Plans to bring Madrid Metro Line 1 north are already underway. The Department of Transport of the Community of Madrid has published the informative study with the alternatives to take the metro to Madrid Nuevo Norte, which is where the capital is focusing its efforts on transforming the entire Chamartín station.
Taking L1 to the north has been one of the five options on the table of the regional administration, and at the moment the favorite. The idea is to create three new stations and reorganize the current final section of the line to integrate with L4. We tell you all the details.
What exactly is proposed. The alternative proposes extending L1 from Chamartín–Clara Campoamor about three kilometers to the north, with three new stops that have been nicknamed with provisional names: Business Center, Fuencarral Sur and Fuencarral Norte. The first would cover the office area planned next to Chamartín; The other two would serve the new residential neighborhoods that will be built on the old Castellana roads, and also the residents who already live in Fuencarral.
The preferred option. The Ministry describes it, according to collect 20 Minutes, as “the most favorable option for carrying out this project after analyzing the different functional, environmental, territorial and economic issues.” The other four alternatives were committed to creating an independent driverless line exclusively for Madrid Nuevo Norte, but technicians ruled it out for being less efficient and more expensive in comparison.
Of course, the initial budget of the chosen option is not exactly modest: the study, to which Somos Madrid had access, estimates it at 401 million euros (VAT included).
The change that affects Line 4. This solution has a direct consequence on the current network, since the Bambú and Pinar de Chamartín stations, which today belong to L1, will become part of Line 4. This line, which currently ends in Pinar de Chamartín, will be extended to Chamartín, where it will connect with L1 and L10.
On paper it is a reorganization that aims to benefit everyone, since L4 users will gain direct access to the train station, and L1 will become a continuous axis between the center of Madrid (Sol, Gran Vía, Atocha) and the new northern neighborhood.
How and when it will be built. The works will not be done with a tunnel boring machine. As it is a short section and on land that has not yet been developed, the Belgian method (or classic Madrid method) will be used, which involves excavating from the surface. Just like they count from 20 Minutes, the cut and cover technique will be used for the stations (the same one that is being used in the expansion of L11) and for connections with L4 the German method will be applied. It is projected in two phases:
- First the redistribution of lines 1 and 4.
- Then the extension to Madrid Nuevo Norte.
Work on the first phase is expected to be completed around 2030.
Who will benefit. According to the estimates of demand from the studio itself, the extension will serve an environment with more than 200,000 residents and 140,000 jobs. The Community also estimates that the expansion will generate about 175,000 new daily users for L1.
Where is the project now? With the publication of the five alternativesthe Ministry has opened a 20-day public information period so that citizens, associations and administrations can present allegations from the Transparency Portal of the Community of Madrid. Once the proposals have been studied, the final informative study must be approved, and from there the project would advance.
Along with this, a tender has also been put out to draft the draft the future garageswhich would have a capacity of about 15,000 m² on the surface and 26,000 m² below ground, and also the commission to develop the construction project for the expansion, although for the latter we must first wait for the final study to be approved.
Cover image | Madrid Metro
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