Background

The City of Bilbao, in the Basque Country of Northern Spain, is going through a renaissance. The Bilbao Metro was opened in 1995 and since the Guggenheim Museum opened it's doors in 1997, tourist numbers have increased 20 fold. For its citizens, Bilbao Metro rapid transit system has proven very popular with 85 million passenger journeys per year. 

The modern station architecture was created by Sir Norman Foster, it sits well with Frank Gehry's masterpiece, reflecting Bilbao's ferrous history.

Bilbao had long dreamt of creating an expansive metro network. The river Nervion splits the port city, east to west, and with few bridges for a city of its size and industrial heritage a grand plan was called for. 

The Bizcaya Transport Consortium was set up in 1976 to address needs of the conurbation. It decided on 2 lines, serving both banks of the river in 1987. Line 1 was opened in 1995, followed by the first phase of Line 2 in 2002.