7 circular lines furrowing in rings the ground of Barcelona. That was the dream that a Swiss engineer was about to transmit to the Barcelona City Council 100 years ago.
It is the unknown story of Adolf Weber and the Metropolità Circular, an innovative metro proposal formed by circular lines that more than a century ago reached neighborhoods that still, today, the subway does not reach.
Now, thanks to the donation made by Gioia Weber, granddaughter of the engineer, to the Historical Archive of Barcelona, we can learn more about a subway project that would have radically changed the subway aspect of the city.
143 stops and 90 kilometers of line
In 1924, the Swiss engineer Adolf Weber presented to the Barcelona City Council a project to build a circular metro network that would connect a large part of the city’s neighborhoods. In 1927 he presented a second, even more detailed version.
The “Metropolità Urbà” project contemplated the construction of 7 lines, 5 of which were circular, all of them interconnected, with more than 90 kilometers of route and 143 stations stopping in all the current districts and neighborhoods except Nou Barris.
This metro reached areas such as Horta, Pedralbes, Sant Andreu and even Can Tunis or Sarrià, thus reaching areas that today still do not have a metro (for example, the Rompeolas and the other three stops in Barceloneta) or stops that have not had it until recently.
It also included how the tunnels were to be dug (3.7 meters in diameter) and even the different zones and fares (from 15 cents each way) or the design of the carriages with second and third class seats.
A metro cancelled for unknown reasons
The Metropolità Circular was presented to the city council on two occasions, but both times it was rejected for unknown reasons, although there are notarial records that show that the project was not a drawing of colors on the map of Barcelona.
Weber went on to set up a company with Spanish partners with whom he sought financing in New York and had a pending contract with an American construction company.
With today’s eyes , the map has some successes (the abundance of stops in areas where there are still none today) or the connection with neighborhoods that have taken years to be connected to the center, but also some flaws. The stops were very close to each other and the plan was, perhaps, very ambitious and expensive at a time when the Metro lines were made by private companies for their exploitation and profit without special vocation of public service.
In addition there is an obviousness, a circular metro is by definition a closed system, and a unidirectional one can be extended to infinity.
In addition, it seems that there was some controversy because it was considered that this metro could compete with the streetcar and bus networks that already existed in the city. The only thing that is clear is that the project never materialized.
Maps open to the public
Thanks to the donation of Gioia Weber, granddaughter of the engineer, the Historical Archive of Barcelona is cataloging and digitizing all this documentation. It will soon be available for public consultation, allowing us to imagine what Barcelona would have been like with this visionary circular metro network.