More than 200 tons on wheels slowly advance along the tracks of what will be the future AVE station of La Sagrera. It is the first time that standard gauge railway vehicles circulate inside the high-speed infrastructure, and they do so at different speeds, braking and starting, with one objective: to verify the resistance of the track slab so that AVE trains begin to circulate at the end of the year.
This resistance is tested with trains running and stopped, at various points, in order to monitor the structure and check if the recorded movements are those predicted by the calculations. More than 200 measurement points verify that the structure is stable and maintains its elasticity during the numerous tests required by the station. And it is that, incredible as it may seem, the mass of the high-speed structure does not rest on the ground, but rises above what will be the concourse, the parking lot, and the Rodalies tunnels, through which trains have been circulating since 2020.
Within this complex network of tunnels and levels, connections with the Metro and urban and interurban buses will also be included, forming a station of stations called to become the great multimodal hub of the Catalan capital. The works are progressing with an execution level of between 70 and 75% of what is currently contracted, which excludes the subsequent architectural project of the station. "We have executed almost a billion, at a rate of 100 million annually," detailed the head of construction of the work, Alberto Alcañiz, amidst the noise of the brakes of the vehicles testing the tracks.
The logistics area of the future station will act as a "capacity lung of the railway network", which will make La Sagrera a strategic point also in the operability of trainsThe complexity of the structure requires carrying out these multiple tests on the high-speed tracks, with the focus on overcoming the third major milestone in the construction of La Sagrera: the passage of AVE trains through the interior of the structure. To reach that point and once this first phase of tests has been overcome, Adif will begin the verification of the European railway traffic management and control system, known as ERTMS. The systems are already installed, as are the rest of the elements necessary for circulation,from the catenary to the telecommunications, electrification, signaling and security equipment.
With all these systems prepared, trains will begin to pass through the station after the State Railway Safety Agency gives its approval to the test results. From that moment on, high-speed trains running between Barcelona, Girona and the French border will stop traveling in the open air and will do so under the structure of the future station, which will benefit the residents of the area, who have been looking out for years over a sinkhole that is taking shape.
Thus, trains will begin to pass, not stop, at the station. For them to stop at La Sagrera and for it to become an operational stop, many calendar pages still need to turn. In fact, there is still no scheduled date for the station to become operational as such, as it will depend on the architectural project that is being designed for the future station. It is expected to be ready this year and will allow an estimate of when the station can open to the public, within a building more than a kilometer long that will be covered by what will be the largest park in the city.
In addition to the commissioning of one of the two general tracks through which the AVE will run in the future, four of the ten parking tracks for trains will also come into operation at the end of this year, as an independent space from the general tracks. The forecast is that the entire station structure and its tracks will be completed in 2026, with the two general tracks; another six for trains that end their journey in Barcelona, and ten in the technical area. From 2026, although the architectural work will not yet be finished and the station will not yet be operational for passengers, it will be for its logistical aspect. "It will be decisive for Barcelona to have more capacity," Alcañiz highlighted.
And La Sagrera is a station of stations not only because of its intermodality and interconnection between different transports, but also because of its parking and technical treatment area for trains, where convoys will be cleaned and prepared, from catering to crew management, including the emptying of wastewater. Although these services will not be provided until 2026, this year trains will already be able to park on the four tracks that will open in the station's logistics area. Currently, this logistical management of trains is carried out mainly in Sants, so the opening of these four tracks will free up space and decongest the station.
La Sagrera will be connected to the future high-speed train maintenance workshop that will be located in Sant AndreuThe technical area of La Sagrera will not only increase the capacity of Sants, but will also "improve the railway capacity of all Barcelona."Thus, the logistics area of the future station will act as a "capacity lung for the railway network," which makes La Sagrera a strategic point also in train operability, beyond passenger transport.
The logistical importance of La Sagrera will go further: it will not only accommodate out-of-service trains and their maintenance, but it will also be connected to the future high-speed train maintenance workshop that will be located in Sant Andreu. The proximity of this workshop, which currently already operates as a regional train workshop, will be decisive for the high-speed system at a national level. And it is that trains must undergo revisions every 5,000 kilometers, which translates into every two or three days in the case of the AVE, as detailed by the coordinator of the station's works, Luis Ubalde, who highlights that currently these maintenance workshops are located only in the Madrid area.
Having this workshop a few minutes from La Sagrera will give the city "muscle" in the railway field, according to Ubalde. In this way, La Sagrera advances in its construction as a strategic station beyond passenger transport, with works that currently represent the works with the most investment in Catalonia and the largest ongoing railway station operation at a national level.