Cercanías Madrid

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Cercanías Madrid is the

History

Until 1989

The first railroad line departing from Madrid (the second in Spain and the third in the

The main Madrid-Zaragoza-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.

The South-Southwestern Area

At the same time, the former rural towns of Alcorcón, 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 wide Iberian 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

In 1989, 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: clockwise from the north, from Madrid to:

1. Cantoblanco [es] (later extended to Colmenar Viejo)
2. Guadalajara
3. Aranjuez
4. Parla
5. Fuenlabrada
6. Móstoles
7. Las Rozas (then returning to Madrid)
8. El Escorial/Cercedilla
9. Cotos [es]

In 1991, the tunnel passing through Madrid linking the C-5 and the C-6 was finished, disbanding the C-6 into a new suburb-to-suburb C-5.^[2]

At the same time, a shift was appreciated in the Metropolitan

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).

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

From 2008 on

In 2008, the opening of the second north-south rail tunnel through Madrid allowed the C-3, from Aranjuez, and the C-4, from Parla, which used to finish at Atocha, to continue their route further to the north, the C-3 to El Escorial, and the C-4 to Alcobendas-San Sebastián de los Reyes or Colmenar Viejo alternatingly, passing through Madrid.

Since 2011 no new lines have been enacted, and the link to the Parque Warner Madrid theme park was closed because of lack of use.^[5] The improvements have consisted of insertion of new stations in the existing lines and further connections to the Madrid Metro, such as the access from the Sol rail station to the Gran Vía Street, opened in 2021.

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-7, and C-10.

suburb-to-suburb lines, passing through Madrid

these lines link two suburbs, but most passengers only go from one of the suburbs to Madrid or vice versa; 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-3, C-4, C-5 and C-8.

intra-city line

Madrid Airport

.

tourist line

C-9, from the village of Cercedilla (terminus of C-8) to the ski resorts of Navacerrada Pass and Cotos. Only runs from December to March.

Cercanías Madrid commuter rail service lines (as of 5 February 2018^[update])

Line		Route	No. of stations	Length	Schedule
		Aeropuerto T4	11	23.6 km 14.1 mi	[1]
		Atocha – Alcalá de Henares – Guadalajara	19	65 km 40.6 mi	[2]
		Atocha – Aranjuez	24	106.5 km 66.3 mi	[3]
		Atocha – Aranjuez
		Atocha – Parla	18	62.2 km 38.1 mi	[4]
		Atocha – Humanes	23	45 km 27.1 mi	[5]
		Atocha – Alcalá de Henares	24	97 km 60.4 mi	[6]
		Atocha – Alcalá de Henares – Guadalajara	32	135 km 83.1 mi	[7]
		Cercedilla – Cotos	3	18.2 km 11.5 mi	[8]
		Aeropuerto T4	21	71.6 km 44.9 mi	[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 vice versa; 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 combined with line C-5.

In 2004 construction was begun on a second central line to link Atocha and Chamartín, to relieve the heavy traffic in the old tunnel (built during the 1930s and 1940s, when materials were scarce and poor). Opening on July 9, 2008, it included a new station at Sol of the Metro where trains stop instead of at Recoletos on the old line. The tunnel is now in use by the C-3 and C-4.

Stations

Operation

Operating times

Rather strangely for such a night-living city as

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 1989 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 from the double deck, they are different from the other series in their almost all-seat configuration. They are mostly used on the C-2/C-8 and the C-1 line. Their maximum speed is 140 km/h and they 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 old 440/440R series in the CIVIS services. In Madrid there are only 465 series.

The 446 and 447 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 on the number of zones crossed.

Prices of one single trip ticket, in euro as of April 2015:^[6]

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 should not be confused with the Abono Transportes, which allows the use of the entire transport network – not just trains.

CIVIS

CIVIS is a special service which operates on some lines: first on C-10 and C-3, and later on C-2. The CIVIS services uses the direct railway line between Chamartín and San Fernando without stopping and thus provides faster through service to San Fernando and stations beyond.

Development plans

As Renfe 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).

As the Cercanías network is the only

See also

• Madrid Metro
• Renfe
• Commuter rail
• Elektrichka
• S-Bahn
• Réseau Express Régional
• Transportation in Spain

References

External links

• Official website

40°25′08″N 3°41′31″W / 40.4189°N 3.6919°W / 40.4189; -3.6919