llobregat - Figueres - Portbou

Rodalies de Lleida

FGC Lleida-La Pobla line:

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

Rodalies de Tarragona

Renfe Operadora Tarragona's lines:

  • 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)
  • 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.

and Regional Exprés

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

== ==

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.

Alta Velocidad Española

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

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.
  • (Opened on 1926 called Ferrocarril Metropolità Transversal de Barcelona) Hospital de Bellvitge - Fondo
  • (Opened on 1995) Paral·lel - Badalona Pompeu Fabra
  • (Opened on 1924 called Gran Metropolità de Barcelona) Zona Universitària - Trinitat Nova
  • (Opened on 1973) Trinitat Nova - La Pau
  • (Opened in 1969) Cornellà Centre - Vall d'Hebron
  • (Line 9 will open partially in September 2009 and totally in 2014) Aeroport-Terminal sud - Can Zam
  • (Line 9 branch) Zona Franca ZAL - Gorg
  • (Opened in 2003) Trinitat Nova - Can Cuiàs
  • Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya:
  • Metro del Vallès:
  • (Opened in 1863) Plaça Catalunya - Reina Elisenda.
  • (Opened in 1954) Plaça Catalunya - Avinguda Tibidabo.
  • Metro del Baix Llobregat:
  • (Opened in 1912) Plaça Espanya - Molí Nou-Ciutat Cooperativa.

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.

(rodalies and/or MD and/or LD):

(MD or LD):

without service:

References