The R16 is a line of

Rodalies de Catalunya Rodalies de Catalunya (, ; "Commuter Rail of Catalonia") is the main commuter and regional rail system in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. It is administered by the Government of Catalonia and operated by the national rail operato ...

's regional rail service, operated by Renfe Operadora. It runs southwards from the

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

area to the town of

Tortosa Tortosa (; ) is the capital of the '' comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain. Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buinaca, one of the hig ...

, passing through the

Vallès Occidental Vallès Occidental () is a comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain. Sabadell and Terrassa are the comarcal capitals. Along with Vallès Oriental it forms the grand comarca of Vallès, and is part of the Barcelona metropolitan area. Physical geogr ...

, Baix Llobregat,

Garraf Garraf (), better known as El Garraf (), is a comarca (county) in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, northern Spain. It is named after the Garraf Massif. The GR 92 long distance footpath, which roughly follows the length of the Mediterrane ...

Baix Penedès Baix Penedès () is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. The area has been settled since the times of the Iberians, with ancient ruins remaining in Banyeres at ''Can Canyís'', in the capital El Vendrell at the village of ''Guàrdies'' and in Calafel ...

Camp de Tarragona Camp de Tarragona () is a natural and historical region of Catalonia, Spain. It includes a central plain, surrounded by the Serralada Prelitoral mountain chain on the west and in the north, with the Mediterranean sand beaches of the Costa Daur ...

Baix Ebre Baix Ebre (, "Lower Ebre") is a comarca (county), on the coast in southern Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by ...

and

Montsià Montsià () is the southernmost comarca (county) of Catalonia in Spain. Its capital and largest city is Amposta. History Almost all Montsià municipalities are part of the Taula del Sénia free association or mancomunitat (commonwealth). Munic ...

regions. With a total line length of , it extends notably beyond the limits of the

Barcelona metropolitan area The Barcelona urban area is an urban area in Catalonia (Spain) centered on the city of Barcelona and located less than 100 km south of the border with France. With a population of over 5 million, it is the most populous urban area on the Me ...

, along the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

coast. R16 trains run primarily on the

Valencia−Sant Vicenç de Calders railway The Valencia–Sant Vicenç de Calders railway, also known as the Valencia–Tarragona railway is a railway line in Spain, beginning at Valencia Nord and ending at Sant Vicenç de Calders. Route The line links Valencia to Tarragona and onward to ...

, using and/or as their southernmost terminus, and as its northern one. They use the Aragó Tunnel in Barcelona, where they share tracks with Rodalies de Catalunya's Barcelona suburban lines , and and regional rail lines , , , and , calling at

Sants Sants is a neighbourhood in the southern part of Barcelona. It belongs to the district of Sants-Montjuïc and is bordered by the districts of Eixample to the northeast, Les Corts to the northwest, and by the municipality of l'Hospitalet de Llobr ...

and Passeig de Gràcia stations, while they continue to share tracks with Barcelona commuter rail service as far as , and with the Tarragona commuter rail services and from Tarragona to Sant Vicenç de Calders and , respectively.

History

The current line scheme of the R16 started operating on , after the transfer of the services from Media Distancia Renfe to the Generalitat of Catalonia. Earlier, all the regional rail services carrying out the line Barcelona-Tarragona-Tortosa-Ulldecona were branded as Ca1 for the Catalan rail division, and 32 in the nationwide regional rail network. Its initial alignment used the line close to the coast passing through

Salou Salou () is a municipality of the '' comarca'' of Tarragonès, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The city is approximately 10 km from Tarragona and Reus on the Costa Daurada and 112 km from Barcelona. Founded by the Gre ...

Cambrils Cambrils () is a coastal town in the comarca of Baix Camp, province of Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. The town is near the tourist town Salou and is frequently visited by those travelling by air using Reus Airport. History Roman empire to Middl ...

and

L'Hospitalet de l'Infant L'Hospitalet de l'Infant, Catalonia, Spain is coastal suburb of Tarragona, inside the municipality of Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant and southwest of Baix Camp. The town center is on a rocky promontory flanked by an extensive beach ("L'Are ...

. On 13 January 2020, the line's alignment was partially altered, as a result of the opening of a new inland line between Tarragona and

L'Ametlla de Mar L'Ametlla de Mar (), also called ''la Cala'' ('the bay' or 'the beach'), is a municipality within the comarca of Baix Ebre, situated in the coastal region between the "Cap de Terme" (to the North) and the "barranc de l'Àliga" (to the south). I ...

, and the closure of the coastal line. The coastal line segment from Tarragona to

Port Aventura A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

was taken over by , which came into service the same day.

List of stations

The following table lists the name of each station served by line R16 in order from south to north; the station's service pattern offered by R16 trains; the transfers to other

lines, including both commuter and regional rail services; remarkable transfers to other transport systems; the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in which each station is located; and the fare zone each station belongs to according to the

Autoritat del Transport Metropolità The Metropolitan Transport Authority ( ca, Autoritat del Transport Metropolità, ATM) is a public consortium intended to coordinate the operation and project the expansion of the public transport system in the Barcelona metropolitan area. It is m ...

(ATM Àrea de Barcelona) fare-integrated public transport system and Rodalies de Catalunya's own fare zone system for Barcelona commuter rail service lines.

Notes

References

External links

Rodalies de Catalunya official website

Schedule for the R16
(PDF format) * Official

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

accounts by Rodalies de Catalunya for line
R16
with service status updates (tweets usually published only in Catalan) * Geographic data related to at OpenStreetMap
R16 (rodalia 16)
on Twitter. Unofficial Twitter account by Rodalia.info monitoring real-time information about the R16 by its users.

at trenscat.cat {{Rodalies de Catalunya 16 Railway services introduced in 2010