The Catalan Government bids on plan to extend Barcelona metro line to Baix Llobregat county

Sant Joan Despí (ACN).- With only bus and tramway lines, the cities of Esplugues and Sant Just are 2 cities not covered within the Barcelona metropolitan public transport network, despite the fact of being literally stuck to Barcelona. This will change in the next few years. As the result of years of study and 18 allegations, the Catalan Ministry of Public Works has bid on a project which would extend the metro line number 3 that now ends in Zona Universitària to Baix Llobregat county, passing through crowded centres and hospitals such as Sant Joan de Déu, Moisès Broggi and the Catalonia’s Public Television Studios. The extension would include 8 more kilometres of railway and 9 new stops. The Catalan Government has developed some designs for the Sant Feliu area that have been criticised by many parties and city entities.

The projected has been bid on for 12.3 million euros. “In terms of the project, not the construction work, it is the most important project that the Catalan Government has ever bid on as far as roads, trains, tramways and metros,” said the Catalan Secretary for Mobility, Manel Nadal. The business that wins the bid will have a total of 30 months to complete the study before the construction of 8.6 kilometres of railway and 9 metro stations can start. The new metro extension will cross the municipalities of Esplugues, Sant Just Desvern, Sant Joan Despí and Sant Feliu de Llobregat. In these zones there are “centres that have grown recently that host many people,” said the mayor of Sant Joan and president of Metropolitan Transport Entity, Antoni Poveda.

The Catalan Government hopes that work can begin “in 2012 or 2013” with a completion in “2015 or 2016”, said Nadal. He also stated that this plan “is part of the will to change mobility in Baix Llobregat”. The plan has other actions such as connecting Cornellà and Castellfdefels through the Rodalies C3 line and extend the Government’s Ferrocarril lines. These 2 lines will unite the two shores of Llobregat. Currently the Rodalies and Ferrocarril lines run only parallel to the river.

A plan that could be in effect by 2015 and cost 1,274 million euros

Once completed, the Catalan Government calculates that the construction of the metro will last 3 years and cost a total of 1,274 euros. 70% of the new stretch, which will run between Sant Joan de Déu and the Torreblanca Park, between Sant Just and Sant Feliu, will be built with a tunnel boring machine with a diameter of 10.4 metres.