The Community of Madrid increases by 15% the number of visits to Metro's historical sites in the first half of the year

July 14 2024

Today, Councillor Rodrigo visited the Engine Shed to mark the centenary of its commissioning. A total of 65,000 people visited the museums of the metropolitan company, with the Chamberí Ghost Station being the most outstanding with 25,000. The underground has handed out nearly 8,000 Passports to passengers who have completed the itinerary of all its exhibition areas since 2022. These sites can be visited free of charge at weekends by appointment, provided you have a transport ticket.

The Community of Madrid has increased the number of visitors to Metro's historical and artistic spaces by 15% since last January. Thus, the museums of the metropolitan company have received a total of 65,000 people, with the Chamberí Ghost Station being the public's favourite with 25,000.

Today, the Regional Minister of Housing, Transport and Infrastructure, Jorge Rodrigo, presented this report after a tour of the Nave de Motores de Pacífico, a former electrical substation designed by the architect Antonio Palacios, which is now 100 years old and is part of the underground's museum offer.

Specifically, this emblem of industrial design, which was used to generate and transform the energy used to run the trains, was visited by around 11,000 people in the first half of 2024.

This space is one of the five museums that Metro de Madrid has: "places that have been consolidated, year after year, as part of the region's cultural offer, a reflection of the importance that the underground has had in the lives of the people of Madrid since its inauguration in 1919", recalled Rodrigo.

In addition to the Nave de Motores and the Ghost Station, the underground has important sites such as the exhibition of classic trains at Chamartín, which was visited by almost 21,000 people in the first half of the year, the Caños del Peral in Ópera, with 7,700, and the old Pacífico hall, with 1,098 visits. These museums, which have already been visited by more than 1.5 million tourists since their opening in 2008, can be visited free of charge on weekends by appointment, with only a transport ticket required for entry.

THE MUSEUM PASSPORT

Another of the attractions of these spaces is that you can get a reward if you complete the whole route. This is possible by means of the Museum Passport with which you can visit, in addition to these places, the Gran Vía exhibition, the hall of Tirso de Molina and the Carpetana Palaeontological Centre. Once completed and stamped, holders of the document can go to the Metro shops - in Sol and Plaza de Castilla - to get a special gift.

This project has served to increase the interest of locals and tourists and to relaunch visits to these priceless sites. Since the initiative was launched in February 2022, almost 8,000 passports have already been distributed and 1,899 users have received their prize after completing the route.