Madrid Metro Line 1
From Pinar de Chamartín to Valdecarros, Madrid’s oldest metro line crosses the city from north to south-east by way of Sol.
About Line 1
There are 33 stations between Pinar de Chamartín, in the Manoteras neighbourhood, and Valdecarros, in the Ensanche de Vallecas. It follows the Bravo Murillo and Santa Engracia axis through Tetuán and Chamberí, crosses much of the Centro district via Gran Vía and Sol, and south of Atocha carries on along Avenida Ciudad de Barcelona and Avenida de la Albufera towards Puente de Vallecas and Villa de Vallecas.
You can change to Lines 9 and 10 and to intercity buses at Plaza de Castilla, to Line 2 at Cuatro Caminos and Sol, to Line 3 at Sol, to Line 4 at Bilbao and to the circular line at Pacífico and Cuatro Caminos. There are Cercanías (Renfe’s commuter-rail network) connections at Chamartín, Sol, Atocha and Sierra de Guadalupe. The line crosses Line 7, but there is no direct interchange between the two.
Length: the sum of the distances between consecutive stations published by the Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid (CRTM) in its open data (network routes, updated on 29 May 2026), in one direction and counting every section of the line. It measures from the first station to the last, without the track that continues beyond the termini, so other published figures for the length of the line may be higher. Neither Metro de Madrid nor the CRTM publishes an official length for each line.
Stations on Line 1
33 stations, 9 of them with an interchange to another line (marked with a ring and the colours of the other lines).
Pinar de Chamartín – Valdecarros
Main route, 33 stations
History
King Alfonso XIII opened the first section, between Cuatro Caminos and Sol, on 17 October 1919: eight stations and 3.48 km of what was then called the North-South line (línea Norte-Sur), which was also the first metro line in Spain. From the Cuatro Caminos depot, designed by Antonio Palacios, trains entered the tunnel through a monumental arch. On 26 December 1921 the line reached Mediodía station, today’s Estación del Arte; on 8 May 1923 it got to the Puente de Vallecas bridge, and on 6 March 1929 it climbed Bravo Murillo as far as Tetuán.
It reached Plaza de Castilla on 4 February 1961 and Portazgo on 2 July 1962. In that decade the platforms were lengthened from 60 to 90 m to take six-car trains, works that put Chamberí station out of service. Atocha Renfe, linked to the Puerta de Atocha railway complex, opened in 1988. Then came Miguel Hernández on 7 April 1994, Congosto on 3 March 1999 and, in 2007, Chamartín (30 March), Pinar de Chamartín (11 April) and Valdecarros (16 May).
On 1 December 2018 the old Atocha station was renamed Estación del Arte, and in early 2022 Atocha Renfe became simply Atocha. The two big recent upgrades closed the line section by section: in 2016, to replace the overhead wire with a rigid catenary, and from 24 June to 14 October 2023, to swap the ballasted track for slab track between Sol and Valdecarros. Atocha did not reopen until 1 December that year.
Hours and frequency
On weekdays trains run every 2.5 to 3.5 minutes between 7:30 and 9:30, every 4.5 to 5.5 minutes around midday and every 3.5 to 4.5 minutes in the late afternoon, from 17:00 to 20:00. On Saturdays and public holidays the early-morning interval is 7 to 8 minutes, dropping to between 4.5 and 6 from 10:00. From 23:00 there is a train every 7.5 minutes every day; after midnight, Sunday to Thursday, the gap widens to 15 minutes, while on Fridays and Saturdays it stays at 7.5 until 1:00 and then becomes 10.5.
The trains
This is a narrow-gauge line, and in its first decades it ran four-car trains that could not cope with demand; lengthening the platforms to 90 m in the sixties allowed six-car trains. The then-new 2000 series arrived with the 1991-1995 expansion plan. The infrastructure has since been renewed in two phases: rigid catenary in 2016 and slab track in 2023.
Frequently asked questions
It is a closed station under Plaza de Chamberí, between Iglesia and Bilbao. It fell out of use when the platforms were lengthened in the sixties, because it was only about 200 m from Iglesia and extending it was difficult. In 2008 it reopened, restored with its original decoration, as a visitor centre run by the Andén 0 project.
The station opened in 1921 was called Atocha until 1 December 2018, when it became Estación del Arte. The next stop, opened in 1988 as Atocha Renfe and connected to Cercanías and the Puerta de Atocha railway station, was renamed Atocha in early 2022. If you are catching a train, that second one is the station you want.
No. The two lines cross, but there is no direct interchange between them. To get from one to the other you have to change via a third line; the route planner shows you the combinations.