BARCELONA’S new airport rail line has begun test runs, with trains now passing through the tunnel that will link El Prat’s two terminals to the city centre in 20 minutes.
Footage shared online by Spain’s transport minister, Oscar Puente, showed a train moving through the finished tunnel beneath Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport, running past platforms built for both terminals one and two.
The new line, known as the R-Aeroport, is not a metro extension.
The airport’s original Rodalies station, which opened in 1975, serves only T2, reached from the old terminal by a 400-metre elevated walkway that will become redundant once the new link opens.
Adif, the state rail infrastructure body that built the link, has spent more than €400 million on the project, part funded by the European Union’s recovery and resilience programme.
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The new route runs 5.2km, of which 4.3km is underground, branching off the existing line between Barcelona and Vilanova.
Two new underground stations have been built, one for each terminal, both step-free with lifts and escalators.
The T2 station also connects directly to Barcelona’s Metro line L9, letting passengers switch between the new Rodalies line and the existing metro without leaving the terminal.
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Once open, trains will run every 15 minutes to both terminals, doubling the current frequency, on 10 new trains built by Alstom at its plant in Santa Perpetua de Mogoda, a manufacturing town inland from Barcelona in the Valles Occidental area.
The L9 line has connected both terminals to the western edge of the city since 2016, though it terminates at Zona Universitaria rather than the centre.
Testing has been under way since Alstom began validating the first train in October 2025, with FGC aiming to start carrying passengers in the first half of 2027.
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“Setting an exact date is very difficult, but in principle the service should start in the first half of next year,” Carles Ruiz, FGC’s president, told Spanish daily El Periodico.
Adif expects the line to carry between 7 million and 9 million passengers a year once it is fully operational.
The old Rodalies station at T2, unchanged since 1975, will close once the new underground platforms take over.
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