From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Madrid Metro
Locale	Madrid
Transit type	Rapid transit
Began operation	1919
System length	317 km (197 mi)
No. of lines	12
No. of stations	316

The Madrid Metro is the large metro system serving the city of Madrid. It is one of the largest metro systems in the world, which is especially remarkable considering Madrid's population of approximately 3.5 million (Madrid city) to 6 million (metropolitan area). In fact, it is among the top 10 longest metros in the world, and the third in Europe after Moscow and London, though Madrid is approximately the twenty fifth most populous metropolitan area in the world. It is also one of many fast growing systems in the world, rivaled, among many others, by the Seoul Metro or the Beijing Subway; the round of expansions completed in spring 2007 increased its length to 317 km, making it the third largest in the world after London and New York. ^[1].

Contents 1 History 2 Stations 3 Lines 4 Fares 5 Operators 6 See also 7 Notes 8 External links

The first line of the Madrid metro opened on 17 October 1919 under the direction of the Compañía de Metro Alfonso XIII, with 8 stations and 3.5 km. It was constructed in a narrow section and the stations had 60 m platforms. The enlargement of this line and the construction of two others followed shortly after 1919. In 1936, the network had three lines and a branch line between Opera and Norte railway station. All these stations served as air raid shelters during the Spanish Civil War.

After the civil war the public works to extend the network went on little by little. In 1944 a fourth line was constructed and it absorbed the branch of line 2 between Goya and Diego de León in 1958, branch that was intended to be part of line 4 since its construction but was exploited as a branch of line 2 until the construction of line 4.

In the sixties, a suburban railway was constructed between Plaza de España and Carabanchel, linked to lines 2 (in Noviciado station with a long aisle) and 3. A fifth metro line was constructed as well with narrow section but 90 m platforms. Shortly after opening the first section of line 5, the platforms in line 1 were enlarged from 60 to 90 m, closing Chamberí station since it was too close to Iglesia (less than 500 m). Chamberí has been closed ever after and it is planned to rearrange the station to install a Museum.

At the beginning of the seventies, the network was subsequently greatly expanded to cope with the influx of population and urban sprawl from Madrid's economic ascendancy. New lines were planned in large section with 115 m platforms. Lines 4 and 5 were enlarged as well. In 1979, bad management led to a crisis, the works of enlargement already started were finished during the eighties and all remaining projects were abandoned. After all these enlargements of the underground train network, 100 km of rail track had been completed, the suburban railway has disappeared since it had been enlarged to Alonso Martínez and thence converted to line 10.

At the beginning of the nineties, the control of the network was transferred to a public enterprise, Metro de Madrid, new projects of enlargement were presented and its expansion went on with enlargements of line 1, 4 and 7, and new line 11 towards the outlying areas of Madrid, lines 8 and 10 were melted in a longer line 10, a new line 8 was constructed to expand the underground network towards the airport and the enlarged line 9 was the first to leave the town of Madrid to arrive to Rivas-Vaciamadrid and Arganda del Rey, two towns located on the south-east suburbs of Madrid.

A huge project in early 2000s installed approximately 31.25 miles (50 km) of new metro tunnels, including a direct connection between downtown Madrid (Nuevos Ministerios) and the airport, enlarging (line 8), and service to the outskirts with a huge 25 mile (40 km) loop called MetroSur serving Madrid's southern suburbs.

MetroSur, the largest civil engineering project in Europe, opened on 11 April 2003. It includes 40 km of tunnel and 28 new stations, including an interchange station and an additional station on Line 10, which connects it to the city centre and stations linking to the local train network. Its construction began in June 2000 and the whole loop was completed in less than three years. It connects Getafe, Móstoles, Alcorcón, Fuenlabrada, and Leganés, five towns located on the southern suburbs of Madrid.

