Works begin to connect the Ferrocarrils of Plaza Espanya and Gràcia

The festivities end, the works begin. Plaza Espanya exchanges the floats and the entourage of the Three Wise Men that trod its asphalt just a few days ago for workers and machinery. With a commission: to boost one of the great future infrastructures for Barcelona, its surroundings and beyond. The works will allow connecting the Llobregat-Anoia lines with those of Vallès of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC), passing through the Catalan capital and in a connection that will be made in a journey of less than ten minutes.

The start of the works to extend the L8 of FGC comes after previous works that have included the diversion of water, electricity, gas and sanitation services, and which have had a cost of about 6.5 million. Now the railway work will begin, which includes a four-kilometer tunnel, three new stations and the renovation of two existing ones. Next stop: 2029, if the forecast of the Department of Territory that the works will last 58 months is met. After these almost five years of civil work, it will still be necessary to install essential elements such as tracks and catenaries.

The excavation of the tunnel and the railway works have a budget of 300 million euros. To this figure is added the investment of the service diversion tasks and other projects linked to the work, which will entail a global investment of about 412 million euros. The work will bring municipalities of Baix Llobregat, Anoia and Bages closer to cities of Vallès and vice versa: until this new connection is executed, whoever moves from one area to the other must make public transport exchanges, which will now be avoided with the extension of the L8.

The union will benefit 19.5 million users per year, who will be able to save an average of 4.5 minutes on their journeys.

The works will change this distribution. Espanya station will become an interchange for the public transport system. This is because under the monumental fountain in the square, the FGC lines and Metro lines L1 and L3 already converge and intertwine. The works will involve reconfiguring accesses and connections, as well as remodeling the concourse and extending two of the four tracks of the current Ferrocarrils station.

The tunnel will advance to the new FGC Hospital Clínic station, where it will connect with the existing Metro L5 station, expanding the network and synergies between both public transport systems. The station will be located in Urgell, the same street where the Francesc Macià station will open, about four blocks further into the Eixample. Francesc Macià will be a newly built station, designed to facilitate interchange with the tram and various bus lines, both urban and interurban, in an area that until now does not have underground transport.

In turn, Gràcia will see its subsoil modified with a new station under Travessera de Gràcia and Plaza Gal·la Placídia. Its concourse will provide access to both L8 and the current FGC Vallès line, in a connection that will be made by high-capacity elevators. And how will the tunnel boring machine descend into the subsoil? From the shaft that will be built on Gran Via between Llançà and Vilamarí streets, one block from Plaza Espanya.

The magnitude of the works will be accompanied by other tasks, such as the architectural projects of the stations and, no less important, an arduous inspection task. Before the tunnel drilling work begins, a campaign of inspections of more than 13,500 homes, premises, and garages will be carried out. The campaign will be promoted with the aim of faithfully documenting their condition before the excavation work and any eventual tremors that may occur.

Affectations on streets and parks

The subsoil will not be the only one affected by these complex and prolonged works. The works will entail the partial occupation of surface areas, progressively and over the next few months. Plaça d'Espanya, Francesc Macià, and Gal·la Placídia, and Urgell street with Consell de Cent, Rosselló, and Buenos Aires are the first points where workers and machinery will be seen, although timidly. And it is that in this first phase, the main tasks will consist of works such as site implementations and ground soundings, which will have little impact on mobility.

The intensity of the works will increase in summer, with a clear epicenter: Parc Joan Miró. Close to Plaça d'Espanya, it has been the chosen point to remove the earth expelled by the tunnel boring machine as it makes its way under the city. The tunnel boring machine's logistics area will finally occupy 12% of the park's surface for about three years. Thus, the works will disable 5,300 square meters of the 45,000 of this green lung of the Eixample. The initial forecast was to occupy a third of the park, something that motivated neighborhood complaints and a negotiation that has led to this modification, after studying other possible locations that have been discarded by Territori.

Parc de Joan Miró has been the chosen point to remove the earth expelled by the tunnel boring machine, in a logistics area with less surface area than initially planned

Thus, the works of two major infrastructures that will be key for Barcelona, its metropolis and its interconnection, will run in parallel. In particular, the extension of FGC's L8 will play a vital role, opening up new possibilities for intermodality of the system, as the new stations will facilitate exchanges with L5, the tram and other FGC lines and buses.

The expansion and interconnection of the Llobregat-Anoia and Vallès lines will allow an annual saving of nearly 2,700 tons of CO2. At the same time, it will benefit 19.5 million users per year, who will be able to save an average of 4.5 minutes on their journeys. All aboard different means of transport, with the same destination: a metropolitan Barcelona more connected with an extensive public transport network that leads it towards more sustainable mobility.