Cercanías Madrid
Encyclopedia
Cercanías Madrid is the commuter rail service that serves Madrid
, the capital of Spain
, and its metropolitan area. It is operated by Cercanías Renfe, the commuter rail division of RENFE
, the former monopoly of rail services in Spain. The system is infamous for being the target of the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings
. The attacks triggered a small reduction in the ridership of the system but it is still the most used and most profitable http://www.renfe.es/empresa/index.html (by 2004) of the commuter rail services in Spain. The total length spans 339.1 km.
) was built in 1851 between Madrid and Aranjuez
. Soon the growing Spanish railway system was dominated by two large companies: the Compañía del Norte (Northern Company), who operated the lines between Madrid and the Atlantic North of Spain from the Estación del Norte (now Príncipe Pío
),and the Madrid-Zaragoza
-Alicante
(MZA) who operated the lines between the capital and the Mediterranean and Andalusia
n cities from the Atocha station. Another station, Delicias, served the line to Lisbon
. Other smaller companies operated from Madrid, mostly in narrow gauge. After the Civil War
, in 1941, the ailing railway companies were nationalised and joined in the new RENFE
, and the narrow gauge lines were progressively closed, the last one in 1970. Almost at the same time, the new Chamartín
station was built and all services were transferred to the main stations: Chamartín for the north and east-bound and the international services and Atocha for the south and west-bound trains. Both stations were linked by a tunnel, the Connection Railway Line (Línea de Enlaces Ferroviarios, a line to link the MZA lines with the Norte lines; the building started during the Republic and was only finished as far as 1968. The delays gave the tunnel the nickname
of tubo de la risa (funny tube), after a fair attraction very popular in the 1930s.
The development of the towns around Madrid as bedroom communities only started in the late 1960s, in two different parts of the metropolitan area:
-Barcelona
line followed the valley of the Henares
river, going through the important town of Alcalá de Henares
to Guadalajara
and Zaragoza
. The towns around the line (Coslada
, San Fernando de Henares, Torrejón de Ardoz
, Alcalá itself) and some suburbs within the city of Madrid (Vallecas Villa, Vicálvaro
) started to grow large bedroom communities, which relied heavily in the railway for commuting to Madrid.
, Móstoles
, Leganés
, Fuenlabrada
and Getafe
(and some others) started to grow as bedroom communities. These bedroom communities were less rail-oriented and relied more in bus services and private transportation, but soon the rail services were enlarged: in the Madrid-Toledo
line for the towns of Getafe and Parla
, in the Madrid-Talavera de la Reina line for Leganés and Fuenlabrada, and in 1976 a full (Spanish) gauge line between Madrid and Móstoles
was built, substituting the narrow gauge line closed in 1970.
At this time, the services were full part of the normal RENFE services, and the cars and stations had the standard livery of the rest of the company. In the 1980s, services started to operate between Madrid-Chamartín and the new town
of Tres Cantos
, serving also the Autonomous University of Madrid
campus, in Cantoblanco.
At the 1990s, RENFE
divided its services in business areas (áreas de negocio), each one with its own symbols and livery
. The gold and blue colors were substituted by the red, white and gray colors of the new Cercanías
brand and new network maps were made, where the lines were numbered. At the same time, a shift was appreciated in the Metropolitan Madrid
area growth; the new housing initiatives moved from the northeast and southwest part of the region to the northwest. RENFE
then started an ambitious plan of growth of the Cercanías network: linking the decaying Norte station, now renamed Príncipe Pío, to the Atocha station, through the former industrial districts just south the Madrid downtown. This project, called the Pasillo Verde (Green Corridor), also created new streets and housing projects. In 1997, the Pasillo Verde was finished. In 2000, the line C-1 was extended to the towns of Alcobendas
and San Sebastián de los Reyes
, relieving the heavy road traffic between these towns and Madrid. In 2003, the C-7 line was extended to Colmenar Viejo
, and in 2004, the C-5 to Humanes
. Both extensions were ardently sought, because both cities were already linked by railroad to Madrid, so a Cercanías
service was considered logical. The company also developed the so-called CIVIS services, linking important stations non-stop with downtown Madrid (see below at CIVIS)
to Chamartín
; the other three were 446 series who departed from Alcalá de Henares
: two serving the C-1 line to Alcobendas
and one serving the C-7 line, finishing in Príncipe Pío
. After the attacks, services were reintroduced the following day, with RENFE private security reinforced. Security measures and design of the rolling stock have been accredited to having notably reduced the number of casualties in the attacks. The attacks arguably reduced ridership in the Cercanías network, but much of this reduction has been recovered by now. Nowadays, some citizens are still too traumatized to ride the trains again.
