Barcelona Sants railway station

Barcelona Sants
The station's main façade in 2008
Location	Plaça dels Països Catalans 08014 Barcelona Spain
Coordinates	41°22′44″N 2°08′24″E / 41.37889°N 2.14000°ECoordinates: 41°22′44″N 2°08′24″E / 41.37889°N 2.14000°E
Owned by	Adif
Operated by	Renfe Operadora and SNCF
Line(s)	Barcelona–Manresa–Lleida (PK 369.7) Madrid–Barcelona (PK 677.9) Madrid–Barcelona–Figueres (high-speed) (PK 621.0)
Platforms	7 island platforms
Tracks	14 — 8 in Iberian gauge and 6 in standard gauge
Connections	Barcelona Metro: at Sants Estació Adjacent bus station Local bus
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	2
Parking	Adjacent parking garage.
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	71801 (Adif)
History
Opened	July 18, 1975
Location
Location within Barcelona

Barcelona Sants is the main railway station in Barcelona, owned by Adif, the railway infrastructure agency of Spain. 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 link to the Sants Estació 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 eclipsed the earlier França terminus (Barcelona Estació de França), from the 1920s, as Barcelona’s main railway station.

The station was built in a modern airport style, with all of its many platforms sited underground. A hotel (Hotel Barceló Sants) occupies most of the upper floors of the station's main building.

Location

Access to the metro station from the railway station

The station is in the Sants-Montjuïc district of Barcelona, a little way to the west 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

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 high-speed network east into France connecting with the TGV network was completed in January 2013 upon completion of the Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line and a direct TGV service started in December 2013.^[1][2] 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.

Regional and commuter rail

Barcelona Metro

References

1. "High speed line opens between Barcelona and Figueres". Railway Gazette International. 8 January 2013.
2. Communiqué de presse Paris - Barcelone

External links

• Barcelona Sants listing at Adif website
• Barcelona Sants listing at Rodalies de Catalunya website
• Information and photos of the station at Trenscat.com (Catalan)