Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 18, 2016

The R1 is a line of Rodalies de Catalunya's Barcelona commuter rail service, operated by Renfe Operadora. It runs northwards from the Barcelona area to the southern limits of the province of Girona, passing through the coastal Maresme region. Since 2014, some services have been extended further north towards Portbou, near the French border. These services are designated RG1 and are considered part of the Girona commuter rail service. According to 2008 data, the line's annual ridership is 39.6 million, the highest on any line of the Barcelona commuter rail service, with an average weekday ridership of 102,214. R1–RG1 trains primarily run on the Barcelona–Mataró–Maçanet-Massanes railway, the first railway line in the Iberian Peninsula. They use the Meridiana Tunnel in Barcelona, where they share tracks with Rodalies de Catalunya's Barcelona commuter rail service lines and, as well as regional rail line R12, calling at Sants, Plaça de Catalunya and Arc de Triomf stations. Together with lines, R3, and R4, the R1 (then simply numbered line 1) started services in 1989 as one of the first lines of the Cercanías commuter rail system for Barcelona, known as Rodalies Barcelona. Originally, R1 services had two southern termini, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and Barcelona–El Prat Airport stations. In the long-term future, it is projected that the R1 will take over the southern section of line R2, creating a major north–south axis that will extend along the coast of the Barcelona metropolitan area.