suburb-to-Madrid lines: these lines make a direct link between the suburbs with downtown Madrid: lines C-2, C-3, C-4 and C-8.
suburb-to-suburb lines: these lines link two suburbs, but most traffic only goes from one of the suburbs to Madrid; indeed, some of these lines have special services suburb-to-Madrid only, specially in rush hours, early in the morning or late at night. Suburb-to-suburb lines are the C-1, C-5, C-7 and C-10.
C-9 line: see C-9.
It can be argued that lines C-2 and C-8 are the same line, as usually the trains who finish C-8 line in Atocha will follow line C-2 to Guadalajara
and viceversa; indeed, a C-2 train will be signed El Escorial
or Cercedilla
rather than Chamartín
, and a C-8 train will rather be signed Guadalajara
than Atocha.
There is no line C-6 because it was gathered with line C-5.
, trains don't operate late at night, mostly for union
and safety
reasons. The first train to operate on weekdays (as 10 February 2006) is the 4.07 C-5 train from Móstoles/El Soto; the rest of the lines (except C-9) start to operate around 5 a.m.
The frequency of the trains depends on the size of the towns served and the traffic on the line. The central section of the network (from Atocha to Chamartín
, through Recoletos
and Nuevos Ministerios has trains each 3–4 minutes (of various lines) on weekdays peak hours; the farther branches of the C-8 line have trains each two hours on weekends.
All lines (except C-9) finish their operations around midnight.
446 series: built from 1987 on, these are the most usual cars in the network, together with 447 series. They are used for almost all lines. Their maximum speed is 100 km/h and can carry 704 passengers (204 seated) in each three cars. They use an AdTranz Propulsion & Control System, with CAF bogies and carbody.
447 series: built from 1993 on. Their maximum speed is 120 km/h and can carry 704 passengers (204 seated) in each three cars. They use a Siemens Propulsion & Control System, with CAF bogies and Carbody.
450 series: the double-decker 450 series were built from 1990 on. Apart of the double deck, they are different from the other series in their almost all-seat configuration. They are mostly used in the C-2/C-8 line and in the C-1. Their maximum speed is 140 km/h and can carry 1840 passengers (1008 seated).
They are also new modular and moderns trains, called Civia (462, 463, 464 or 465 series). They share the same design, the series number depending on the number of coaches, with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 coaches. They have been designed as a replacement for the 446 series in the CIVIS services.
The 446 series trains can serve in two composition: a single composition of three cars (called tren corto or short train) and a double composition of six cars (called tren largo or long train) As the double composition is the most usual, when a service is operated by a single composition it is announced previously.
Prices of one single trip ticket
, in euro
as of March 2011:
There is also the bonotren, that allows ten trips (prices range from €
5.65 to 26.20) and the abono mensual that allows two trips a day during a natural month (prices range from €
20.00 to 70.00) The abono mensual shall not be confused with the Abono Transportes, which allows the use of all the transport network, not only trains.
is (at the moment) a constituent of the Spanish Ministry of Infrastructure, and national infrastructure development projects during the last ten years have focused on the development of the Spanish high speed
network, funding for new lines has been scarce and growth has been slow (in comparison with the rocket-paced growth of the Madrid Metro
). From 2004 on, construction has begun on a second central line to link Atocha and Chamartín
. This project is intended to relieve the heavy traffic in the old tunnel (built during the 1930s and 1940s, when materials were scarce and poor) but it has received heavy criticism as it builds two new stations downtown; one of them in the Sol station of the Metro
. Supporters of the project say that the new station will get the citizens closer to the commercial center; critics say that the new station will overwhelm the already crowded Sol station.
