Areeta (Metro Bilbao)


Areeta is an underground station of line 1 of Metro Bilbao. It is located in the neighbourhood of Areeta, in the municipality of Getxo. In its current form, the station opened on 11 November, 1995, replacing a much older overground station that existed in the same place.

History

The original station, named Las Arenas, was first opened on June 30, 1887, as the northern terminus station of the Bilbao-Las Arenas railway, which connected the city of Bilbao with Getxo by the estuary. It was an at-grade station, covered by a large train shed. The station was originally built as a cul-de-sac, but after the extension of the line to Plentzia in the decade of 1890, it was renovated as trains continued along the coast past the station. The station had two side platforms and was one of the most relevant train stations of the entire railway.
Starting in 1947, the narrow-gauge railway companies that operated within the Bilbao metropolitan area were merged to become Ferrocarriles y Transportes Suburbanos de Bilbao S.A., shortened FTS and the first precedent of today's Metro Bilbao. In 1977, the FTS network was transferred to the public company FEVE and in 1982 to the recently created Basque Railways. In the decade of 1990s, it was decided the station, just like the most of the former railway line, would be integrated into Metro Bilbao's line 1 with the demolition of the original station building and the construction of a new underground station.
The new underground station was designed by English architect Norman Foster and was opened to the public on 11 November, 1995. The new station was named Areeta instead, following the Basque language orthographic rules and in replacement of the former Las Arenas name, which was in Spanish.

Station layout

It is an at-grade, open-air station with two side platforms.

Access

Metro services

The station is served by Line 1 to Etxebarri, Ibarbengoa and Plentzia. There are trains to Etxebarri and Ibarbengoa every five to ten minutes, and services to Plentzia every twenty minutes.

Bus services