Sondika station

Railway station in Sondika, Basque Country, Spain

Preceding station	Euskotren Trena			Following station
Larrondo towards Lezama		Line E3		Ola towards Kukullaga
Zangroiz towards Lutxana		Line E3a		Terminus

Sondika is a railway station in Sondika, Basque Country, Spain. It is owned by Euskal Trenbide Sarea and operated by Euskotren. It lies on the Txorierri line.

History

The station opened in 1894 as part of the Lutxana–Mungia line. The station was located to the north of the current station, close to where Bilbao Airport was later built. In 1908 the Bilbao–Lezama line was rerouted through a new alignment which included a connection to the station. Trains started running from Bilbao to Sondika through the Bilbao–Lezama line on 23 July 1909.^[2] The line was electrified in 1949.^[3]

The line from Sondika to Mungia closed in March 1975 due to the lengthening of the airport runway. The station was rebuilt in its current location in 1992,^[4]^[5] thus allowing for a direct connection between Lutxana and Lezama. After line 1 of the metro took over the Bilbao–Plentzia line in 1995, service on the Lutxana–Sondika line was suspended due to low passenger demand.^[6]

During the construction of metro line 3, the old tunnel through Artxanda was closed. As a result, trains on the Txorierri line ran from Lutxana to Lezama from November 2015 to April 2017.^[7] After the opening of line 3 in April 2017, train service on the Txorierri line was completely restored, with its trains running through the new tunnel and the metro line.^[8] However, an hourly service from Lutxana to Sondika was kept.^[6]

If the long-planned railway line to the airport is built, the station will be rebuilt underground as part of a new alignment between Ola and Sondika that will remove the need to reverse at the latter station.^[9]

Services

The station is served by Euskotren Trena line E3. It runs every 15 minutes (in each direction) during weekdays, and every 30 minutes during weekends.^[10] The station is also served on weekdays by an hourly shuttle service (line E3a) to Lutxana.^[11]

References

^ "Accesibility". Euskotren. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
^ Peris Torner, Juan (21 March 2012). "Ferrocarril de Bilbao a Lezama (Suburbanos de Bilbao)". Spanish Railway (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
^ Peris Torner, Juan (19 April 2012). "Ferrocarril de Luchana a Munguía (Suburbanos de Bilbao)". Spanish Railway (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 April 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
^ Olaizola Elordi, Juanjo (2017). "La red ferroviaria vasca, del colapso a la modernidad (1977-2017)" (PDF). VII Congreso de Historia Ferroviaria (in Spanish). Asociación Ibérica de Historia Ferroviaria. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
^ Olaizola Elordi, Juanjo (2020). Línea 3, eslabón clave (PDF) (in Spanish). Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco. p. 38. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
^ ^a ^b Gude, E. (30 March 2017). "La línea entre Lutxana y Sondika "en pruebas" abrirá de lunes a viernes". El Correo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
^ "Euskotren pone en marcha la conexión entre Ola y Sondika". Deia (in Spanish). 21 December 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
^ Domínguez, José (9 March 2018). "La Línea 3 del metro aumenta un 20% los viajeros en la red de Euskotren en el Txorierri". El Correo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 16 May 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
^ G. Alonso, Alberto (22 August 2021). "El metro dibuja su tramo final para alcanzar el aeropuerto". Deia (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
^ "L3-E3" (PDF). Euskotren (in Spanish and Basque). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 September 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
^ "Horario lanzadera" (PDF). Euskotren (in Spanish and Basque). Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2022.