Barcelona Sants railway station

Barcelona Sants railway station or Sants Estació is the main railway station in Barcelona, owned by Adif, the railway infrastructure agency of the Spanish state. It has become the Catalan capital's most important transport hub - being the centre of Rodalies de Catalunya including Barcelona suburban railway services and regional services, as well as the main inter-city station for national and international destinations. The station is named after Sants, the neighbourhood of Barcelona in which it is located. New parts of the station have recently been remodeled to accommodate the Spanish high-speed train AVE in the city, which started serving the city on 20 February 2008. There is also an adjacent international bus station bearing the same name and a metro station that serves the railway station.

History and architectural design

The modern Sants station was built in the 1970s as part of construction of the first east-west regional line running under the centre of Barcelona. Over the last 30 years, Estació de Sants has since come clearly to eclipse the earlier França terminus (Barcelona Estació de França), from the 1920s, as Barcelona’s main railway station.

The station has been built in a modern airport style, with all its many platforms sited underground in something of a subterranean sprawl. Nevertheless the ongoing redevelopment, set to take until 2012, has aimed to make the surface-level concourse and ticket-hall area considerably more spacious and bright. Above this, a four-star hotel (Hotel Barceló Sants) occupies most of the upper floors of its main building.

Location

The station is in the Sants-Montjuïc district of Barcelona, a little way to the northwest of the city centre, and is easily accessible via metro (see section below) or bus from anywhere in the city. Sited at the end of Avinguda Roma between two squares, Plaça dels Països Catalans and Plaça Joan Peiró, it has two entrances, one in each.

Services

Long distance and high-speed

Madrid is two and a half hours away on the AVE Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail line, after the link between Camp de Tarragona and Barcelona opened in 2008. Extension of the line east into France connecting with the TGV network is expected to be complete in 2012. The high speed service uses platforms 1 to 6, which have now been converted to the European standard gauge for use by the AVE services, unlike the remaining 8 for other RENFE services using the wider Spanish gauge tracks. A second major railway station in Barcelona, Estació de la Sagrera, currently under construction, is expected to join it in order to provide a wider access to high-speed and long distance train to the north of the city.

Rodalies de Catalunya

Barcelona Metro

Sants Estació is a station on line 3 and line 5 of the Barcelona Metro operated by TMB. It serves the Barcelona Sants railway station, and is named Sants Estació to distinguish it from the nearby Plaça de Sants station also named for the Sants neighbourhood. The line 5 station was opened in 1969 and the line 3 in 1975.

• Barcelona Metro line 3 station was opened in 1975 with the opening of the line from this station to Zona Universitària, The station is situated under Numància street, between Melcior Palau and Avinguda Josep Tarradellas. It has a hall at each side of the station, one of them inaugurated in 2004. To access to the railway station it is necessary to go through line 5 hall. The station is equipped with numerous elevators.

• Barcelona Metro line 5 station was opened in 1969 with the opening of the line between Collblanc and Diagonal. The metro station is situated on the north part of the railway station, between Guitard and Enric Bargés streets. The station is complex but has an own hall on the west side which has two direct accesses to the railway station. On the other side of the station there is the corridor to connect with line 3.

External links

• Official website
• Rodalies de Catalunya
• Barcelona Sants information at Trenscat.com
• Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona
• Information about L3 metro station at TMB
• Information about L5 metro station at TMB
• Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona
• Information about L3 metro station at Trenscat.com
• Information about L5 metro station at Trenscat.com