Barcelona Metro Line 7
FGC’s Balmes line: seven stations between Catalunya and Av. Tibidabo, sharing the section as far as Gràcia with L6.
About Line 7
Line 7 is an FGC line (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya), not a TMB one. It carries a metro number on the integrated network map and you pay with the same ATM zone 1 tickets.
L7, also known as the Balmes line, is run by FGC as part of its Barcelona-Vallès line. It links Catalunya with Av. Tibidabo in seven stations, all in double-track tunnel. As far as GràciaES it shares tunnels with L6 and FGC’s other services; there it branches off and continues beneath Carrer de Balmes and Plaça Molina to Avinguda del Tibidabo.
At Catalunya you can change to L1, L3 and L6; at Provença to L6, and a walkway from Provença leads to Diagonal (L3 and L5). From Pl. MolinaES another walkway runs to Sant Gervasi on L6, although it is not listed as an official interchange. According to FGC, El Putxet is not accessible to people with reduced mobility.
Stations on Line 7
7 stations, 4 of them with an interchange to another line (marked with a ring and the colours of the other lines).
Catalunya – Av. Tibidabo
7 stations · run by FGC
Timetable and frequency of Line 7
| Line | Mon–Thu | Fri & eve of holidays | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L7 | 04:50 – 00:11 | 04:50 – 02:14 | 05:30 – 02:14 | 05:30 – 00:32 |
Earliest first departure and latest last departure at any station on the line, for a week without public holidays; on FGC every train that stops is counted (S and R trains too). Each station page has its own times by direction.
| Line | Interval Monday–Thursday, 08:00 | Sunday, 12:00 | Measured at |
|---|---|---|---|
| L7 | 7.5 min | 15 min | Pl. Molina |
Average interval worked out from the trains per hour and direction that the operator schedules at that station.
History
L7 has the same origins as L6: the Tren de Sarrià, opened in 1863 as a steam railway at street level and moved underground beneath Balmes from the twenties onwards. Its own branch, from Gràcia to Avinguda Tibidabo, already appeared in the 1933 Railway Links Plan with four new stations: Pl. Molina, Pàdua, El Putxet and Av. Tibidabo. It was 1,860 metres long, was inaugurated at the end of 1954 and opened to the public on 1 January 1955.
In 1977 the companies’ financial crisis led to the lines being handed provisionally to FEVE; in 1978 they passed to the Generalitat, and in 1979 FGC was created. In July 1996 the service joined the Metro del Vallès brand as the U7, coloured brown, and in 2003 it took a metro number as L7. In 2011, when a new turnback siding at Catalunya was ruled out, there was even talk of cutting L7 back to a shuttle between Gràcia and Av. Tibidabo to free up capacity for more frequent trains on the other services.
How the service runs
L7 is run by FGC. At Pl. Molina there are 8 trains an hour in each direction on weekdays between 7:00 and 23:00, one every 7 and a half minutes, and 4 an hour on Saturdays and Sundays, one every 15 minutes. No other services use the branch: every train through Pl. Molina is an L7. There is no all-night service on Saturday; on Fridays and Saturdays the last train runs at around 2:15. Between Catalunya and Gràcia, on the other hand, waits are shorter because L6 and other FGC trains share the track.
The trains
The line is served by 114 series trains, since the 111 series was withdrawn in 2014. The depot and main workshop of the Barcelona-Vallès line are at FGC’s operations centre in Rubí, which is also the traffic control centre; until 2004 they were at Sarrià.
Frequently asked questions
Because much of its route runs beneath Carrer de Balmes. The branch opened in 1954 leaves Gràcia and runs under Balmes and Plaça Molina to Avinguda del Tibidabo.
There is a walkway between Pl. Molina and Sant GervasiES on L6, but it is not listed as an official interchange. The official change between L6 and L7 is at Gràcia, Provença or Catalunya, where both lines stop.
It was inaugurated at the end of 1954 and opened to the public on 1 January 1955 as a new branch of the Tren de Sarrià, under a concession from Barcelona City Council to the Compañía del Ferrocarril de Sarrià a Barcelona.