METRO BILBAO

'Metro Bilbao' is a metro system serving the city of Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain) and its metropolitan area (Greater Bilbao).
It has a metric gauge.

Contents

History

Precedents

Construction

Line 1

Line 2

Extension plans

Design

Lines

Network Map

Operation

Ridership

Trains

External links

See also

History

Precedents

The idea of building a metro system in the city of Bilbao is an old one. In the 1920s the city's council prepared a project to build a metro system in the neighbourhoods of Abando and San Frantzisko. Soon after the economic crises and the Spanish Civil War put a definitive end to the project.
In 1971 the government of Biscay, the Bilbao City Council and the Commerce Bureau created a commission to evaluate the transportation needs of Greater Bilbao. In 1976, five years later, the ''Biscay Transport Consortium''(CTB, see Creditrans) was created. In that same year two proposals were created to start metro service in 1985, the first of them is almost identical to the current network.
A year later a project was created to build the metro, unfortunately lots of allegations were made against it and misunderstanding among different institutions put an end to it.
In 1985 the construction plans were altered and a new project was created. Finally in 1987 the Basque Government approved the plan to build and finance the Bilbao Metro.

Construction

The contract for the ''underground metro system in Bilbao'', Spain was awarded to the architects Sir Norman Foster and partners in 1988 following an open competition as a metro system was deemed to be the best way to improve congestion problems in the evolving and regenerating city.
The same year the first underground station was opened in Erandio, on the existing Bilbao-Plentzia railway. In 1989 construction works began in the city center, where the main Moyúa square was closed to pedestrians until 1997. The works were especially complicated in the neighbourhoods of Deusto and San Inazio, where the cut and cover tunnel excavation damaged some buildings and caused noise and severe traffic disruptions. This method of excavation contrasted with the tunnel-boring machines used elsewhere in the city.

Line 1

The first part of line one opened on 11 November 1995, with 23 stations between Casco Viejo and Plentzia.
The out-of-Bilbao tracks were previously part of ''Eusko Trenbideak / Ferrocarriles Vascos'' (EuskoTren) and earlier of FEVE.
By July 5 1997, the total number of stations reached 27 as Santutxu, Basarrate and Bolueta joined Gobela opened the previous year.

Line 2

The first line, operating to the north of the River Nervión was later to be added to with a second line, operating to the south. Splitting from the original line at San Inazio, it currently runs to Portugalete with construction further to the west currently underway. The original five stations (Gurutzeta-Cruces, Ansio, Barakaldo, Bagatza and Urbinaga) were opened on 13 April 2002. The furthest eastern point is now Etxebarri station, opened along with Sestao on 8 January 2005. Line 2 was enlarged with two new stations in Portugalete that were opened in 20 January 2007. It competes with the lucrative pre-existing Renfe line from Bilbao to Santurtzi.

Extension plans

Line 2 will reach Santurtzi by 2009 with three new stations and Basauri, at the other extreme of the network, will be served by two new stations by 2010. At this point the original plan for the metro will be complete, the network will have 41 stations and 44.5 km (27.81 miles).
No further plans have been made for the metro, there have been talks about a third line that would serve only the city of Bilbao, from Rekalde to Otxarkoaga in a south to north layout that would serve neighbourhoods that are currently too far from the metro. These plans are currently subject to political debate, but seem to have been rejected to favour an extension of the EuskoTran network inside the city.
A new airport rail connection is being considered, that would also link the eastern neighbourhoods of Bilbao with the metro, but this will not be a third metro line instead forming a part of the EuskoTren system.

Design

Access to the metro is provided by 'fosteritos', glass structures affectionately named after the architect. These modern-looking tunnels stand attractive alongside the modern and innovative interior of the stations.
Large caverns of a 160m² cross section were dug for stations, creating large open spaces, as opposed to the traditional sets of linked tunnels. For example the ticket line is in the same space as the trains, for this purpose steel structures called 'mezzanines' have been built over the tracks. Trains are fully accessible by lifts and escalators. Materials such as steel and concrete have been used throughout.