Most of the current efforts of Madrid provincial government are channeled towards the enlargement of the Metro network. Just in the recently finished 2003-2007 term, President Esperanza Aguirre has funded a multi-billion dollar project, which has added, joined, or extended almost all of the metro lines. The project included the addition of 64.5 new miles of track (90 km) and the construction of 80 new stations. It has carried the underground railway to many districts that had never had a Metro line to travel to the town centre (Villaverde, Manoteras, Carabanchel Alto, La Elipa, Pinar de Chamartín) and to the eastern and northern outskirts as well (Coslada, San Fernando de Henares, Alcobendas, San Sebastián de los Reyes). For the first time in Madrid, 3 interurban light-rail lines were built to the western outskirts (Pozuelo de Alarcón, Boadilla del Monte), mL2 and mL3 (ML for Metro Ligero) and to the new northern districts of Sanchinarro and Las Tablas. As a last-minute addition, an enlargement of line 8 connected it to the new T4 terminal of Madrid-Barajas Airport.

Stations in the Madrid metro reveal their age in their design: older stations on the narrow lines are often quite compact, rather like the stations on the Paris Metro. They were decorated with tilings in different colour schemes depending on the station. In recent years, most of these stations have been refurbished with single coloured plates matching those in the newest ones. The stations built between the late 70s and the early 90s are slightly more spacious and most of them have cream colored walls.

On the other hand, the most recent stations are built with space in mind, and are considered amogst the best in the world for their natural-like lighting and ample entryways. The colour scheme varies between stations, using single-colored plates and covering the whole station in light colors. Recently, transfer stations have white walls, but this is not the norm.

Most stations are built with two side platforms, and a handful of them (the busiest transfers) have a central island platform theoretically dedicated to exits. This system was originally used in the Barcelona Metro and is called the Spanish solution. Stations with this setup include:

• Line 4 Arguelles
• Line 5 Aluche, Campamento
• Line 6 Avenida De América, Pacífico, Sáinz De Baranda, Plaza Elíptica, Oporto, Nuevos Ministerios
• Line 7 Avenida De América, Estadio Olímpico
• Line 8 Campo De Las Naciones, Aeropuerto T4
• Line 9 Puerta De Arganda, Rivas Urbanizaciones, Arganda Del Rey
• Line 10 Tres Olivos, Joaquín Vilumbrales

Finally, some stations have a particular setup which allows extremely fast transfers between two lines: one goes through the outer side of two island platforms, while the other goes through the inner side. Usually the setup is tuned so that trains going in the same direction surround the same platform, i.e. if you transfer off a northbound train to board another northbound one, you only have to stay in the same platform. However, if you want to board a southbound train, you'd need to switch platforms. The only stations with this setup are Príncipe Pío 610R and Casa de Campo 510.

The Metro network has 316 stations on 12 lines plus one branch line, totalling 317 km, of which approximately 92% is underground. Additionally, some 30 km of Metro Ligero (light rail) lines serve the various regions of the metropolitan area which have been deemed not populated enough to justify the extraordinary spending of new Metro lines. Most of the ML track length is on surface, usually running on platforms separated from normal road traffic. However, ML1 line has some underground stretches and stations. Traditionally, the Madrid metro was restricted to the city proper, but today nearly one third of its track length runs outside the border of the Madrid municipality. Today, the Metro network is divided in five regions:

• MetroMadrid (zone A): the core network inside the Madrid city borders, with over two thirds of the overall length. Also includes half of the light rail line mL1.
• MetroSur (zones B1 and B2): line 12 and the last two stations of line 10, Joaquín Vilumbrales and Puerta del Sur. Runs through the southern cities of Alcorcón, Leganés, Getafe, Fuenlabrada and Móstoles.
• MetroEste (zone B1): a prolongation of line 7 from Estadio Olímpico to Hospital de Henares through the municipalities of Coslada and San Fernando de Henares.
• MetroNorte (zone B1): opened in 2007, includes the stretch of line 10 from Tres Olivos and half of the light rail line mL1. Services the northern outskirts of Madrid and the towns of Alcobendas and San Sebastián de los Reyes
• MetrOeste (zones B1 and B2): comprised by the Metro Ligero lines mL2 and mL3. Connects the towns of Pozuelo de Alarcón and Boadilla del Monte to line 10 at Colonia Jardín station.
• TFM (zones B1, B2 and B3): a prolongation of line 9 from Puerta de Arganda, the first ever outside the borders of Madrid, services the cities of Rivas-Vacíamadrid and Arganda del Rey.

