Services suspended for improvements to the L5 metro line over Easter and in summer
Improvement work on the L5 metro line will see services suspended between the stations of Verdaguer and Virrei Amat from 9 to 18 April. While this work is being carried out, normal services will be running between Cornellà Centre and Diagonal, and between Vilapicina and Vall d’Hebron. Other metro services are to be bolstered and a shuttle bus laid on between the affected stations, to help ensure mobility. A second stage in the summer will also see L5 services suspended between the stations of Congrés and Horta.
Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) is to completely renew some sections of the track on the L5 metro service in 2022, with work involving an investment of 15 million euros. The revamp will help reduce the number of incidents on the line and resolve the issue of vibrations.
The work will also allow for more frequent trains in the near future. In addition, this will be an opportunity to remove the materials detected with asbestos in the Maragall station, as part of the TMB plan to steadily get rid of all asbestos in its infrastructures.
Two stages of service suspensions at Easter and in the summer
Work will be carried out in two stages, the idea being to minimise the impact for users. The first period for suspending services comes at Easter and will allow for tracks to be renewed in two sections of 300 metres, between Verdaguer and Sagrada Família and between La Sagrera and Congrés.
New track apparatus will also be installed at the entrance to the station of La Sagrera, allowing this important interchange to remain operative during the longer second stage of work in the summer. At the same time, a new shaft will be created for getting material into and out of the Sagrada Família station and removing the material containing asbestos from the Maragall station.
The work in the summer will completely renew the tracks from Congrés as a far as Horta. In all, this means three kilometres of track in both directions will be demolished and re-laid, in a project which is also necessary due to the age of the section between La Sagrera and Horta, which came into service between 1959 and 1967.
Metro services bolstered and a shuttle bus added
During the time the L5 section is out of service at Easter, from 9 to 18 April (when half the days are working days and the other half public holidays), the metro service will be offered as the most efficient mobility alternative. The rest of the lines on the network are to run around 20% more services, depending on the time of day.
During the work in the summer, metro services will be bolstered by between 8% and 15% compared to the usual levels of service for July and August, respectively. Extra services will also run on the H8 bus line (Diagonal – La Sagrera) and the D50 (Virrei Amat – Verdaguer), which operate routes that complement the affected sections.
During both the periods when services are to be inoperative, TMB will be complementing the metro network with a shuttle bus service. This will consist of 30 articulated buses over Easter, the maximum number that can be put into circulation without collapsing traffic in these streets. During the summer, this complementary service will consist of between 19 and 22 articulated buses.
All travel alternatives are accessible for people with reduced mobility.
An information campaign will run from 28 March at the affected stations and at the main interchanges on the metro network.
Source: TMB
