Areeta is an underground station on line 1 of the

Bilbao metro The Bilbao metro (, ) is a rapid transit system serving the city of Bilbao and the region of Greater Bilbao. Lines 1 and 2 have a "Y" shape, as they transit both banks of the river Nervión, Ibaizabal and then combine to form one line that ends ...

. It is located in the neighborhood of Areeta, in the municipality of

Getxo Getxo () (Spanish: ''Guecho'') is a town located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, in Spain. It is part of Greater Bilbao, and has 75,430 inhabitants (2023). Getxo ...

. The station opened as part of the metro on 11 November 1995, replacing an older overground station.

History

The station, then known as ''Las Arenas'', first opened to the public in 1887 as the western terminus of the Bilbao-Las Arenas railway. It was an at-grade station, covered by a large

train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...

. The station was originally built as a ''cul-de-sac'', but after the extension of the line to Plentzia in 1893, it was renovated as trains continued along the coast past the station. The station had two side platforms and was one of the most important train stations of the entire railway. Starting in 1947, the narrow-gauge railway companies that operated within the

Bilbao metropolitan area The Bilbao Metropolitan Area (in Basque language, Basque: ''Bilbo Handia'', in Spanish language, Spanish: ''Área metropolitana de Bilbao'') is the metropolitan area or continuous urban area based around the city of Bilbao, in the Basque Country ...

were merged to become '' Ferrocarriles y Transportes Suburbanos'', shortened FTS and the first precedent of today's

. In 1977, the FTS network was transferred to the public company

FEVE Renfe Cercanías AM, formerly known as Renfe Feve, is a division of state-owned Spanish railway company Renfe Operadora. It operates most of Spain's of metre-gauge railway. This division of Renfe was previously a stand-alone company named F ...

and in 1982 to the recently created Basque Railways. In the 1980s it was decided the station, just like most of the former railway line, would be integrated into line 1 of the metro, with the new station opening underground now as part of the metro network on 11 November 1995. The new underground station was designed by English architect

Norman Foster Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. Hi ...

. Concurrently, it was renamed ''Areeta'', following the

Basque language Basque ( ; ) is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque ...

orthographic rules and in replacement of the former ''Las Arenas'' name, which was in Spanish.

Station layout

It is an underground station with a single island platform.

Access

* 20px 20px 1, Langileria street * 20px 1, Gabriel Aresti street * 20px 20px Station's interior

Services

The station is served by line 1 from

Etxebarri Etxebarri, Saint Stephen, Doneztebeko Elizatea () is a town and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Autonomous Basque Community, in the North of Spain. Since 13 J ...

to Plentzia. The station is also served by regional Bizkaibus bus services.

Future

In 2022, it was announced that a tunnel will connect both banks of the Ibaizabal-Nervión estuary in 2028, incorporating a shuttle train that will connect the Areeta and

Sestao Sestao is a town and municipality of 27,296 inhabitants located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is in the left bank of the Estuary of Bilbao and part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. Se ...

( Line 2) stations in four minutes. Work on the tunnel is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2024, with a planned investment of 450 million euros.

References

External links

* {{Metro Bilbao line, line1=yes Line 1 (Bilbao metro) stations Railway stations in Spain opened in 1887 Railway stations in Spain opened in 1995 1995 establishments in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Getxo