Metro de Madrid

MetroSur and Nuevos Ministerios station, two great achievements

In 1999 the Autonomous Community of Madrid began a new Metro de Madrid Expansion Plan which complemented those carried out previously. The new projects, as a whole, represented not only an overall challenge, but also a huge human, technical, social and economic undertaking, with broad future repercussions, designed to benefit all the citizens of this Autonomous Community.

The main milestones of this extension were:

1. Extension of Line 8 from Mar de Cristal to Nuevos Ministerios within which the interchange at Nuevos Ministerios is of particular significance.
2. Expansion of the gauge on Line 10, between Alonso Martínez and Casa de Campo, and extension of the line to Alcorcon.

MetroSur, the most important action during this period.

MetroSur was designed as a new circular line that would cater for one million inhabitants in the municipalities of Alcorcón, Leganés, Fuenlabrada, Móstoles and Getafe. Line 12 comprises a circular line with 40.5 km of tunnel and 28 stations that provides a simultaneous link between these municipalities and the city of Madrid's radials. Its route enhances communications between the different population centres and makes it possible to use this line as an interior Metro service in each municipality, as around 60% of the million inhabitants in the area have a station less than 600 metres from their homes. It was initially forecasted that 100,000 passengers/day would use MetroSur; the first monitoring carried out, recorded on a working day, registered 130,000 passengers/day and rates of 155,000 passengers/day are currently being recorded, with a daily maximum of 168,000 passengers.

MetroSur has six interchanges and a correspondence station that enables convenient and rational use of the five radial connection lines to Madrid (Atocha-Móstoles and Atocha-Fuenlabrada on RENFE's regional Line C5 and Metro de Madrid's Line 10).

MetroSur uses three-carriage trains, linked together, "caterpillar" style, which operative with a current of 1,500 V instead of the 600 V which was the voltage Metro de Madrid habitually used previously. The increased voltage provides better service as well as significant savings in energy consumption, electrical power stations and other concepts.