El nou tren a la T1 del Prat acaba les obres: què falta per obrir-lo

It's not often we get to share news like this: the completion of a major railway project. The new rail access to Terminal 1 at Josep Tarradellas Airport has finally finished after many years, and I 'll tell you all about it, as well as the remaining timeline until its opening, in this video. The Ministry of Transport, through Adif (Spain's railway infrastructure manager), has announced the completion of the second phase of the new rail access to Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, which will substantially improve the airport's connection to the Rodalies commuter rail network.

This project, which has involved an investment of over €400 million, is one of the most complex and extensive undertaken in recent years on Catalonia's rail network. The highly complex works included the excavation of a new tunnel under the runways and experienced more delays than desired, but are now entering their final stages. The Ministry has released a series of images showing the finished state of this major infrastructure project.

Once the work on the infrastructure and facilities is complete, rolling stock trials will begin, expected to start in the coming weeks. It has also been made clear that these trials will be accompanied by other exercises, such as a drill to verify the operating protocols and the proper functioning of the civil protection facilities in case of emergency. All of this will take place before obtaining the necessary authorizations from the

relevant external bodies that will allow the airport to begin commercial operation. This conclusion was also accompanied by information that was not entirely clear until now: the dismantling of the current rail access tracks. The Official State Gazette (BOE) has already published the temporary expropriations to allow access for machinery… meaning that once the tracks are gone, there will be more land available near Barcelona Airport to cultivate artichokes, one of the most charming and striking sights for travelers going to or from Josep Tarradellas Airport. The new infrastructure, built in two phases, will be strategic for the future operation of Barcelona's public transport network and will generate significant benefits for the mobility of citizens in the metropolitan area and for rail-airport intermodality . Among other things, it will allow for direct services between the airport's two terminals and Barcelona, ​​as well as the rest of the Rodalies commuter rail network.

This line is expected to see heavy use due to its various stops, including Bellvitge, Sants, Passeig de Gràcia, El Clot, and Sant Andreu, connecting the city center at several points with the airport in approximately 19 minutes. It is estimated that between 7 and 9 million passengers will use this new rail infrastructure annually. It will be operated by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (FGC) with

brand-new trains, recently unveiled and shown in detail in the accompanying video. A new double-track line, starting from the Barcelona-Vilanova conventional gauge line, has a total length of 5.2 km, including a 4.3 km underground section with an internal diameter of 9.6 m. Approximately 3.1 km of this underground section, the main part, was excavated using a tunnel boring machine in the first phase of the project.

The infrastructure comprises 10,430 meters of slab track and 3,573 meters of ballasted track. Its construction required 28,036 meters of rail and just over 6,700 cubic meters of ballast. Additionally, all work on track installations, electrification systems, ventilation, safety systems, and communications has been completed. The line has two stations with direct access to the airport grounds: one at Terminal 1 and another intermediate station at Terminal 2, which will connect to Metro Line 9. The T1 station has a total length of 600 m, a 324 m2 lobby integrated into the airport complex and a central platform of 2,797 m2 surface area, as well as 434 m in length, of which 220 are for commercial use and 214,

For technical use. An imposing size complemented by 3 elevators and 8 escalators for access to the platforms, while the T2 station is 237 meters long and has an entrance building of 145 m2, a concourse of just over 3,700 m2 and two 200-meter platforms, accessed via 7 elevators and 8 escalators.

Both stations also have large public areas to ensure smoother transfers between trains and planes, as well as access controls, passenger information systems, civil protection elements and evacuation routes, lighting, climate control and wayfinding signage to facilitate passenger orientation. This infrastructure project, funded by European grants, now has a final timeline. Currently, only

the completion of the necessary tests on trains and infrastructure remains to be seen. All indications are that it will finally open to the public in late 2026 or, more likely, early 2027. This historic date will mark the end of a project that began in 2015 and has faced numerous setbacks and delays throughout its various phases, resulting in a long decade of development. All this while the number of users of Terminal 1, the airport's main terminal, continued to grow. But now, the project is finally approaching its final stages, and we will be closely following any further developments . Subscribe to the channel, and remember, even the longest journey begins with a single step.