Madrid
Madrid Metro celebrates 90 years
By h.b. - Oct 16, 2009 - 11:32 AM
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Chamberí Station - EFE
The Madrid Metro is now one of the largest in the world
Madrid Metro celebrates its 90th anniversary on Saturday. It was on October 19th 1919 when King Afonso XIII opened the first 3.48 km. long line at Cuatro Caminos, which took less than ten minutes to travel through the first eight stations.
Now there are 294 stations and a network of 284 kilometres of track, with more than two and a half million travellers a day, making the Madrid Metro one of the largest in the world. It’s the third largest in the number of stations, behind only New York and Paris, and fourth behind New York, London and Moscow when distance covered is measured.
To celebrate the 90th anniversary the Metro de Madrid company is highlighting the cultural face of the underground and how it has affected the arts, cinema and music in the life of the capital over the past century.
The first musical reference to the metro appeared in the 1928 musical ‘La Chula de Pontevedra’, while one of the latest was the 2001 disc from Manu Chao and the song ‘Próxima Estación: Esperanza’.
If you are one of the many who finds trains and undergrounds of interest, then the place to go in Madrid is the so called ghost station of Chamberí. This station was part of the first underground line, but was closed in 1966 as it was close to both Bilbao and Iglesia stations. Last year it was reopened as a museum after being left untouched for more than 42 years.
(Find out more about the Chamberí museum - click here).
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