Barcelona Sants railway station

Barcelona Sants is the main railway station in Barcelona, owned by Adif, the railway infrastructure agency of Spain. It has become the Catalan capital's most important transport hub - being the centre of Rodalies de Catalunya including Barcelona suburban railway services and regional services, as well as the main inter-city station for national and international destinations. The station is named after Sants, the neighbourhood of Barcelona in which it is located. New parts of the station have recently been remodeled to accommodate the Spanish high-speed train AVE in the city, which started serving the city on 20 February 2008. There is also an adjacent international bus station bearing the same name, and a link to the Sants Estació metro station that serves the railway station.History and architectural designThe modern Sants station was built in the 1970s as part of construction of the first east-west regional line running under the centre of Barcelona. Over the last 30 years, Estació de Sants has since eclipsed the earlier França terminus (Barcelona Estació de França), from the 1920s, as Barcelona’s main railway station.The station was built in a modern airport style, with all of its many platforms sited underground. A hotel (Hotel Barceló Sants) occupies most of the upper floors of the station's main building.