On test - Metro de Madrid’s Line 6 automatic trains
posted on 20th May 2026 14:04
Madrid’s circular metro line, the 23.5 km, 28-station 1.5 kV DC Line 6, is now a step closer to GoA2 automation. During the week starting on 18 May, several of the 48 new trains started making test runs over CAF’s 4 km purpose-built railway at Corella, on the border of Navarra and La Rioja. This is part of the line from Soria to Castejón de Ebro, closed to traffic in the 1990s, and now fully refurbished and upgraded for testing new trains. The first of the new trains are scheduled for delivery to Madrid during the summer, and will initially make nocturnal test runs, with drivers on board, on Lines 10, 11 and 12.
The upgrading of Line 6, budgeted at 129 million EUR, is still in progress, but nearing completion. This has involved equipping stations with platform doors, installing a new automatic train supervision system supplied by Alstom, upgrading the existing CBTC Cityflo 650, originally supplied by Bombardier in 2011, and installing Alstom’s latest CBTC Urbalis to enable GoA2 operation (the driver only activating the entrance doors and giving the train the ‘right away’ command).
The speed on Line 6 is currently being raised, through upgrading, from 70 km/h to 110 km/h. The CBTC upgrade will enable 90-second headways between trains, so several factors will contribute to an increase in capacity of Line 6, used in 2024 by 116 million passengers.
Once the upgrade is complete, the new six-car trains will be transferred to their new stamping ground. Initially 40, now 48 were ordered from CAF, with traction equipment being supplied by Siemens, in April 2024 for 450 million EUR. All intermediate cars are powered. Top service speed is 110 km/h (design maximum speed is 120 km/h). Since the trains do not have cabs, they have 17 % more space for passengers than the 30 Class 8200 trains they are to replace, which have been in service sine 2010. Seats are provided for 154 passengers, and there are two wheelchair spaces. Standee capacity is 1,218.
The new CAF units will also enable the withdrawal of the Class 5400 fleet, which has been in service since 1992. The 30 Class 8200 trains will be reallocated to other wide loading gauge lies on the network.
