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Madrid’s Modular Metro
How to build a subway at half the cost and twice the speed, something most would say is impossible. But Madrid did it. Here’s how.
The leadership of Madrid Metro was responsible for one of the largest and fastest subway expansions in history. They succeeded because they understood the importance of speed and modularity, two concepts not normally associated with subway construction.
Subway construction is generally seen as bespoke and slow by nature. It can easily take 10 years from the decision to invest in a new line until trains start running, as was the case with Copenhagen’s recent City Circle Line. And that’s if you don’t encounter problems, in which case you’re looking at 15 to 20 years, as happened with London’s Victoria line.
The Madrid Metro leadership figured there had to be a better way, and they found it.
The Madrid Metro leadership figured there had to be a better way, and they found it.
Begun in 1995, the Madrid subway extension was completed in two stages of just four years each (1995 to 1999: 56 kilometers with 37 stations; 1999 to 2003: 75 kilometers with 39 stations), thanks to a radically innovative approach to tunneling and station building.