Sarriko station won the 1998 Brunel Award for Railway Design. It is noticeably different from the rest of the stations in the network: in place of the standard 'fosterito', a vast glazed atrium pours natural light into the entire station, and the long, unbroken escalator ride to the ticket hall from street level gives a dramatic sense of character to the station.
Away from the main structures, the design company Akaba created the seating systems for the Metro, which subsequently won the Spanish National Industrial Design Prize from the Ministry of Science and Technology in November 2000. A distinctive signage system was created by Otl Aicher, which are responsible for the eye-catching masts bearing the Metro logo. The principal colours used are of white lettering on a red background for key information and black lettering for secondary details.

Lines

Metro Bilbao consists of the following lines:  (see also Metro Bilbao Stations)

Line		Length	Stations
1	'Etxebarri' – 'Plentzia'	29.4km (18.4 miles)	28
2	'Etxebarri – Portugalete'	8.8km (5.5 miles) ( ★ )	8 ( ★ )
	'TOTAL'	'38.2km (23.9 miles)'	'36'

(
★ ) Line 2 numbers refer only to the line 2 branch (San Inazio-Portugalete), from Etxebarri to San Inazio Lines 1 and 2 share tracks and stations.

Network Map

★ Metro Bilbao Stations

Operation

The network is divided into three fare zones:

★ 'Zone A', central Bilbao, from Bolueta to San Inazio.

★ 'Zone B', from San Inazio to Berango (Line 1) and Portugalete (Line 2); Etxebarri station (Lines 1/2).

★ 'Zone C', from Berango to Plentzia (Line 1).
The ticket system is closed, tickets must be validated on entering and exiting the stations. There are single tickets, ten trip tickets and monthly passes with discounts for senior and junior citizens.

The most popular ticket is the Creditrans travelcard, that offers discounts when traveling around Bilbao in the Bilbobus and BizkaiBus buses, the tramway and FEVE trains, among other means of transport in the metropolitan area.
The system works from 6 AM to 11 PM on workdays and Sundays and to 1:30 AM on Fridays. There is an all night service on Saturday nights, with trains every half hour.
Service frequencies during workdays are every 2 minutes in zone A, every 5 minutes in zone B and every 20 minutes in zone C. These frequencies decrease to 5 minutes in zone A and 10 minutes in zone B during off peak hours and Sundays or bank holidays.

Ridership

In 2006 Metro Bilbao was used by almost 80 million people. Since it serves directly about 680,000 people, each citizen travels about 115 times a year. Ridership increases steadily every year, there are some dramatic increases in 1998 and 2002 due to enlargement of the network, ridership is expected to reach 100 million people per year once the network is completed.

Trains

The Metro Bilbao uses presently train types of the series UT-500 and UT-550, built by CAF. The company uses 24 trains of the first series and thirteen of the second. All vehicles are maintained and parked in Sopelana and Ariz.
The first sixteen vehicles which carry the numbers UT 501 to 516 were delivered by CAF and ABB in November 1995. Inside each car 2+2 seats are arranged respectively vis-à-vis in the colors of the Corporate design – red and grey –. A set of four cars is altogether 72.12 meters long, 3.85 meters high and 2.80 meters wide. That's specially wide for a train that uses narrow gauge, for example vehicles of the large profile Berlin metro are only 2.65 meters wide, and they use the European normal gauge of 1435 millimeters.
The trains use, like the commuter railroads in the region, the overhead tension of 1500 volts and possess altogether sixteen motors of respectively 180 kilowatts; together that yields 2880 kilowatts per train unit. The maximum speed is 50 mph (80 km/h). A train can carry 712 persons. This statement is based upon 144 seats and 568 standing on the average six persons per square meter.
The number of trains was increased after a renewed order in 1996 to a total of 24 trains with the numbers UT 517 until 524. For the higher requirement in the newly constructed line 2, thirteen new trains were ordered to the firms CAF and Adtranz (now mother company of ABB) and they were delivered in October 2001. The last delivery contained now the new trains of the series UT-550. This series differs from its predecessor in a higher efficiency, needed to climb the deep line 2 tunnel under the river, and an improved air-conditioning.
Since 1998 the ''ATP'' system is used (automatic train protection), as well as ''ATO'' (automatic train operation) installed. The latter implies that the train drivers must press solely a button, and the remainder of the train operation is done through the computer. This is to be seen as an initial stage for a system gone completely controlled by the computer

External links

★ Metro Bilbao website

★ Metro Bilbao - urbanrail.net

★ Metro Bits - Metro Bilbao photo page

See also

★ Barcelona Metro

★ Madrid Metro

★ Valencia Metro

★ List of metro systems