A project of the Olympic Barcelona… that will see the light 30 years later. The extension of L2 to connect the center with the Zona Franca will finally become a reality after the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Barcelona City Council have agreed this week to resume this ambitious project.
Thus, thanks to an investment of 1,000 million euros, this ambitious project will make an old dream come true: the connection between Sant Antoni and the Parc Logístic de la Zona Franca through 6.3 kilometers of tunnel that will cross Montjuïc.
What will the extension of L2 be like?
The extension plan remains the same as the one presented in 2009, although it will now face much higher costs: from the initial 500 million it is now estimated to cost around 1,000 million euros. For this reason, an update of the study has been commissioned, which will take 2 years to arrive and will cost 4 million euros.
The city council has informed that these informative studies will be based on those already carried out in 2006 and 2007 during the mandate of José Montilla, which already contemplated the connection with the Parc Logístic station of the L9.
According to the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, this infrastructure is essential to meet the growth of neighborhoods such as La Marina del Prat Vermell and strategic projects such as the renovation of the Fira de Montjuïc.
This extension will join others planned by the city, which will redraw the face of transportation through Barcelona’s subsoil.
What stops will the future L2 extension have?
The new L2 with 6.3 kilometers of new route and 5 new stops: Poble Sec, Montjuïc, Foixarda, Foc, Fira II and Parc Logístic.
As explained by the AMB, from Sant Antoni, the current end, the tunnel runs under Manso street until it reaches the first station, Poble Sec, located on Avinguda Paral-lel, where there will be an interchange with line L3. From this point, the tunnel passes under the Poble Sec district and heads towards the Montjuïc fairgrounds, where the second station, Montjuïc, is located , next to the Magic Fountain.
It continues through the mountain until it reaches the third station, Foixarda, which will serve the Olympic Ring. Under the mountain, the tunnel goes to Passeig de la Zona Franca where it connects with the L10 line at Foc Station. The tunnel then continues under Carrer del Foc until it connects with line L9 at Fira II station.
The last section between Fira II and Parc Logístic (the last station of this extension) is designed in such a way that a technical connection between L2 and L9 is possible, allowing trains on line L2 to run along the route of line L9 and vice versa. This action would allow a direct and fast connection between the city center, the fairgrounds and the Barcelona-El Prat Airport through metro line L2.