Passengers leaving a Metro station under the sign L5 Aluche – Canillejas

Metro connection to Canillejas celebrates its 45th anniversary

Forty-five years ago, on 18 January 1980, Metro arrived in Canillejas. L5, which had been inaugurated 10 years earlier linking a newly built section from Ventas to Callao with the old L2, became 3 kilometres longer.

The new section had three new stations from Ciudad Lineal: Suanzes, Torre Arias and Canillejas and L5 thus became just over 18 kilometres long and had 26 stations, the longest in the network, as it also included the underground line from Carabanchel to Aluche:

1980 Metro and Underground Map

This brought Metro to the district of Canillejas, which had been annexed to the capital three decades earlier, in 1950, together with the towns of Chamartín de la Rosa, Aravaca, Canillas, Hortaleza, Barajas, El Pardo, Vallecas, Fuencarral and Vicálvaro.

Six years earlier, in 1974, the neighbourhood had already opened the depots that bear its name, coinciding with the inauguration of the Las Musas-Pueblo Nuevo section of L7. Its entry into service had also meant the incorporation into the network of the 5000 trains, with a wide gauge, although the 2000 trains continued to run on L5, as it had a narrow gauge.

2000 Train in a Metro station

Canillejas thus became the head of the line, occupying the place Ciudad Lineal, inaugurated in 1964, had had until then. And so it continued until the 21st century, specifically in 2006, when the Canillejas – Alameda de Osuna section came into service.

L5 currently has just over 23 kilometres and 32 stations and in 2025, it will begin to grow a little more with the start of extension works to Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport, where it will connect with L8.