SPAIN’s Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has awarded the first contract, worth €153.3m, for a €410m scheme to increase capacity for high-speed rail passengers at Barcelona Sants station.
The first phase involves expanding the station on the Plaça dels Països Catalans side to provide a new high-speed train boarding hall, thereby separating arrivals from departures, and providing a new access from there to the commuter rail hall. The work will increase the station’s floor area by 30% to the benefit of all passengers.
Two new entrances to the station will be built and connections to the metro and bus services will be improved.
The number of high-speed passengers using Barcelona Sants is expected to grow by 55% to reach 74.7 million by 2030 compared with 2019.
LRT extension
On November 11, Barcelona Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM) opened a 2km extension to the city’s light rail network designed to transport an additional 24,000 passengers per day.
According to Alstom, the extension is the first light rail line in Spain to be equipped with its dynamic ground power traction system (APS), which eliminates the need for overhead catenary. Alstom has adapted 18 Citadis LRVs to use APS.
The extension marks the first phase of a project to connect Barcelona’s two separate light rail networks, Trambaix and Trambesos, by building a 3.9km connection with six new stops.
New airport trains
Alstom has unveiled the design of the 10 new five-car Coradia Stream EMUs which it is building under a €177m contract for Catalonia Government Railways (FGC). The trains will be introduced in 2026 on a new rail link to Barcelona Airport serving both terminals.
The service will run to the airport from Sant Andreu, via Sagrera, El Clot, Passeig de Gràcia, Barcelona Sants and Bellvitge.
The trains will have ample luggage space, wide gangways, 10 doors per side, 202 fixed and seven folding seats and will accommodate a total of 656 passengers. The EMUs will have level boarding, two reserved spaces and toilets designed for people with reduced mobility, and two multi-functional spaces for bicycles.
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