Barcelona Sants station will undergo a radical facelift. Raquel Sánchez, Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, has presented the new project for the renovation of the station, which will become an open, bright and efficient space.
The Spanish Government is expected to allocate around 410 million euros to remodel Sants train station and its surroundings in Catalonia‘s capital city. For the first phase, 130 million will come from European funds. Work will begin in 2023, at a date yet to be determined, while the first phase will be completed in 2026 and the second in 2030.
The preliminary project also includes a new roof over the station where offices, restaurants and stores will be located. Precisely on this roof 14,000 m2 will be dedicated to the installation of photovoltaic panels.
The first phase of the works includes the expansion of the station concourse, which will be much brighter; the creation of new entrances on all four sides as well as new corridors towards the sea and mountains. On the other hand, the Plaça dels Països Catalans square will also be urbanized, adding green spaces and playgrounds while maintaining a space for skaters.
Traffic will also be rearranged around the new station. In this way, traffic will only be able to circulate along Tarragona street and Sant Antoni promenade. Each road will have two lanes in each direction. With this change, pedestrians and passengers will be the main protagonists.
The station will therefore be extended towards the Eixample. The 4 lanes of traffic will disappear, integrating the Plaça dels Països Catalans into the current station, and vehicle traffic will only be allowed on the sea side. The mountain side, where it will no longer be possible to circulate, will be a wooded space with areas for walking and playing.
A new lobby will be created to access the metro and there will be four rooms for passengers, two for high-speed trains and two for suburban trains. The station will also have a public playroom (planned in the first phase of the project) and a space for cultural events. The cab and bus stations will be temporarily relocated but both will eventually pass under the Plaza de España.
In the second phase, the new roof of Sants station will be built, where there will be offices, stores and restaurants; the cab and bus stations will be definitively relocated and the naturalization of Plaza Joan Peiró will be completed. Once the relocation of the bus station has been completed, the Bosc Viriat will be created, which will be an area of trees.
Minister Sánchez pointed out that the new Sants station will be friendlier for all Barcelona residents and travelers and “will remedy the distortion” that has been caused to the surrounding neighborhoods over the years. For her part, Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona, said that this is an “ambitious transformation” that is in line with what the City Council wants to do in the future.
