The tram is advancing in Barcelona and Collboni links its definitive connection along Diagonal to the approval of the budgets

The tram moves along Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona. The City Council inaugurated this Sunday the new section of roads between Glòries and Verdaguer squares, a route that according to the municipal government is the previous phase to the definitive connection of this infrastructure through this road artery that crosses the Catalan capital.

The opening of the new section has been lackluster due to the strike of company workers, who denounce lack of resources and overload of work. CCOO and UGT called the strike for this Saturday, the day on which the inaugural event was scheduled with the mayor and the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, so the council ended up canceling it and announcing the start-up without any fuss for this Sunday at 5:00 a.m.

For the current work, which involves the extension of line T4, the investment has been 63 million for the tram infrastructure and 52 million to urbanize the Diagonal. One of the main novelties is that it will not require an overhead line or catenary, but rather has a continuous ground power supply system through a third rail between the two usual rails. The route that opens this Sunday, and which enters fully into the urban fabric of Eixample, will add 24,000 daily TramBesòs journeys and will eliminate 2,000 car journeys, according to municipal calculations.

Towards the second and final phase

The intention of the council is that in 2025 the schedule for the definitive connection of the tram along Diagonal will begin, in the missing section between Verdaguer and Plaza Francesc Macià. The City Council assures that this union, despite the fact that it means adding 4 kilometers of track to a network of about 30 kilometers, could double the journeys from 31 million annually to 62.

However, to do so they claim that they will need to carry out the budgets for the next year. And not only those of the City Council, but also those of the Generalitat, which will assume part of the cost. This has been argued by the council for a few months and they reiterate it in the statement issued this Sunday.

The idea of ​​completing the tram route on Diagonal, to join the lines at both ends (the TramBaix and the TramBesòs) comes from a long time ago. It was buried after the ‘no’ vote won in a citizen consultation in 2010, but the municipal government took it up again with the arrival of Ada Colau to the mayor’s office. In their first term, the Comuns did not obtain sufficient support for the project. But in 2020, with the PSC in the executive, Colau achieved ERC’s yes to the new section that opens this Sunday in exchange for the management of the infrastructure being 100% public when the current agreement expires in 2032.

Similarly, now the PSC hopes to obtain the endorsement of Comuns and ERC for its accounts to continue with the connection. The forecast is that the works will last until 2028 and will have a cost of around 215 million euros, which will be assumed approximately half between the council and the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM), which depends on the budgets of the Generalitat. To this we should add the rolling stock, of around 80 million, also from ATM.

The definitive connection will mean, according to the City Council, gaining 6,000 m2 for pedestrians and 18,900 m2 of green area. Today, 68% of Barcelona residents are in favor of closing the tram junction, according to the latest municipal barometer.