Overview

• A four-story, 120-metre-long nave acústica began construction this month on Gran Via near Plaza Espanya to shelter the L8 extension’s tunnel boring machine.
• The €300 million project will link the Llobregat-Anoia and Barcelona-Vallès lines by excavating a 3.7 km tunnel and adding three stations at Hospital Clínic, Francesc Macià and Gràcia.
• Tunnel boring is set to commence in the first quarter of 2026, with the metal enclosure remaining in place for at least a year to attenuate day-and-night noise.
• Voluntary inspections and continuous monitoring have been carried out on 1,245 apartments along the planned route to ensure buildings are unaffected by tunneling.
• Work began in January 2024 and is projected to take at least five years, ultimately increasing the metropolitan network’s annual ridership by about 20 million passengers.