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Exactly what linca said. Madrid couid also go for a Paris RER-type development of the Cercanías lines: there are already the two North-South lines, if one or more are added along other axes, a metro-relieving express metro network could emerge.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Thu Jul 5th, 2007 at 01:27:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Looking at the Cercanias map, I don't see how that's possible. All lines already end at Atocha or Nuevos Ministerios and have stops within the city limits (the map is here, clich "plano" for a javascript window).

Can the last politician to go out the revolving door please turn the lights off?
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Jul 5th, 2007 at 05:02:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm not quite sure what your objection is. The point is just that instead of all lines touching Atocha, and Cercanías access in the core of the city being constrained to the North-South line, some lines would be redirected to (or doubled with a new line going along) new city-crossing lines.

Say,

  1. C-7 and C-8 (or new C-17 and C-18 llines) would get a new East-to-Northwest tunnel loosely parallel to the corridor of metro line 7,
  2. both ends of C-5 (becoming new lines C-15 and C-25) would be connected to a new Southwest-to-Northeast tunnel loosely parallel to the corridor of metro line 5,
  3. maybe a ring line in the East beyond metro line 6 would make sense.

If metro line 9 is the most crowded, the first project would make most sense first. (Then maybe even the outer section could be converted back to Cercanías, and metro line 9 continued along a slightly different path instead.)

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Thu Jul 5th, 2007 at 07:06:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I thought the idea of RER was to take two commutar rail lines with terminus on different sides of the city and join then through the city. What I'm saying is that all that seems to have been done already.

On the other hand, Madrid used to have more train stations. "Norte" (in the West of the town) is now a shopping centre at Principe Pio. That could have been used for a triangular tunnel linking it to Nuevos Ministerios and Atocha.

Can the last politician to go out the revolving door please turn the lights off?

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Jul 5th, 2007 at 07:13:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Besides the shopping center, Principe Pio is still a Cercanias station combined with a Metro station one level below.  Only long distance trains don´t go through there anymore.

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.
by metavision on Thu Jul 5th, 2007 at 09:12:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, uh. I first wrote about connecting commuter lines in the rapid transit section, then mentioned it again in the 'not entirely new idea' part on RER, and tried to paint the RER's express subway quality as the speciality. On the other hand, indeed Madrid is not a city of ten million with half a dozen termini, so main station connections don't make a network alone. Again on the other hand, even though all Paris RER lines go underground at terminal stations, lines A, C and (in the future) E do so only at one end, and connect back to old commuter lines well beyond terminals.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Thu Jul 5th, 2007 at 10:12:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The Cercanias map is not a geographic one, but I see it as circular versus north-south.

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.
by metavision on Thu Jul 5th, 2007 at 09:05:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, there are two lines around the loop with no true circular line, and six lines go from Atocha to Nuevos Ministerios.

Can the last politician to go out the revolving door please turn the lights off?
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Jul 5th, 2007 at 09:12:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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