Barcelona Metro Line 3
From Zona Universitària to Trinitat Nova, the green line crosses seven districts and still uses the 1924 Gran Metro section.
About Line 3
L3 has 26 stations and 17.8 km, all within the city of Barcelona, between Zona Universitària and Trinitat NovaES. It runs through the districts of Les Corts, Sants-Montjuïc, Ciutat Vella, Eixample, Gràcia, Horta-Guinardó and Nou Barris.
You can change to L9 Sud at Zona Universitària, to L5 at Sants Estació and at Vall d’Hebron, to L1 and L8 at Espanya, to L2 and the Montjuïc Funicular at Paral·lel, to L1, L6 and L7 at Catalunya, to L2 and L4 at Passeig de Gràcia, and to L5 at Diagonal, where a walkway leads to Provença (L6 and L7). At Trinitat Nova it connects with L4 and L11, and between Zona Universitària, Palau Reial and Maria Cristina it meets the Trambaix tram.
Stations on Line 3
26 stations, 9 of them with an interchange to another line (marked with a ring and the colours of the other lines).
Zona Universitària – Trinitat Nova
26 stations
Timetable and frequency of Line 3
| Line | Mon–Thu | Fri & eve of holidays | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L3 | 05:00 – 00:39 | 05:00 – 02:39 | 05:00 – all night | all night – 00:40 |
Earliest first departure and latest last departure at any station on the line, for a week without public holidays. Each station page has its own times by direction.
| Line | Interval Monday–Thursday, 08:00 | Sunday, 12:00 | Measured at |
|---|---|---|---|
| L3 | 3.6 min | 7.5 min | Passeig de Gràcia |
Average interval worked out from the trains per hour and direction that the operator schedules at that station.
History
Its core is the Gran Metro, the concession granted to the Banco de Vizcaya by a Royal Order of 12 February 1921. The first section, between Catalunya and Lesseps, opened in December 1924 with four stations: Lesseps, Diagonal, Aragó (now Passeig de Gràcia) and Catalunya. Fontana and the extension to Liceu were added in 1925, and Ferran station in 1946. After the city took over the company, the two branches of the Gran Metro became Line III; in 1972 it lost the Via Laietana branch, which reopened in 1973 as Line IV.
On 1 March 1968 Ferran closed so the line could be extended to Drassanes, which opened in December that year; in June 1970 it reached today’s Paral·lel, then called Poble Sec. In 1975 “Line III-B” opened between Zona Universitària and Paral·lel, running separately until the two were merged on 5 June 1982. Then came Vallcarca, Penitents, Vall d’Hebron and Montbau in November 1985; Mundet, Valldaura and Canyelles in September 2001, each designed by a different team of architects; and Roquetes and Trinitat Nova in October 2008, a year late because of the Carmel tunnel collapse. In 2022 the names “La Rambla | Drassanes” and “Vall d’Hebron | Sant Genís” were approved.
How the service runs
At Passeig de Gràcia, on weekdays, 16 to 17 trains an hour run in each direction in the morning peak, one every 3.5 to 4 minutes, and 12 to 13 around midday, one every 5. In the afternoon it rises again to about 15 an hour, and from 22:00 the interval stretches to 8 or 10 minutes. On Saturdays and Sundays about 8 trains an hour run during the day, roughly one every 7 and a half minutes. There is continuous service on Saturday night, with trains every 9 to 12 minutes in the small hours, and on Fridays service runs until 2:00.
The trains
Today the line uses 5000- and 7000-series trains; in 2020 second-generation 5000-series units arrived, bought in 2018 to increase frequencies. The 3000 series, which entered service in 1986 to replace the 300-series cars the line had started with, was withdrawn on 16 February 2024, and the last 2000-series train ran in June 2024.
Frequently asked questions
It was the section opened in 1975 between Zona Universitària and Paral·lel. It used a third rail to power the trains instead of the rigid overhead line on the rest of the route, so it ran separately and you had to change at Paral·lel. It was merged with Line III on 5 June 1982.
Ferran, opened in 1946 just 122 metres from Liceu. It closed for good on 1 March 1968, and in December that year the extension to Drassanes opened; in 2022 the ATM approved the name “La Rambla | Drassanes” for that station.
At Catalunya the three lines share a station. Further up, at Diagonal, a walkway connects with ProvençaES, the FGC station served by L6 and L7.