The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, announced this Tuesday that the new Strategic Plan of the Madrid Metro will contemplate the automatic driving of suburban lines 6 and 8, which will allow “putting a train into circulation every two minutes, saving energy, increase flexibility and reduce trip duration.”
This is how Díaz Ayuso spoke during his visit to the expansion works on Metro line 3 that will link the Villaverde Alto and El Casar stations, whose work is 65% completed, as the president was able to verify.
Regarding the announcement of this automatic driving, he assured: “It is the future and that future has arrived in Madrid.” This technique multiplies the regularity of trips by five, saves energy by making acceleration and driving more homogeneous, and facilitates a quick response to demand peaks. It will also reduce waiting times on platforms and increase the capacity of passengers per hour.
The first changes towards this automation will be carried out on line 6, the most frequented in the entire network, with 110 million users in 2023, an average on a working day of 618,000 people. “Due to its strategic importance, there are 28 stations and 23 kilometers, we believe it is the ideal one to start the change towards automatic driving,” Ayuso highlighted.
For its part, the 8 connects the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas International Airport with the center of the capital. This process entails the creation of jobs, which do not exist right now, “so all workers will be essential to carry out this modernization and they will be trained for this purpose,” added the president.
A large number of metropolitan railways of international relevance have already incorporated this technology, as is the case in cities such as London, Paris, Hamburg, Istanbul or Budapest, Díaz Ayuso recalled.
Díaz Ayuso witnessed this Tuesday the moment in which the extension works on the tunnel on Metro line 3 towards Villaverde Alto coincided with those in Getafe. This union means that 2.2 kilometers have already been drilled and 65% of the work has been completed.
The objective of the regional government with this project is to provide MetroSur (line 12) with a second link with the capital, which “will directly benefit more than one million users in the municipalities of Getafe, Leganés, Móstoles and Alcorcón, who will reach Puerta del Sol in half an hour, and about 47,000 residents of the Villaverde Alto neighborhood.”
This infrastructure will become a nerve center for public transport modal exchange for citizens who will be able to connect from El Casar with line 3, Cercanías Renfe, interurban buses 447, 448, 488 and N805, and two urban buses, as well as access a surface car park for more than 500 spaces equipped with a charging area for electric vehicles. Its investment, which has European Next Generation funds, is 110 million euros.
Throughout this term, Metro de Madrid will undergo a significant expansion and modernization. On the one hand, it will purchase 80 new trains, which will arrive between 2026 and 2029.
In addition to this action that affects MetroSur, work is also being done on the first phase of development of line 11, from Plaza Elíptica to Conde de Casal which, when completed, will form a new axis from Valdebebas in the Northeast, to Cuatro Vientos, to the southwest.
Likewise, next year work will begin to expand Line 5 to provide the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas International Airport with a new direct connection between the city center and the main airport infrastructure in Spain.
The project has a budget from the regional Executive of 209 million euros and will improve the mobility and accessibility of travelers, linking the Alameda de Osuna stop with the future terminal and with T1, T2 and T3 of the 8, which continues to T4. Added to these initiatives is the construction of new line 13 that will start in Chamartín to serve the Madrid Nuevo Norte development.
