30 years of tramway

The Valencia tramway celebrates thirty years of service as part of the Metrovalencia network.

On 21 May 1994, with the opening of what today is part of Line 4 of the tramway, the Generalitat Valenciana recovered a public transport system that, from the late nineteenth century until 1970, had structured the city and coordinated its daily life.

The first tram line was inaugurated with 21 stops, covering 9.8 kilometres.

With the recovery of this means of transport, Valencia became the first Spanish city to recover a tramway system, but modernised, a commitment that was soon followed by other capital cities such as Barcelona, Seville and Bilbao.

In these three decades the tramway has transported nearly 200 million users on what are currently its four lines in service and integrated into the Metrovalencia network: Line 4 (Mas del Rosari/Doctor Lluch), Line 6 (Tossal del Rei/Marítim), Line 8 (Marítim-/Neptú) and Line 10 (Alacant-Natzaret).

The current operation totals 25 kilometres and 51 stops, distributed throughout the municipalities of Valencia (40), Burjassot (6) and Paterna (5), which are served by 46 Siemens and Bombardier tramcars.

As for the number of kilometres travelled over these 30 years by the different tramcars, the total number amounts to 37 million, which is equivalent to 925 trips around the world or 96.3 trips from the earth to the moon.

Origin and development

The origin of the current tramway lies in the old trenet, in service until January 1990, which included the Valencia al Grao line and the connection between Pont de Fusta and Ademuz (today Empalme). The new tramway route was designed with the objective of offering integrated transport in a new urban environment, without architectural barriers, which would be safer, sustainable and non-polluting.

On 30 September 1991, work began on the new Valencia tramway. During the construction process, 23,782 linear metres of track were installed, using 2,853,848 kilograms of rail. A total of 1,272 light signals and 1,550 traffic lights were installed.

The construction of the tramway made it possible to eliminate the old trenet railway line, redevelop the areas through which it passed and eliminate numerous level crossings. It was an unprecedented urbanisation project. The new tramway offers greater safety and is intended as a sustainable means of transport integrated into the urban environment of the city.

After the first line of the modern tramway (today Line 4) was put into service on 21 May 1994, the extension of that line was inaugurated from Empalme station to the Burjassot Campus of the University of Valencia and the headquarters of the Valencian Television channel (Canal 9 at that time, today À Punt) on 3 March 1999. A total of 2,362 metres of tram line were incorporated into the network In September of the same year, the extension to the Feria Valencia was opened to the public.

That same year, with the opening of Empalme station, metro Line 1 (nowadays lines 1 and 2) and tram Line 4 were connected, while at the same time facilitating the interchange with EMT and MetroBús buses. This station established itself as an important intermodal hub for Valencia and its metropolitan area.

On 23 September 2005, the new extension of Line 4 of the Metrovalencia tramway, between the stop of the regional television station and Mas del Rosari, came into service. This section has a total length of 2,900 metres and has five new stops.

On 20 December of the same year, the new section of Line 4 in the direction of Lloma Llarga-Terramelar, 710 meters long, was inaugurated.

On 17 April 2007, the extension of Metrovalencia Line 5 to the Port of Valencia was opened to the public, through a new tramway section, which runs from the new Marítim-Serrería station (today Marítim) to the Neptú stop, next to the Port of Valencia. The new infrastructure, currently known as Line 8, has 1,200 metres of tramway platform and a 550-metre branch line connecting to Metrovalencia Line 4.

On 27 September 2007, the new Line 6 entered into service covering the route between the stops of Tossal del Rei and Maritím-Serrería station (today Marítim), via a track of 9.2 kilometres. The entry into service of Line 6 involved the opening of a new 2.4-kilometre section of tramway with five stops.

Finally, on 17 May 2022, Line 10 (Alacant-Natzaret) was inaugurated, connecting the centre of the capital with the City of Justice, the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, Caixa Fòrum, the Fuente de San Luis pavilion and the neighbourhood of Natzaret, in addition to providing high-capacity public transport for the first time to neighbourhoods such as Russafa, Monteolivete, Na Rovella, Quatre Carreres, Moreres and Natzaret itself. The new line is 5,035.55 metres long (2,222.40 metres underground and 2,813.15 metres above ground) and has 8 stations (3 underground and 5 above ground).