The station of the month: Miguel Hernández, in L1

Let's start at the beginning, its birth. Miguel Hernández station was opened on 7 April 1994, as part of the extension of line 1 to the Palomeras neighbourhood in the district of Vallecas. Two new kilometres and three stations were inaugurated: Buenos Aires, Alto del Arenal and Miguel Hernández.

Work on this new section, which began in July 1990 and required 36 months of work, involved an outlay of 8,700 million pesetas, plus another 4,000 million pesetas for the new trains that were needed. Up until 1999, when the line was extended to Congosto, Miguel Hernández was the head of line 1. Look what the station looked like back then...

It was the year that Metro de Madrid celebrated its 75th anniversary, and the arrival of Metro to these new neighbourhoods of Vallecas was celebrated in style. The opening was attended by many personalities, including the poet's own grandchildren.

Such was the hype that a commemorative ticket for the route was created and, after the inauguration, locals celebrated with brass bands, street theatre and even fireworks.

Two days after the inauguration, the new section was opened to the public. You can see here an information leaflet announcing its opening:

As we said, the station is located in the Palomeras Sureste neighbourhood, under the intersection of Avenida de la Albufera and Avenida de Rafael Alberti. It is a station with a triple platform: two side platforms and a central platform.

It is a fully accessible station with 3 lifts and 4 escalators. In fact,  lifts were installed in this project for the first time, to allow and facilitate the use of the Metro for people with reduced mobility. 

The station has a car park and, next to it, there is an underground depot with an 8-train capacity. An average of around 7,000 passengers pass through here every day and the station recorded 2.1 million entries in all of 2022, impressive.

As you may have guessed, the name of the station refers to the poet Miguel Hernández, who also gives his name to an Avenue (located about 300 metres from the station) and a nearby Library. The whole station is covered with orange plaques with verses from poems by Miguel Hernández, in which there are many references to Madrid.

In addition, the station concourse features a colourful mural by Paola León in which a man, seemingly oblivious to the rush, thinks and reads, while a large central clock marks the hours, while other characters run around, immersed in the hustle and bustle of the big city. This mural, and those of the other stations opened on this section, won a competition among final-year students of the School of Fine Arts.

 So now you know, when you pass through this station, pay attention to every detail!