As the Cercanías network is the only public transportation system in Madrid which is owned by the Spanish central state
(in comparison with the Metro
and bus
services, owned regionally, municipally and privately) this difference has been exploited politically. A harsh debate between the Madrid regional government (which operates the Metro) and the central government (which operates the Cercanías) about who is responsible for building the line to the new terminal
of the Barajas Airport delayed the construction of any rail link. The Madrid Metro Line 8 extension to Terminal 4 is slated for opening in May 2007, while the Cercanías link is still not operational as of early 2011.
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, the capital of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and its metropolitan area. It is operated by Cercanías Renfe, the commuter rail division of RENFE
RENFE
Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...
, the former monopoly of rail services in Spain. The system is infamous for being the target of the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings
11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings
The Madrid train bombings consisted of a series of coordinated bombings against the Cercanías system of Madrid, Spain on the morning of 11 March 2004 , killing 191 people and wounding 1,800...
. The attacks triggered a small reduction in the ridership of the system but it is still the most used and most profitable http://www.renfe.es/empresa/index.html (by 2004) of the commuter rail services in Spain. The total length spans 339.1 km.
Until 1990
The first railroad line departing from Madrid (the second in Spain, the third in the Iberian PeninsulaIberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
) was built in 1851 between Madrid and Aranjuez
Aranjuez
Aranjuez is a town lying 48 km south of Madrid, in the southern part of the Community of Madrid. It is located at the confluence of the Tagus and Jarama rivers, 48 km from Toledo. As of 2009, it has a population of 54,055.-History:...
. Soon the growing Spanish railway system was dominated by two large companies: the Compañía del Norte (Northern Company), who operated the lines between Madrid and the Atlantic North of Spain from the Estación del Norte (now Príncipe Pío
Príncipe Pío
La montaña del Príncipe Pío is the name of a hill in the western part of Madrid, Spain.It is named after the prince Pius of Savoy, who owned property there.Later, barracks were constructed there....
),and the Madrid-Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
-Alicante
Alicante
Alicante or Alacant is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Alicante and of the comarca of Alacantí, in the south of the Valencian Community. It is also a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city of Alicante proper was 334,418, estimated , ranking as the second-largest...
(MZA) who operated the lines between the capital and the Mediterranean and Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
n cities from the Atocha station. Another station, Delicias, served the line to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
. Other smaller companies operated from Madrid, mostly in narrow gauge. After the Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, in 1941, the ailing railway companies were nationalised and joined in the new RENFE
RENFE
Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...
, and the narrow gauge lines were progressively closed, the last one in 1970. Almost at the same time, the new Chamartín
Chamartín
Chamartín is an administrative district of Madrid, Spain and consists of the following neighborhoods: El Viso, Prosperidad, Ciudad Jardín, Hispanoamérica, Nueva España, and Pza...
station was built and all services were transferred to the main stations: Chamartín for the north and east-bound and the international services and Atocha for the south and west-bound trains. Both stations were linked by a tunnel, the Connection Railway Line (Línea de Enlaces Ferroviarios, a line to link the MZA lines with the Norte lines; the building started during the Republic and was only finished as far as 1968. The delays gave the tunnel the nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
of tubo de la risa (funny tube), after a fair attraction very popular in the 1930s.
The development of the towns around Madrid as bedroom communities only started in the late 1960s, in two different parts of the metropolitan area:
The Henares Corridor
The main Madrid-ZaragozaZaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
-Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
line followed the valley of the Henares
Henares
The Henares is a river in Spain, tributary of the Jarama. It has its source in the Sierra Ministra, in the village of Horna, near Sigüenza, in the province of Guadalajara....
river, going through the important town of Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares , meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
to Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Spain
Guadalajara is a city and municipality in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain, and in the natural region of La Alcarria. It is the capital of the province of Guadalajara. It is located roughly 60 km northeast of Madrid on the Henares River, and has a population of 83,789...
and Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
. The towns around the line (Coslada
Coslada
Coslada is a city in the autonomous community of Madrid. , the mayor of Coslada is Raul Lopez Vaquero .The Dry Port of the Community of Madrid is located in Coslada, which turns the city into a strategic point. The majority of the companies which transport important commodities that operate in...
