Introduction
From 1892 to 1957, a steam-powered rack railway operated to access the mountain of Montserrat, almost without interruption. Difficulties in accessing the mountain on foot or in animal-drawn vehicles have favored the economic viability of implementing this type of transport.
As the twentieth century progressed, passenger transport declined. Indeed, the competition brought about by vehicular traffic at an early stage in the development of private motorization led to the train making its final journey on May 12th, 1957.
In the 1990's, when a high degree of private motorization was achieved, a different problem arose. The Montserrat Mountain Nature Park, and in particular the monastery area, saw an increase in the number of visitors year after year, as well as the number of vehicles and coaches. At various times of the year, the road access and the upper car park were saturated, with the deterioration of the environment that this meant. For these reasons, in 2001 work began on the reconstruction of the zip train line between Monistrol and the monastery of Montserrat, which was completed in 2003 and since then it has operated the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC).
The trip will include a visit to the Monastery of Montserrat area and to two unique structures, the Centennial Viaduct and the Bridge over the Santa Maria torrent.
 Montserrat Monastery |
Centennial Viaduct
It is a 450 meter long viaduct consisting of 9 spans of 45, 55, 55, 55, 55, 55, 45, 70 and 45 meters. The bridge spans the river Llobregat, the C-55 road and the exit road from the car park at Monistrol Vila station. The deck is a continuous metal lattice supported on 8 piles of reinforced concrete, of great slenderness, based on rock. It supports a single track that connects the Monistrol tunnel with the platforms of the Monistrol Vila station.
 Centennial Viaduct |
 Centennial Viaduct |
Santa Maria torrent bridge
This is a structure formed by a post-tensioned concrete deck, of variable width that allows the general track to be divided into two tracks that serve the two platforms of the Monestir station, the upper station of the Montserrat rack railway. The bridge spans a torrent that registers large avenues from time to time, with a large drag of solids. It consists of 3 spans of 24, 25 and 24 meters, which add up to a total length of 73 meters. Parallel to the roads there is a pedestrian promenade that connects the area of the Monastery with the Montserrat Cableway.
 Santa Maria torrent bridge |
Date: July 15th, 2022
Language of the visit: English
Tentative schedule:
Meeting Pl. Espanya: 11:15 am
Exit Pl. Espanya: 11:36 am
Train-rack interchange in Monistrol Link: 12:48 p.m.
Monistrol Vila stop and Centennial viaduct explanation: 12:55 p.m.
Zip train climb: 13:35 p.m.
Arrival to Monastery and bridge over the torrent of Sta. Maria visit: 13:48 p.m.
Free visit to the Monastery and Montserrat area: 14:30
Meeting point Montserrat: FGC lobby at Pl. Espanya Station, in front of the Customer Service Center (CAC) (see photo below). In order to get to the meeting point, we recommend you to enter the station through the access located at Gran Via.
 |