At most of the borders between the regions, one has to switch trains even when staying in the same line, because the train frequency is higher in the core MetroMadrid than in the outer regions.

Madrid also has an extensive commuter train (Cercanías) network operated by Renfe, the national rail line, which is intermodal with the metro network. In fact, 22 Cercanías stations have connections to the Metro network, which is indicated on the official map by the Cercanías logo. Many of the new lines since 1999 have been build to link to or end at Cercanías stations, like the mL2 line, which ends at the Aravaca station providing a fast entry into Madrid though the C-7 or C-10 commuter lines and arriving in only one step to the bus and Metro hub Príncipe Pío 610R.

See also the list of Madrid metro stations.

Line		Length	Stations	Loading gauge	Platform	Serviced by	Configuration
1	Pinar de Chamartín – Valdecarros	23.8 km / 14.7 miles	33	narrow	90 m	CAF Series 2000	M.R-M.R-R.M
2	La Elipa – Cuatro Caminos	9.5 km / 5.9 miles	16	narrow	60 m	CAF Series 2000,3000 (Being introduced)	M.R-R.M
3	Villaverde Alto – Moncloa	16.4 km / 10.2 Miles	18	narrow	90 m	CAF Series 3000	MRSSRM
4	Argüelles – Pinar de Chamartín	16 km / 9.9 miles	23	narrow	60 m	CAF Series 3000	MRRM
5	Alameda de Osuna – Casa de Campo	23.2 km / 14.5 miles	32	narrow	90 m	CAF Series 2500	M.R-M.R-R.M
6	Circular	23.5 km / 14.6 miles	28	wide	115 m	Mainly CAF Series 5000, some AnsaldoBreda Series 7000	M.M-M.M-M.M
7	Henares – Pitis	31.2 km / 19.4 miles	29	wide	115 m	AnsaldoBreda Series 9000	MRSSRM
8	Nuevos Ministerios – Aeropuerto	16.4 km / 10.2 miles	8	wide	115 m	CAF Series 8000	MRSM
9	Herrera Oria – Arganda del Rey	38 km / 23.6 miles	26	wide	115 m	Mainly CAF Series 6000 & 8000, AnsaldoBreda Series 9000	MRM-MRM
10	Hospital del Norte – Puerta del Sur	39.9 km / 24.8 miles	31	wide	115 m	Mainly AnsaldoBreda Series 7000 & 9000, some CAF series 8000	MRSSRM
11	Plaza Elíptica – La Peseta	5.3 km / 3.3 miles	6	wide	115 m	CAF Series 3000	MRSSRM
12	MetroSur	40.7 km / 25.3 miles (Circular)	28	wide	115 m	CAF Series 8000	MRM-MRM
R	Ópera – Príncipe Pío	1.1 km / 0.7 miles	2	narrow	60 m	CAF Series 2000	M.R-R.M
mL1	Pinar de Chamartín – Las Tablas	5.4 km / 3.4 miles	9	tramway	32 m	Alstom Citadis 302	MRRRM
mL2	Colonia Jardín – Estación de Aravaca	8.7 km / 5.4 miles	13	tramway	32 m	Alstom Citadis 302	MRRRM
mL3	Colonia Jardín – Puerta de Boadilla	13,7 km / 8.6 miles	16	tramway	32 m	Alstom Citadis 302	MRRRM