, San Fernando de Henares, Torrejón de Ardoz
Torrejón de Ardoz
Torrejón de Ardoz is a town in the urban area of Madrid, Spain that has about 110,000 inhabitants.It is a town 20 km east of Madrid on the NII highway . It is essentially a dormitory town, mostly consisting of apartments. It can be reached by bus from Av...
, Alcalá itself) and some suburbs within the city of Madrid (Vallecas Villa, Vicálvaro
Vicálvaro
Vicálvaro is a district in the southeast of Madrid, Spain, and a former municipality in its own right.-History:When Spain's Civil Guard was established in 1844, the first headquarters of its cavalry was in Vicálvaro. Franco converted it into an artillery barracks for the Brunete Armored Division,...
) started to grow large bedroom communities, which relied heavily in the railway for commuting to Madrid.
The South-Southwestern Area
At the same time, the former rural towns of AlcorcónAlcorcón
Alcorcón is a city in the metropolitan area of Madrid, Spain; , it had a population of 168,229. It is located 13 km to the south-west of Madrid....
, Móstoles
Móstoles
Móstoles is the second-largest city in population belonging to the autonomous community of Madrid. It is located 18 kilometres southwest from central Madrid. Móstoles was for a long time only a small village, but expanded rapidly in the twentieth century....
, Leganés
Leganés
Leganés is a city in central Spain. Part of the greater Madrid conurbation - mainly a satellite-city with a population of 186,066 it is located about 11 km southwest of the city centre....
, Fuenlabrada
Fuenlabrada
Fuenlabrada is a city and municipality located in the Madrid Metropolitan Area, Community of Madrid, Spain. It is located to the southwest of the community, 22,5 km far from the capital, and had a population of 197,836 in 2009. Is the fourth biggest town of Madrid after the capital, Móstoles...
and Getafe
Getafe
Getafe is a city in the southern zone of the Madrid metropolitan area, Spain, and one of the most populated and industrialized cities in the municipality. The city is home to one of the oldest Spanish military air bases, as well as the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid...
(and some others) started to grow as bedroom communities. These bedroom communities were less rail-oriented and relied more in bus services and private transportation, but soon the rail services were enlarged: in the Madrid-Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
line for the towns of Getafe and Parla
Parla
Parla is a municipality of the Madrid Metropolitan Area, Spain. It is located in the southern part of the autonomous community, approximately 20 km from the capital, Madrid. , it has a population of 120,182.- History :- Origins :...
, in the Madrid-Talavera de la Reina line for Leganés and Fuenlabrada, and in 1976 a full (Spanish) gauge line between Madrid and Móstoles
Móstoles
Móstoles is the second-largest city in population belonging to the autonomous community of Madrid. It is located 18 kilometres southwest from central Madrid. Móstoles was for a long time only a small village, but expanded rapidly in the twentieth century....
was built, substituting the narrow gauge line closed in 1970.
At this time, the services were full part of the normal RENFE services, and the cars and stations had the standard livery of the rest of the company. In the 1980s, services started to operate between Madrid-Chamartín and the new town
New town
A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
of Tres Cantos
Tres Cantos
Tres Cantos is a township and municipality located in the autonomous community of Madrid, Spain, some 22 km north of the capital city, Madrid. As a "satellite city" of Madrid which was conceived by urban planners as recently as the 1970s, it is the youngest incorporated municipality in Spain, with...
, serving also the Autonomous University of Madrid
Autonomous University of Madrid
The Autonomous University of Madrid is one of the top university of Spain and commonly known by its Spanish initials UAM or as "la Autónoma"...
campus, in Cantoblanco.
