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Communications

Railways

In Catalonia the use of railways goes back a long way. Catalonia opened the first railway line in Spain, and one of the first in Europe, on 28 October 1848, the day when the two Catalan cities of Mataró and Barcelona were united by 29 kilometres of railway track.

Today, there are 1,595 kilometres of railway track in the country of which 1,411 belong to the state railway company Renfe and 184 to the Generalitat of Catalonia railway company Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya. The regional network centred on Barcelona is particularly noteworthy. In practice it operates like an enormous regional metro providing rapid communications between the capital and the main cities in the country.

Barcelona is also the centre for Renfe’s European services. Trains leave the refurbished Estació de França for Paris, Zurich, Geneva and Milan. Within a few years, the arrival of the high-speed train from Perpignan will provide connections with the European high- speed network. Work has also begun on the construction of the line linking Barcelona with Valencia and Madrid.

Roads

The catalan road network has three main corridors: two leave Barcelona and follow the coastline to the north and south and the third goes inland towards Lleida through Igualada-Cervera-Tàrrega. This forms the initial structure of the network which has continued to grow in size and complexity increasing the number of transversal connections. Today, there are 11,561 kilometres of road network, most of which is in optimum condition.

The number of vehicles in Catalonia continues to grow and currently stands at 3,236,629. The impact of the car on our society can be shown by the ratio of inhabitants to vehicles. There is one vehicle for every two inhabitants, a figure which is in line with that of the most developed countries.

The busiest route in Catalonia is the axis formed by the Mediterranean motorway which runs from the Franco-Spanish border to Tarragona and off towards Castelló, Valencia and Alicante. This motorway registers averages exceeding 25,000 journeys per day. Other coastal corridors and inland routes are also very busy. The construction of a transverse axis which will connect Girona and Lleida by way of Vic and Manresa is now far advanced. The new route will contribute to the territorial equilibrium of the country and the promotion of its economic dynamism. These run from Barcelona to Manresa, Granollers and Lleida and from Tarragona towards Reus, Tortosa and Lleida. Special mention must be made of the new motorways from Mataró to Tordera and from Mataró to Granollers. In the Barcelonès district there are on average some 100,000 journeys by motor vehicle every day.

Ports

Maritime transport has been of cardinal importance for Catalan trade for centuries. Today, Catalonia has a large number of small fishing ports and marinas as well as large commercial ports such as the Port of Barcelona, the Port of Tarragona and those in Vilanova i la Geltru and Sant Carles de la Ràpita.
Of these ports, the Port of Barcelona is the most significant. It is one of the main ports in the western Mediterranean and has a gross traffic, including incoming and outgoing vessels, of well in excess of 50 million tonnes. The Port of Barcelona is also an important passenger nexus connecting the Catalan capital with the Balearic Islands, Italy and France.

The main function of the Port of Tarragona is to support the active industry, especially the petrochemical industry, which is concentrated around the city. More than 11 million tons of liquid oil products are unloaded annually and the port is specially equipped for dealing with the transport of such products.

Airports

Catalan air transport operates mainly from Barcelona International Airport and also from Girona,Costa Brava, Reus, Sabadell and some private airfields.

Barcelona Airport was completely modernised in time for the 1992 Olympic Games. Today it has a wide range of facilities and is comfortable and functional with a passenger capacity which has exceeded more than 10 million annually.

Several airline companies have routes which connect the capitalÕs airport to the main cities of Europe, America, North Africa, the Middle East and Japan. More than 20% of Spanish regular flights have Barcelona either as their point of departure or destination.

l Catalonia: a land of reference l