Until 1989

The first railroad line departing from Madrid (the second in Spain and the third in the Iberian Peninsula) was built in 1851 between Madrid and Aranjuez. Soon the growing Spanish railway system was dominated by two large companies: the Compañía del Norte (Northern Company), who operated the lines between Madrid and the Atlantic North of Spain from the Estación del Norte (now Príncipe Pío), the Madrid, Zaragoza and Alicante railway (MZA) who operated the lines between the capital and the Mediterranean and Andalusian cities from the Atocha station. Another station, Delicias, served the line to Lisbon. Other smaller companies operated from Madrid, mostly in narrow gauge. After the Civil War, in 1941, the ailing railway companies were nationalised and joined in the new RENFE, and the narrow gauge lines were progressively closed, the last one in 1970. Almost at the same time, the new Chamartín station was built and all services were transferred to the main stations: Chamartín for the north and east-bound and the international services and Atocha for the south and west-bound trains. Both stations were linked by a tunnel, the Connection Railway Line (Línea de Enlaces Ferroviarios, a line to link the MZA lines with the Norte lines; the building started during the Second Republic and was only finished in 1967. The delays gave the tunnel the nickname of Túnel de la risa ("Tunnel of Laughter" (es)), after a fairground attraction very popular in the 1930s. The introduction of the RENFE 440 series trains in Madrid on two commuter lines in 1975 is considered to be the beginning of the modern Cercanías Madrid network.

The development of the towns around Madrid as bedroom communities only started in the late 1960s, in two different parts of the metropolitan area:

From 1989 to 2008

Aravaca station

In 1989, RENFE divided its services in business areas (áreas de negocio), each one with its own symbols and livery. The gold and blue colors were substituted by the red, white and gray colors of the new Cercanías brand and new network maps were made, where the lines were numbered: clockwise from the north, from Madrid to:

1. Cantoblanco (later extended to Colmenar Viejo)
2. Guadalajara
3. Aranjuez
4. Parla
5. Fuenlabrada
6. Móstoles
7. Las Rozas (then returning to Madrid)
8. El Escorial/Cercedilla
9. Cotos

In 1991, the tunnel passing through Madrid linking the C-5 and the C-6 was finished, disbanding the C-6 into a new suburb-to-suburb C-5.^[2]

At the same time, a shift was appreciated in the Metropolitan Madrid area growth; the new housing initiatives moved from the northeast and southwest part of the region to the northwest. RENFE then started an ambitious plan of growth of the Cercanías network: upgrading the 19th-century link from the decaying Norte station, now renamed Príncipe Pío, to the Atocha station, through the former industrial districts just south the Madrid downtown, burying it underground from Príncipe Pío to Delicias. This project, called the Pasillo Verde (Green Corridor), also created new streets (namely the Vallejo-Nájera Boulevard and the Imperial Boulevard) and housing projects. In 1996, the Pasillo Verde was finished. A new line, the C-10, was started linking Collado Villalba to Atocha Station through the Green Corridor.

In 2000, the line C-1 was extended to the towns of Alcobendas and San Sebastián de los Reyes, relieving the heavy road traffic between these towns and Madrid. In 2003, the C-7 line was extended to Colmenar Viejo, and in 2004, the C-5 to Humanes. Both extensions were ardently sought, because both cities were already linked by railroad to Madrid, so a Cercanías service was considered logical. The company also developed the so-called CIVIS services, linking important stations non-stop with downtown Madrid (see below at CIVIS).

From 2008 on

In 2008, the opening of the second north-south rail tunnel through Madrid allowed the C-3, from Aranjuez, and the C-4, from Parla, which used to finish at Atocha, to continue their route further to the north, the C-3 to El Escorial, and the C-4 to Alcobendas-San Sebastián de los Reyes or Colmenar Viejo alternatingly, passing through Madrid.^[3] The next year, the rail station of Puerta del Sol in downtown Madrid, part of this second tunnel, was inaugurated.^[4] The old C-1 line was absorbed into the C-4 and until 2011 there was no C-1 line, when it was revived as the railway to the Madrid-Barajas Airport was inaugurated.

Since 2011 no new lines have been enacted, and the link to the Parque Warner Madrid theme park was closed because of lack of use.^[5] The improvements have consisted of insertion of new stations in the existing lines and further connections to the Madrid Metro, such as the access from the Sol rail station to the Gran Vía Street, opened in 2021.

Operating times

Rather strangely for such a night-living city as Madrid, trains do not operate late at night, mostly for union and safety reasons. The first train to operate on weekdays is the 5:07 C-5 train from Móstoles/El Soto; the rest of the lines (except C-9) start to operate around 5:30 am. Line C-9, being a branch line located far away from central Madrid in the Sierra de Guadarrama, operates from 9:30 am to 10:30 pm.

The frequency of the trains depends on the size of the towns served and the traffic on the line. The central section of the network, from Atocha to Chamartín, through Recoletos and Nuevos Ministerios, has trains every 3–4 minutes (of various lines) on weekday peak hours; the farther branches of the C-8 line have trains every two hours on weekends.

All lines (except C-9) finish their operations around midnight.

Rolling stock

There are basically three series of trains operating in the Madrid Cercanías network:

446 series

built from 1989 on, these are the most usual cars in the network, together with 447 series. They are used for almost all lines. Their maximum speed is 100 km/h and can carry 704 passengers (204 seated) in each three cars. They use an AdTranz Propulsion & Control System, with CAF bogies and carbody.

447 series

built from 1993 on. Their maximum speed is 120 km/h and can carry 704 passengers (204 seated) in each three cars. They use a Siemens Propulsion & Control System, with CAF bogies and carbody.

450 series

the double-decker 450 series were built from 1990 on. Apart from the double deck, they are different from the other series in their almost all-seat configuration. They are mostly used on the C-2/C-8 and the C-1 line. Their maximum speed is 140 km/h and they can carry 1840 passengers (1008 seated).

They are also new modular and moderns trains, called Civia (462, 463, 464 or 465 series). They share the same design, the series number depending on the number of coaches, with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 coaches. They have been designed as a replacement for the old 440/440R series in the CIVIS services. In Madrid there are only 465 series.

The 446 and 447 series trains can serve in two composition: a single composition of three cars (called tren corto or short train) and a double composition of six cars (called tren largo or long train) As the double composition is the most usual, when a service is operated by a single composition it is announced previously.

Tickets

Zones in operation on the Cercanías Madrid, as of 2011

Cercanias is part of the Madrid Regional Transport Consortium (Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid) and follows its zoning system, based in concentric zones around Madrid. The price of the trips inside the network depends on the number of zones crossed.

Prices of one single trip ticket, in euro as of April 2015:^[6]

There is also the bonotren, that allows ten trips (prices range from € 5.65 to 26.20) and the abono mensual that allows two trips a day during a natural month (prices range from € 20.00 to 70.00) The abono mensual should not be confused with the Abono Transportes, which allows the use of the entire transport network – not just trains.

CIVIS

CIVIS is a special service which operates on some lines: first on C-10 and C-3, and later on C-2. The CIVIS services uses the direct railway line between Chamartín and San Fernando without stopping and thus provides faster through service to San Fernando and stations beyond.