From 1990 on
RENFE
Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...
divided its services in business areas (áreas de negocio), each one with its own symbols and livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
. The gold and blue colors were substituted by the red, white and gray colors of the new Cercanías
Cercanías
Cercanías is the name given to the commuter rail systems of Spain's major metropolitan areas. In Catalonia and Valencia, however, the term is replaced by Rodalies , while the designation Aldirikoak is used in the Basque Country....
brand and new network maps were made, where the lines were numbered. At the same time, a shift was appreciated in the Metropolitan Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
area growth; the new housing initiatives moved from the northeast and southwest part of the region to the northwest. RENFE
RENFE
Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...
then started an ambitious plan of growth of the Cercanías network: linking the decaying Norte station, now renamed Príncipe Pío, to the Atocha station, through the former industrial districts just south the Madrid downtown. This project, called the Pasillo Verde (Green Corridor), also created new streets and housing projects. In 1997, the Pasillo Verde was finished. In 2000, the line C-1 was extended to the towns of Alcobendas
Alcobendas
Alcobendas is a city located in the Community of Madrid, central Spain. It is located roughly 13 km north of Madrid and 7 km from the Barajas International Airport. It includes a central urban zone, a recently built district known as Valdelasfuentes, La Moraleja and El Soto de la...
and San Sebastián de los Reyes
San Sebastián de los Reyes
San Sebastián de los Reyes is a municipality in the Community of Madrid in Spain. Founded in 1492, it is located 20 km north of Madrid. The city is twinned with Baunatal in Germany. It is geographically joined with neighboring Alcobendas and they share a common RENFE commuter line to Madrid Atocha...
, relieving the heavy road traffic between these towns and Madrid. In 2003, the C-7 line was extended to Colmenar Viejo
Colmenar Viejo
Colmenar Viejo is a town of about 44,000 inhabitants, located in the Community of Madrid, Spain, 30 kilometers north of Madrid on the M-607 motorway.-Main sights:The most important tourist attractions places in Colmenar Viejo are:...
, and in 2004, the C-5 to Humanes
Humanes de Madrid
Humanes de Madrid is a town in Spain. It is located in the Madrid Metropolitan Area, in the Community of Madrid. It had a population of 17, 379 in 2008.-External links:*...
. Both extensions were ardently sought, because both cities were already linked by railroad to Madrid, so a Cercanías
Cercanías
Cercanías is the name given to the commuter rail systems of Spain's major metropolitan areas. In Catalonia and Valencia, however, the term is replaced by Rodalies , while the designation Aldirikoak is used in the Basque Country....
service was considered logical. The company also developed the so-called CIVIS services, linking important stations non-stop with downtown Madrid (see below at CIVIS)
The 11 March 2004 attacks
The 11 March 2004 attacks occurred in four trains circulating by the Madrid-Alcalá-Guadalajara-Zaragoza line. One of the trains was a double-decker 450 series which served the C-2 line coming from GuadalajaraGuadalajara, Spain
Guadalajara is a city and municipality in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain, and in the natural region of La Alcarria. It is the capital of the province of Guadalajara. It is located roughly 60 km northeast of Madrid on the Henares River, and has a population of 83,789...
to Chamartín
Chamartín
Chamartín is an administrative district of Madrid, Spain and consists of the following neighborhoods: El Viso, Prosperidad, Ciudad Jardín, Hispanoamérica, Nueva España, and Pza...
; the other three were 446 series who departed from Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares , meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
: two serving the C-1 line to Alcobendas
Alcobendas
Alcobendas is a city located in the Community of Madrid, central Spain. It is located roughly 13 km north of Madrid and 7 km from the Barajas International Airport. It includes a central urban zone, a recently built district known as Valdelasfuentes, La Moraleja and El Soto de la...
and one serving the C-7 line, finishing in Príncipe Pío
Príncipe Pío
La montaña del Príncipe Pío is the name of a hill in the western part of Madrid, Spain.It is named after the prince Pius of Savoy, who owned property there.Later, barracks were constructed there....
. After the attacks, services were reintroduced the following day, with RENFE private security reinforced. Security measures and design of the rolling stock have been accredited to having notably reduced the number of casualties in the attacks. The attacks arguably reduced ridership in the Cercanías network, but much of this reduction has been recovered by now. Nowadays, some citizens are still too traumatized to ride the trains again.
