Madrid’s PSOE plans to extend Metro line 8 from Nuevos Ministerios to the south of Puente de Vallecas if Madrid governs | Elections in Madrid 28M | The USA Print

The PSOE of Juan Lobato, candidate for the presidency of the Community of Madrid in the elections of May 28, intends to expand Metro line 8 from Nuevos Ministerios to the south of Puente de Vallecas if it reaches Puerta del Sol after the elections . The new layout, whose design EL PAÍS has agreed to, would cost 750 million euros and includes a route to the south of Madrid with a stop at the existing Gregorio Marañón stations; Ruben Dario; Colon-Recoletos; Bank of Spain; Art Station; Palos de la Frontera and Mendez Alvaro. They would be joined by another five new stations, for a total of 12, located near the intersection of Méndez Álvaro street with Comercio street; at the Abroñigal train station; near the Amós Acero park; in the Madrid Assembly (which would connect with the Renfe commuter services); and at the end of the Ronda del Sur.

The Socialists have rescued and updated a project that was already being considered at the beginning of the seventies to create a “backbone of Madrid”, according to the slogan they have chosen for the initiative. His idea is to start building from the south to the north. The project consists of two phases; the first goes from Ronda del Sur to Estación del Arte and will run from 2024 to 2027. This expansion connects the southern area of ​​the Puente de Vallecas district, which has been calling for improvements in the metro service for years, with stations such as Palos de la Frontera, with correspondence with line 3 and soon with line 11; with Méndez Álvaro, where line 6 and Renfe commuter lines 5, 10 and 1 also pass; and with Estación del Arte, connected to metro line 1.

The second phase, the one that goes from the Estación del Arte to Nuevos Ministerios, would take place from 2027 to 2031. The route, which runs through existing stations, aims to reduce congestion on the other lines and connect the south of Madrid with the north and the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport. In the specific case of the Banco de España station, it is also intended to open to the public the connection corridor between the commuter stop and line 2, which also passes through that station, and to create a new one that connects with the Renfe service for line 8. The initiative also proposes a third phase of the project that would be carried out during the 2030s to connect the Metro network with the Valdecarros area, which is already covered by line 1.

According to the calculations of the PSOE technicians who have developed the proposal, the construction would cost close to 750 million euros. The budget has been calculated using the method of comparison with similar works based on data from Metro and Adif. The first 450 million are earmarked for the Ronda del Sur-Estación del Arte phase, and the remaining 300 million for the stations that run through the downtown section. The tunnel, approximately 10.7 kilometers long, including the route to the train depot, would cost 267.5 million euros; 330 million would be to build the stations, 17.8 million for the train depot and maintenance workshops; 81.2 million for tracks, catenaries, signal systems; and 54.1 million for connection works with existing lines. To gather the budget, which does not include trains, the Socialists intend to request a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which provides financing for projects that support EU objectives, and in particular actions to mitigate climate change.

The person in charge of the project, the secretary of Sustainable Mobility of the Madrid PSOE, Isidro Barqueros, specifies that “the underground infrastructures in the area and their conditions have been analyzed and the layout of the line has not caused many problems.” “At the Paseo de Recoletos car park, which has three basements, we had to increase the depth,” he details. “The effects on the trees will be minimal. The place where a tree may be affected is in Rubén Darío, because we still don’t know if we are going to place the station 15 meters to the left or to the right to avoid the basements that are in the square, and depending on what we decide convenient, some affected tree can be seen ”, he adds.

subscribe here to our daily newsletter about Madrid.