Metro line 1, the oldest in Madrid, has already mapped out its next leap northward. The Community of Madrid plans to extend it from Chamartín with three new stations that will take the subway to the heart of Madrid Nuevo Norte and directly connect Sol or Atocha with the large neighborhood that will be built on the old Castellana tracks. The Regional Ministry of Transport has just confirmed that the preferred option for bringing the metro to this development is precisely to extend L1 and “reorganize” its current final section, so that the line gains ground towards Fuencarral while its Bambú–Pinar de Chamartín end is integrated into L4.
The proposed route will start at the current Chamartín–Clara Campoamor station (where lines 1 and 10 currently converge) and run about three kilometers north, with three new stops provisionally named Centro de Negocios, Fuencarral Sur, and Fuencarral Norte.
- Business Center: it will serve the large office and skyscraper area planned next to Chamartín station, the “Financial District” of Madrid Nuevo Norte.
- Fuencarral Sur and Fuencarral Norte: these will cover the new residential neighborhoods that will be built on and next to the old tracks, bringing the subway closer to both future neighbors and current residents of Fuencarral.
Changes to L1 and L4: new map to the north
The solution that currently has the most options (the so-called alternative 5 in the informative study) not only extends L1, but also reorganizes its current end. The idea is that L1 will be extended northwards from Chamartín, integrating the three new stations, and that the current Bambú–Pinar de Chamartín–Chamartín section will no longer be L1 and will become part of L4, which currently ends at Pinar de Chamartín and would be extended to Chamartín, incorporating Bambú as an intermediate stop.
With this change, L4 users would gain a direct connection to the Chamartín–Clara Campoamor train station, while L1 would become the direct link between the center (Valdecarros–Sol–Atocha) and the new northern neighborhood, without any branches. Transport authorities argue that this is the “most favorable” option from a functional, environmental, and economic point of view, compared to other alternatives that proposed an independent driverless line only for Madrid Nuevo Norte.
How and when it will be built
The extension will be carried out without a tunnel boring machine, using the so-called Belgian or traditional Madrid method. As it is a relatively short section (about 3 km) and an area still under development, it is not worth mobilizing a large drilling machine: the tunnels and stations will be excavated from the surface, taking advantage of the fact that the ground in Madrid Nuevo Norte has not yet been consolidated to its final level.
The project will be developed in several phases:
- Redistribution of lines 1 and 4 on the Chamartín–Pinar de Chamartín–Bambú section, which the Regional Ministry wants to prioritize because it is being done on land owned by the regional government.
- Construction of the new section towards Madrid Nuevo Norte is conditional on the progress of the urban development works and the availability of the necessary land.
- Commissioning of the new Metro depots linked to the extension, on a plot of approximately 15,000 m² above ground and 26,000 m² below ground, for which the project design has already been put out to tender.
Following the publication of the informative study with five alternatives, the Community has opened a 20-day public information period for citizens, associations, and administrations to submit their comments. Once the relevant observations have been incorporated, the final study will be approved and the construction project will be drafted, with a target date for entry into service of around 2030 if there are no major delays.