Lines
Nine lines serve the Cercanías network. There are three kinds of lines:suburb-to-Madrid lines: these lines make a direct link between the suburbs with downtown Madrid: lines C-2, C-3, C-4 and C-8.
suburb-to-suburb lines: these lines link two suburbs, but most traffic only goes from one of the suburbs to Madrid; indeed, some of these lines have special services suburb-to-Madrid only, specially in rush hours, early in the morning or late at night. Suburb-to-suburb lines are the C-1, C-5, C-7 and C-10.
C-9 line: see C-9.
It can be argued that lines C-2 and C-8 are the same line, as usually the trains who finish C-8 line in Atocha will follow line C-2 to Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Spain
Guadalajara is a city and municipality in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain, and in the natural region of La Alcarria. It is the capital of the province of Guadalajara. It is located roughly 60 km northeast of Madrid on the Henares River, and has a population of 83,789...
and viceversa; indeed, a C-2 train will be signed El Escorial
El Escorial
The Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a historical residence of the king of Spain, in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, about 45 kilometres northwest of the capital, Madrid, in Spain. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and...
or Cercedilla
Cercedilla
Cercedilla is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, Spain. It is located in the Sierra de Guadarrama. It was the hometown of Francisco Fernández Ochoa , an alpine ski racer known for being the first Spaniard to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. He won the slalom in 1972 in Japan...
rather than Chamartín
Chamartín
Chamartín is an administrative district of Madrid, Spain and consists of the following neighborhoods: El Viso, Prosperidad, Ciudad Jardín, Hispanoamérica, Nueva España, and Pza...
, and a C-8 train will rather be signed Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Spain
Guadalajara is a city and municipality in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain, and in the natural region of La Alcarria. It is the capital of the province of Guadalajara. It is located roughly 60 km northeast of Madrid on the Henares River, and has a population of 83,789...
than Atocha.
There is no line C-6 because it was gathered with line C-5.
Operating times
Rather strangely for such a night-living city as MadridMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, trains don't operate late at night, mostly for union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
and safety
Safety
Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...
reasons. The first train to operate on weekdays (as 10 February 2006) is the 4.07 C-5 train from Móstoles/El Soto; the rest of the lines (except C-9) start to operate around 5 a.m.
The frequency of the trains depends on the size of the towns served and the traffic on the line. The central section of the network (from Atocha to Chamartín
Chamartín
Chamartín is an administrative district of Madrid, Spain and consists of the following neighborhoods: El Viso, Prosperidad, Ciudad Jardín, Hispanoamérica, Nueva España, and Pza...
, through Recoletos
Paseo de Recoletos
Paseo de Recoletos is a wide boulevard in central Madrid leading from Plaza de Cibeles to Plaza de Colón.From West to East it consists of:* Two southward lanes* The pedestrian walk* A southward Bus lane* Three southward lanes...
and Nuevos Ministerios has trains each 3–4 minutes (of various lines) on weekdays peak hours; the farther branches of the C-8 line have trains each two hours on weekends.
All lines (except C-9) finish their operations around midnight.
Rolling stock
There are basically three series of trains operating in the Madrid Cercanías network:446 series: built from 1987 on, these are the most usual cars in the network, together with 447 series. They are used for almost all lines. Their maximum speed is 100 km/h and can carry 704 passengers (204 seated) in each three cars. They use an AdTranz Propulsion & Control System, with CAF bogies and carbody.
447 series: built from 1993 on. Their maximum speed is 120 km/h and can carry 704 passengers (204 seated) in each three cars. They use a Siemens Propulsion & Control System, with CAF bogies and Carbody.
450 series: the double-decker 450 series were built from 1990 on. Apart of the double deck, they are different from the other series in their almost all-seat configuration. They are mostly used in the C-2/C-8 line and in the C-1. Their maximum speed is 140 km/h and can carry 1840 passengers (1008 seated).
They are also new modular and moderns trains, called Civia (462, 463, 464 or 465 series). They share the same design, the series number depending on the number of coaches, with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 coaches. They have been designed as a replacement for the 446 series in the CIVIS services.
The 446 series trains can serve in two composition: a single composition of three cars (called tren corto or short train) and a double composition of six cars (called tren largo or long train) As the double composition is the most usual, when a service is operated by a single composition it is announced previously.
