Skip to main content

Railways. Transport of passengers and goods

Railways. Transport of passengers and goods Catalonia. 2017
Renfe FGC Total
Total length of lines (km) 1,455 297 1,752
Double track 809 91 900
Electrified 1,455 167 1,622
Freight only 18 40 58
High speed 349 0 349
Number of lines 15 6 21
Suburban 9 2 11
Regional 6 1 7
Touristic 0 3 3
Number of stations 206 110 316
Passengers (thousands) 135,975 86,269 222,244
Suburban 113,486 84,348 197,834
Regional 9,593 191 9,784
Avant 1,156 0 1,156
Long distance 11,740 0 11,740
Touristic 0 1,730 1,730
Packaged good (thousands tons) 7,521 597 8,118
Source: Renfe Operadora; Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC).
Note: As of 2014, the total length of freight-only lines includes the 5 km of the Port of Barcelona line, the ownership of which is the Port Authority (4 km) and Barcelona City Council (1 km).

Last update: July 3, 2020.

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

Railway
Means of transport in which vehicles travel on a fixed runway, which is their carriage and guidance.
Metropolitan railway
Railway, generally underground, for passenger transport inside a city or a metropolitana area.
Tram
Railway for public service of passenger transport which travels mainly on surface and on public road on fixed rails encased in a rail platform which can be segregated or not segregated.
Tramvia Blau
The Tramvia Blau, which dates from 1901, is the survivor of the old Barcelona. It runs 1,276 metres up to the foot of the Tibidabo funicular.
Tramvia urbà
Urban trams, according to this law, are those which travel entirely in a single municipal territory and are of municipal competence.
Regular public transport
Displacement that takes place in passenger vehicles or in mixed vehicles (passengers and godos) which have previously determined schedules and routes, and an individual fare.

Methodological aspects

The railways section presents data from Renfe and Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya.

On January 1, 2005, Renfe was set up as a public business entity under the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda represented in two companies: Renfe Operadora, which operates the railway material and services, and Adif, which manages the railway infrastructure.

Local (Renfe): Includes 6 lines in Barcelona, 2 in Tarragona and 1 in Girona.

Regional (Renfe): The regional network covers a radius of about 350 km from Barcelona. Above 350 km it is considered a long-distance train. As of 2014, Renfe includes data on intra-community and inter-community trains.

Avant (Renfe): As of 2018, passengers of the AVV-City product, previously classified as Ave-Long distance, are incorporated into the Avant product.

Long-distance (Renfe): Includes conventional long-distance, high-speed and international passengers. The long-distance tickets issued do not correspond to the number of passengers who have used this means of transport, because not only tickets issued to and from Catalan stations are counted, but also those arriving in Catalonia corresponding to non-Catalan stations.

The freight data refer to those billed to stations in Catalonia, and also do not include the tons transported by private operators.

Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) is a public company that operates in the transport, tourism and mountain sectors, with the aim of contributing to the improvement of mobility and leisure in Catalonia. FGC manages the resources and infrastructures assigned to it and those it generates, with criteria of efficiency, respect for the Law and optimization of its economic and social profitability.

This includes passengers on the urban service of the Barcelona-Vallès line (lines L6, L7 and, from 2019, L12).

Local (FGC): Includes the Barcelona-Sant Cugat-Terrassa/Sabadell and Barcelona-Martorell-Manresa/Igualada lines.

Regional (FGC): Lleida - La Pobla de Segur line.

Tourist (FGC): Monistrol de Montserrat-Monastery of Montserrat (Montserrat rack railway), Ribes de Freser-Núria (Núria rack railway) and La Pobla de Lillet-Castellar de n'Hug (Cement Train) lines.