Coming SOON: Linea 9!

Beating out the Metro Sur (40.9km) line in Madrid (previously Spain’s longest line), here comes Barcelona’s L9, the Orange Line, the longest in Spain, and yes, the longest European metro line ever!

Linea 9 in numbers

First of all, a few numbers about the longest metro line in Europe:

• 4 km already in operation, 5 stations (Can Zam – Fondo – Can Peixauet are the biggest)
• 5 areas crossed (Barcelona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Badalona, l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, El Prat de Llobregat).
• 6 year delay planned already for the completion of construction
• 48 km long (yes, it beats Berlin and Moscow’s longest metro tunnels…), of which 43.71km underground and 4.1km in viaduct (Zona Franca, for 5 stations)
• 52 stations
• 2003 – 2014 (?) construction time
• € 6.5 billion cost (instead of the originally projected € 2.25 billion…); € 1.6 billion come from private funds.

Why Linea 9?

As you have surely already noticed, Barcelona Metro’s Linea 9 is a huge project which was presented for the first time in 1997.  Four years later, construction works were launched and are still ongoing.

Barcelona L9’s main goal is to improve the connection between Barcelona’s suburbs. L9 will therefore make the junction between all external end stations of most of the Barcelona Metro lines (instead of traveling to the center to make a connection with another metro line) and link BCN Airport with Fondo (on the opposite end of the city).

Linea 9 or the Best Technology Display

The longest metro line in Europe will be a security haven: double doors to prevent anything from falling on the tracks (suicidal people included), lights in Barcelona’s new subway line placed in strategic spots, and most importantly driver-less trains as in Paris! First, automatic trains are the best in energy savings. Second, their smooth decelerations and accelerations increase passenger’s comfort, unlike human drivers.

L9 also possesses a second characteristic that makes it so special, that is, the metro line will be both up in the air and down in the ground! Very deep tunnels are being dug at the time you’re reading this post, between 60 and 80 meters below sea level at some points, and dug by special tunneling machines that are 6.5m to 12m in diameter and weighting up to 500 tons (heavier than a steam engine or, if you prefer modern comparisons, as heavy as a Boing 747). All were especially designed for the project, which is nothing new: each machine has to tunnel through many different types of earth (from sand to granite) and they depend heavily on atmospheric pressure and environmental conditions. Therefore, each new project uses tunnel-boring machines that are built directly in the tunnel and used once as it can only go forward. It then has to be dismantled at the other end of the tunnel.

The viaduct however will raise just a few meters above the ground (equivalent to one or two building floors).

What makes Barcelona’s L9 even more special is the room that was left for innovation. As Barcelona’s underground is extremely busy, there was not much space left for many options so the architects decided to dig an unusual double tunnel, one above another. Stations will also be equipped with high-tech elevators, broader and quicker than the one already in use. Besides that, famous architects were invited to design some of the stations: Sánchez-Piulachs took care of Carmel station, and, so I heard but not confirmed on their website, Jordi Garcès and Oriol Bohigas, and even Toyo Ito (all have already worked on famous projects in Barcelona) took part in the project.

To know more about this amazing enterprise, check  Barcelona L9 Official site (Castillano).

In a word, do not hesitate to experience the New Barcelona Metro Line soon! There’s always something going on in Barcelona underground!!

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Yours!

A.