Tickets
Cercanias is part of the Madrid Regional Transport Consortium (Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid) and follows its zoning system, based in concentric zones around Madrid. The price of the trips inside the network depends of the number of zones crossed.Prices of one single trip ticket
Ticket (admission)
A ticket is a voucher that indicates that one has paid for admission to an event or establishment such as a theatre, movie theater, amusement park, zoo, museum, concert, or other attraction, or permission to travel on a vehicle such as an airliner, train, bus, or boat, typically because one has...
, in euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
as of March 2011:
| Zones | 1 or 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Green |
| Price | 1.30 | 1.45 | 2.05 | 2.65 | 3.20 | 4.20 | 5.90 |
There is also the bonotren, that allows ten trips (prices range from €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
5.65 to 26.20) and the abono mensual that allows two trips a day during a natural month (prices range from €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
20.00 to 70.00) The abono mensual shall not be confused with the Abono Transportes, which allows the use of all the transport network, not only trains.
CIVIS
CIVIS is a special service which operates on some lines: first on C-10 and C-3, and later on C-2. CIVIS serves certain stations only and thus provides faster through service.Development plans
As RENFERENFE
Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...
is (at the moment) a constituent of the Spanish Ministry of Infrastructure, and national infrastructure development projects during the last ten years have focused on the development of the Spanish high speed
AVE
Alta Velocidad Española is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . The name is literally translated from Spanish as "Spanish High Speed", but also a play on the word , meaning "bird".AVE trains run on a network of...
network, funding for new lines has been scarce and growth has been slow (in comparison with the rocket-paced growth of the Madrid Metro
Madrid Metro
The Madrid Metro is a metro system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the sixth longest metro in the world though Madrid is approximately the fiftieth most populous metropolitan area in the world...
). From 2004 on, construction has begun on a second central line to link Atocha and Chamartín
Chamartín
Chamartín is an administrative district of Madrid, Spain and consists of the following neighborhoods: El Viso, Prosperidad, Ciudad Jardín, Hispanoamérica, Nueva España, and Pza...
. This project is intended to relieve the heavy traffic in the old tunnel (built during the 1930s and 1940s, when materials were scarce and poor) but it has received heavy criticism as it builds two new stations downtown; one of them in the Sol station of the Metro
Madrid Metro
The Madrid Metro is a metro system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the sixth longest metro in the world though Madrid is approximately the fiftieth most populous metropolitan area in the world...
. Supporters of the project say that the new station will get the citizens closer to the commercial center; critics say that the new station will overwhelm the already crowded Sol station.
As the Cercanías network is the only public transportation system in Madrid which is owned by the Spanish central state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
(in comparison with the Metro
Madrid Metro
The Madrid Metro is a metro system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the sixth longest metro in the world though Madrid is approximately the fiftieth most populous metropolitan area in the world...
and bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
services, owned regionally, municipally and privately) this difference has been exploited politically. A harsh debate between the Madrid regional government (which operates the Metro) and the central government (which operates the Cercanías) about who is responsible for building the line to the new terminal
Airport terminal
An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from aircraft....
of the Barajas Airport delayed the construction of any rail link. The Madrid Metro Line 8 extension to Terminal 4 is slated for opening in May 2007, while the Cercanías link is still not operational as of early 2011.
See also
- Madrid MetroMadrid MetroThe Madrid Metro is a metro system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the sixth longest metro in the world though Madrid is approximately the fiftieth most populous metropolitan area in the world...
- RENFERENFERenfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...
- Commuter rail
- ElektrichkaElektrichkaElektrichka is an informal word for elektropoyezd , a Soviet or post-Soviet regional electrical multiple unit passenger train. Elektrichkas are widespread in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union....
- S-BahnS-BahnS-Bahn refers to an often combined city center and suburban railway system metro in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark...
- RERRERThe RER is a rapid transit system in France serving Paris and its suburbs. The RER is an integration of a modern city-centre underground rail and a pre-existing set of commuter rail lines. It has several connections with the Paris Métro within the city of Paris. Within the city, the RER...
- Transportation in Spain
External links
- Cercanías Madrid (Spanish)