The R4 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 Barcelona commuter rail service, operated by Renfe Operadora. It runs northwards from the northern limits of the

province of Tarragona Tarragona (, ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is bordered by the provinces of Castellón, Teruel, Zaragoza, Lérida and Barcelona and by the Mediterranean Sea. The province's p ...

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 ...

, passing through the inland

Alt Penedès Alt Penedès () is a comarca (county) in Catalonia, northern Spain. The capital is Vilafranca del Penedès Vilafranca del Penedès, or simply Vilafranca (), is the capital of the ''comarca'' of the Alt Penedès in Catalonia, Spain. The Spanish ...

region. The line then continues towards central Catalonia, describing a U-shaped route through the Barcelona area. According to 2008 data, the line's average weekday ridership is 105,935, the highest on any line of the Barcelona commuter rail service after the . R4 trains use the

Meridiana Tunnel The Meridiana Tunnel is a railway tunnel in the Spanish city of Barcelona. Built in the 1970s, it replaced the previously existing railway that ran in a cutting in the middle of Avinguda Meridiana through the city centre. Services The tunnel is ...

in Barcelona, where they share tracks with Rodalies de Catalunya's Barcelona commuter rail service lines , and , as well as Girona commuter rail service line and regional rail line , 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 ...

Plaça de Catalunya Plaça de Catalunya (, meaning in English language, English "Catalonia Square"; sometimes referred to as Plaza de Cataluña, its Spanish name) is a large square in central Barcelona that is generally considered to be both its city centre and the p ...

and

Arc de Triomf The Arc de Triomf () is a triumphal arch in the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. It was built by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas as the main access gate for the 1888 Barcelona World Fair. The arch crosses over the wide central promenad ...

stations. South of Barcelona, they operate on the Sant Vicenç de Calders–Vilafranca del Penedès–Barcelona railway, using as their southernmost terminus, north of Barcelona they operate on the Lleida–Manresa–Barcelona railway, with no services terminating north of . Together with lines R1, and R3, the R4 (then simply numbered line 4) started services in 1989 as one of the first lines of the

Cercanías The commuter rail systems of Spain's major metropolitan areas are called ''Cercanías'' () in most of Spain, ''Rodalia'' () in the Valencian Community, ''Aldiriak'' () in the Basque Country and ''Rodalies'' () in Catalonia. There are twelve ''Ce ...

commuter rail system for Barcelona, known as

Rodalies Barcelona 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 operat ...

. Julià Sort (2013), p. 69–71 In 1995, the branch line to Cerdanyola Universitat railway station opened for passenger service and was incorporated as part of line R4. With the creation of Barcelona commuter rail service line in 2005, the branch line was transferred to the R7. In the long-term future, it is projected that the route of the R4 south of Barcelona will be transferred to the R2, and all its services will terminate at Barcelona–El Prat Airport.

List of stations

The following table lists the name of each station served by line R4 in order from south to north; the station's service pattern offered by R4 trains; the transfers to other

lines, including both commuter and

regional rail Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster serv ...

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.

2018 and 2019 derailments

On 20 November 2018, a train on this line derailed due to a landslide between the

Vacarisses Vacarisses is a village in the province of Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The municipality covers an area of and the population in 2014 was 6,218. The village is home to korfball Korfball ( nl, korfbal) is a ball spo ...

and

Vacarisses Torreblanca Vacarisses is a village in the province of Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The municipality covers an area of and the population in 2014 was 6,218. The village is home to korfball team CK Vacarisses Club Korfbal Vacarisses ...

stations, causing one death and 49 injuries. Another derailment occurred on 8 February 2019 between

Sant Vicenç de Castellet Sant Vicenç de Castellet is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Bages in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated near the confluence of the Llobregat river and the Cardener river. The railway station serves both the FGC line R5 between Barcelon ...

and

Manresa Manresa () is the capital of the Comarca of Bages, located in the geographical centre of Catalonia, Spain, and crossed by the river Cardener. It is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. The houses of Manresa are ...

, killing the driver and injuring several other people.

References

Bibliography

External links

Rodalies de Catalunya official website

Schedule for the R4
(PDF format)
R4 Rodalies (rod4cat)
on

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 ...

. Official Twitter account by Rodalies de Catalunya for the R4 with service status updates (tweets usually published only in Catalan) *
R4 (rodalia 4)
on Twitter. Unofficial Twitter account by Rodalia.info monitoring real-time information about the R4 by its users.

at trenscat.cat {{Rodalies de Catalunya 4 Railway services introduced in 1989