New suburbs, new extensions: the future of Barcelona metro

Barcelona’s metro network is 100 years old, taking its first journey on December 30, 1924. 

The transport authority of the Catalan capital is already looking towards the next 100 years, and looking at how it can provide services for as many people as possible. As the city grows outward, the metro looks to grow with it. 

Plenty of new stations are coming to the Barcelona metro network. By 2040, it’s expected that there will be more than 200 stations running through more than 200km of rail network, a significant increase on the current 165 stations running on 125km of tracks. 

Metro line expansion plans

L1 will be extending both north into Badalona and south into el Prat.

In Badalona, the L1 is planned to continue on from Fondo, the current end of the line, into Montigalà Centre, Lloreda St. Crist, Bufalà, Badalona Pompeu Fabra, and Badalona, the last of which will act as a connection with Rodalies trains. 

It’s expected that these new northern stations will be open by around 2030. Other lines, however, are not projected to be open until at least 2040.

The L2 is getting an extension through Montjuïc into the Zona Franca industrial estate. New stations will connect Sant Antoni to the MNAC art museum and the Montjuïc mountain, ultimately connecting with the L9 Sud at Parc Logístic. From there, the L2 will follow the path of the L9 all the way to Barcelona airport, giving the city new public transport connections to the facility. 

Earlier in 2024, it was announced that Hospital Clinic will move to the bottom of Diagonal Avenue by 2035. This news will mean that the L3 metro line will extend to Esplugues to reach the new hospital site. The extension would also link to Sant Joan de Déu hospital, which is located near the new Clínic site, as well as further extensions to link Zona Universitària with the town of Sant Feliu de Llobregat, with new stations in Esplugues and Sant Joan Despí.

On the other end of L3, the transport authority’s master plan also foresees a new stop on the Besòs side to connect Trinitat Vella and Trinitat Nova. 

The L4 will grow from La Pau, the current end fo the line, into La Sagrera, the soon-to-be mega transport hub in Sant Andreu. Santander, La Sagrera-TAV, and La Sagrera will be the new stations after that extension is complete. 

L9 and L10 are currently open only at either end of the city – the far north traunch and the far south piece. Both lines have different endpoints, but they converge at a certain stop; Bon Pastor in the case of the north lines, Can Tries Gornal for the southern part. 

In the coming years, the north and south tranches will connect through 50km of rail line across the city, with plenty of new stations to open. From south to north, the new stations of the L9 and L10 will connect from Collblanc to Camp Nou, Zona Universitària (already exists), Campus Nord, Manuel Girona, Prat de la Riba, Sarrià (already exists as L6 FGC station), Mandri, El Putxet (already exists as L7 FGC station), Lesseps (already exists), Muntanya, Sanllehy, Guinardó | Hospital Sant Pau (already exists), and Maragall (already exists), before joining the currently existing L9 and L10 Nord lines at La Sagrera. 

The L10 Sud in the Zona Franca currently connects Collblanc with the ZAL – Riu Vell stop. According to current plans, this line will extend further south and end at the Pratenc station, located at Barcelona-El Prat airport.