Line 10 of the

Madrid Metro The Madrid Metro (Spanish: ''Metro de Madrid'') is a rapid transit system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the 14th longest rapid transit system in the world, with a total length of . Its growth between 1995 and 200 ...

is a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

line in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

that is actually the product of two formerly separate lines. Today the route begins at (San Sebastián de los Reyes) and ends at (Alcorcón). Passengers must transfer at between the "line 10A" segment, which covers the portion of the route south of the station, and "line 10B," which extends north to Hospital Infanta Sofía. Line 10 provides access to the

Cuatro Torres Business Area The Cuatro Torres Business Area (CTBA), also known as the ''Área de Negocios de las Cuatro Torres'' ( Spanish for "Four Towers Business Area"), is a business district located in the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, Spain, on the former Ciudad D ...

at station, the

AZCA AZCA, an acronym for ''Asociación Mixta de Compensación de la Manzana A de la Zona Comercial de la Avenida del Generalísimo'' ("Mixed Association for Compensation of the A Block of the Commercial Area of the Avenue of the Generalisimo", now ca ...

at , as well as the Chamartín Railway station,

Plaza de Castilla The Plaza de Castilla (, ) is a square in the north of Madrid, Spain. Location It is located in the north of the city and is bisected by Paseo de la Castellana, one of the main thoroughfares of the capital, almost at its end. It lies between th ...

, Plaza de España, Principe Pío and Casa de Campo. The line links the towns of

Alcobendas Alcobendas () is a municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. It forms an urban continuum with the neighbouring municipality of San Sebastián de los Reyes. The affluent residential area of La Moraleja lies within the municipal l ...

and San Sebastián de los Reyes with Madrid.

History

Origins

The line is the product of two lines, the former Line 8 from to Nuevos Ministerios and the former Suburbano (also known as Line S) from to , this section being named line 10 in the 1980s, and formerly operated by

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 ...

until the management of Line S was transferred to the

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...

. In the 1990s, Madrid planned for these two lines to become one, but there was a problem in that Line 8 used wider train sets than Line S. As a remedy, Madrid decided to rebuild the Suburbano section to fit the large-profile rolling stock, a project that took five years to complete. This project removed all island platforms, widened tunnels, and modernized stations. The section between Alonso Martinez and Nuevos Ministerios was completely built, with an intermediate station at . While this project was in progress the line was extended from the new Casa de Campo station to . The former section between Casa de Campo and Aluche was transferred to Line 5, which now terminates at Casa de Campo.

Southern extension

On 11 April 2003, Line 10 was extended to where it meets Line 12 (also known as Metro-Sur). The last two stations on this extension are in fact outside Madrid and in the town of Alcorcón. is also unique to this line and it is one of the few stations to have an island platform instead of side platforms. On 22 December 2006, was opened as an

infill station An infill station (sometimes in-fill station) is a train station built on an existing passenger rail, rapid transit, or light rail line to address demand in a location between existing stations. Such stations take advantage of existing train ser ...

between and . This station was opened to serve the nearby Aircraft Museum and is named after it. On 26 April 2007, the line was extended north from Fuencarral to Hospital del Norte (Hospital Infanta Sofía as of August 2008). The station after Fuencarral, is a transfer station between the regular line ("line 10A") and the northern extension or otherwise known as MetroNorte("line 10B"); the segment from Tres Olivos to Hospital Infanta Sofía.

Future

Proposed plans for Line 10 include the building of a new station between Colonia Jardín and Aviación Española called . Also there are plans to extend the line from Puerta del Sur to and further onto the new Xanadu Shopping Centre. However, this is unlikely because Metro Sur already reaches Mostoles from Puerta Del Sur, but via .

Stations

Rolling stock

Line 10A uses 6-car trains of class 7000, and line 10B uses 3 car trains of class 9000. Some Line 10 units are sometimes used for Line 7 service.

References

External links

Madrid Metro
(official website)
Schematic map of the Metro network – from the official site

* ttp://www.cityrailtransit.com/maps/madrid_map.htm Network map (real-distance)
Madrid Metro Map
{{Madrid Metro 10 Railway lines opened in 1961 1961 establishments in Spain