Notes

• Line R is for Ramal ("branch")
• Old stations are not accessible to people with disabilities but since 1995 all new stations must be accessible by law. Thus, both new stations and renewed old ones have elevators for people on wheelchairs, huge signs for the visually impaired, etc.
• All narrow loading gauge lines except line 5 had originally 60m platforms. Line 1 was the first to have theirs extended to 90m, while line 3 had to wait until the 2000s: prior to its recent extension to the southern district of Villaverde, it was completely closed for nearly a year and thoroughly renewed. Thus, one of the worst lines of the network, both in terms of trains and facilities, became the shiniest between the narrow-gauged, and was the first to receive the all-new CAF Series 3000 trains.
• Configurations: M - engine (Motor), R - passive (Remolque), S - cabless engine (motor Sin cabina). Dots/dashes mean crossable/complete basic unit separation, while their absence implies a walkable aisle throughout the joined units.
• Alstom Citadis 302 tramways have one motor "car", one suspended, one with bogie but without motors, one suspended, one motor.

The Madrid Metro network is split into the six "functional" zones mentioned above. Each one has a "single" ticket (Billete Sencillo), valid for one trip within the zone, and a 10-trip ticket for a comparatively lower price. When crossing zone boundaries, one has to buy a new ticket for the zone being entered. There is also a "combined" ticked, which provides for a single trip between any two points of the network except the Airport stations, which have an additional supplement of 1€. All in all, it is possible to go from the airport to any other point of the network for 2.75 €.

Also, the Consorcio Regional de Transportes (Regional Transportation Council) has a division of its own, with geographic zones named A through C2. This body sells monthly and annual passes for unlimited trips within their zone of validity, and also a range of Tourist Passes for 1, 3, 5 or 7 days. All of them are accepted at the Metro stations within their zones, and passengers using a CRT pass do not have to pay the airport supplement.

Name	Valid for	Expires after	Price
MetroX Sencillo	MetroX zone	1 trip	1 €
Metrobús	MetroMadrid and EMT buses	10 trips	6.40 €
MetroX 10 viajes	MetroX	10 trips	6.40 €
Sencillo Combinado	Whole network	1 trips	1.75 €
Abono Transportes Joven	A - C2 (<21 y.o.)	One calendar month	26.30 - 46.40 €
Abono Transportes Normal	A - C2	One calendar month	40.45 - 73.60 €
Abono Transportes 3ª Edad	A - C2 (>65 y.o.)	One calendar month	10.15 €
Abono Transportes Anual Normal	A - C2	One calendar year	444.95 - 809.60 €
Abono Transportes Anual 3ª Edad	A - C2 (>65 y.o.)	One calendar year	111.65 €
Abono Turístico	A	1 - 7 days	3.80 - 19.80 €
Abono Turístico	T (all CRT zones)	1 - 7 days	7.60 - 39.60 €

The metro is operated by its own company, under the Department of Public Works, City Planning, and Transportation of the autonomous community of Madrid. The passage between Puerta de Arganda (Line 9) and Arganda del Rey (Line 9) is operated by Transportes Ferroviarios de Madrid (TFM). All of Madrid's rapid transit systems are members of the Consorcio Regional de Transportes, which sells monthly passes for unlimited use of the metro, bus and commuter train networks within the area covered by the pass.

• Barcelona Metro
• Bilbao Metro
• Valencia Metro
• List of metro systems

• Metro map updated for May 2007 new stations
• Metro de Madrid (official site, in Spanish)
• Madrid´s Metro Unofficial web page
• UrbanRail.net/Madrid
• Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid
• Expansion projects 2004-2007
• Andén 1 - Association of friends of Madrid Metro
• Real-distance map of the Madrid Metro network
• ENGLISH User guide, ticket types, airport supplement and timings
• Madrid Metro+railway Map. Bilingual Spanish/English. Updated October 2007PDF (750 KiB)