Madrid opens new massive station at Puerta de Sol
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By h.b. - Jun 28, 2009 - 4:01 PM
It brings local train lines into the centre of the capital for the first time and has cost 570 million €

Political differences were put aside for a while on Saturday in Madrid when the Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and his Minister for Development, José Blanco, joined forces with PP leader in the Madrid region, Esperanza Aguirre and the PP Mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, to inaugurate the massive new transport interchange at the Puerta de Sol, right in the centre of Madrid.

The Prime Minister went as far as to describe the interchange as ‘the jewel in the Cercanías crown’.

The underground complex is large enough to swallow a 60 floor building, and brings local Cercanias train lines to the centre of the capital for the first time. Platforms as long as 207 metres can be found in what is claimed to be the largest underground station in the world.

Together with a new tunnel between Atocha and Chamartín the project has cost 570 million €, 155 of which went on the station at Sol.

The opening marks the end of six years of confrontation between the several administrations involved, a time which Esperanza Aguirre could not resist commenting she thought would never end. It means that travellers to outlying towns such as Parla and Aranjuez can now reach them in just 20 minutes from the centre of the capital.

The station opened to the public on Sunday morning and one of the escalators suffered an early breakdown, but was repaired by midday.

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Spain News : Madrid

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