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Barcelona Tunnels
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edwin_m
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I travelled down the coast from the French border to Valencia in 1999 on a hauled Talgo set that called at Sants, including passing through tunnels before and after. Last year I hopped on a "Media Distancia" EMU from Sants down to Franca, not sure if that fits your definition of Intercity but it was rather 442-like. The high speed service from Madrid must go through some of the tunnels as well.
I see . I travelled from Sants to Madrid so the AVE s def use tunnels west of sants .
edwin_m
Veteran Member
Just checked and my photos from Franca include several locos on Talgo sets, which must have come through at least one tunnel to get there although I don't know what services they operate.
There's two sets of tunnels across Barcelona.
One at Iberian gauge, 1668mm, for RENFE services.
The other at standard gauge, for AVE and TGV services. This runs from Sants via Sagrera, and is officially part of the Perpignan- Barcelona high speed line. This only opened in 2013.
One at Iberian gauge, 1668mm, for RENFE services.
The other at standard gauge, for AVE and TGV services. This runs from Sants via Sagrera, and is officially part of the Perpignan- Barcelona high speed line. This only opened in 2013.
Come to think of it, so do mine! I'd completely overlooked Franca as a terminus from the South. ERT says the Seville Talgo and several Euromed services use it, and they must use the older tunnels. Sorry.
Something i was surprised about too , i thought it was for services to the north and towards france.
That AVE to Madrid is very quick even with a stop at Zaragoza .
edwin_m
Veteran Member
I think with the various underground connections trains can now get there from just about anywhere (but it's broad gauge only). When I visited about lunchtime it was virtually deserted of passengers, but with plenty of trains sitting around, and the surrounding area doesn't look like a prime destination. I suspect it's essentially a convenient place to park trains during long turnaround times.
When i visted the other week franca was very quiet but still a few trains in the platforms , franca is closer to the centre.
As has been mentioned, there are three main tunnels that cross Barcelona, from the coast inland:
- Sants - Pl Catalunya - Arc de Triomf - Sant Andreu Arenal -or- Clot Aragó (Iberian gauge)
- Sants - Pg Gràcia - Clot Aragó -or- Estació de França (Iberian gauge)
- Sants - Sagrera (standard gauge)
The first of these is only used by local trains (and three regional trains a day to Lleida via Manresa), all of which are EMUs.
The last one is only used by high speed sets, all of which are EMUs (AVE 103s) or SNCF sets.
The middle one links with the Iberian gauge mainlines both north (via Granollers) and south (via Vilanova) of Barcelona and is the only one you'll see loco hauled stock on. The only real loco-hauled stock these days are the Talgos to Seville and Murcia (via Valencia) and the hotel trains to Galicia (and Granada, although this doesn't run at the moment as the lines in Granada are being re-built for AVEs), although only the Seville Talgo runs in service between Estació de França and Sants. There are also Euromed sets running in service, these are Talgo class 130s which are loco hauled but form fixed sets, some of which run in service between Estació de França and Sants.
Until the high speed line between Barcelona and Perpignan opened there was much more (trains from Montpellier to Cartagena, a sleeper from Portbou to Madrid) but since around 2015 there haven't been any non-high speed intercity services crossing Barcelona (as opposed to terminating or starting in the city and running through the tunnels).
There are some interesting pictures at Sants and other stations at http://www.trenscat.com/renfe/barcelonasants_ct.html, especially towards the bottom. That site is also full of information about the network and the trains that run on it.
- Sants - Pl Catalunya - Arc de Triomf - Sant Andreu Arenal -or- Clot Aragó (Iberian gauge)
- Sants - Pg Gràcia - Clot Aragó -or- Estació de França (Iberian gauge)
- Sants - Sagrera (standard gauge)
The first of these is only used by local trains (and three regional trains a day to Lleida via Manresa), all of which are EMUs.
The last one is only used by high speed sets, all of which are EMUs (AVE 103s) or SNCF sets.
The middle one links with the Iberian gauge mainlines both north (via Granollers) and south (via Vilanova) of Barcelona and is the only one you'll see loco hauled stock on. The only real loco-hauled stock these days are the Talgos to Seville and Murcia (via Valencia) and the hotel trains to Galicia (and Granada, although this doesn't run at the moment as the lines in Granada are being re-built for AVEs), although only the Seville Talgo runs in service between Estació de França and Sants. There are also Euromed sets running in service, these are Talgo class 130s which are loco hauled but form fixed sets, some of which run in service between Estació de França and Sants.
Until the high speed line between Barcelona and Perpignan opened there was much more (trains from Montpellier to Cartagena, a sleeper from Portbou to Madrid) but since around 2015 there haven't been any non-high speed intercity services crossing Barcelona (as opposed to terminating or starting in the city and running through the tunnels).
There are some interesting pictures at Sants and other stations at http://www.trenscat.com/renfe/barcelonasants_ct.html, especially towards the bottom. That site is also full of information about the network and the trains that run on it.
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Thanks for your imformative reply and link
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