From left to right – original orange and white livery as delivered for the pre-series and the 1st full-production batch, “CRTM” red livery introduced in the latter half of the 1980s and the current white and blue livery, including the recent update with blue doors as part of accessibility improvement mesaures.

 

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All the necessary dependencies are either included in this package or are avaible on the DLS. Soundscript by Rizky_Adiputra.

 

By the 1970s, the Madrid Metro had a problem: since the 1950s network expansions had been planned, directed and fully financed by the government, but operating these new sections, including rolling stock provision, was left with little to no state financial support to the private Madrid Metro company, an historically and chronically insolvent institution.

This functional “divorce”, wich stemmed from the Francoist state’s policy of functional state intervention into the economy, but little actual pubblic ownership, over the years had obviously led to a difficult situation, with the network continuously being expanded at the behest of the government while the Compañía Metropolitano de Madrid was unable, and in some cases unwilling, to keep up with the necessary investments.

This came to a head by the late 1970s, crucially in the rolling stock sector: on the newer wide-profile lines (6 & 7) CMM had to make-do with chronically undersized fleets, resulting in services being run by as short trains as possible, at abysmal frequencies, such as two-car sets running at 15 minute intervals off-peak for instance.

However, the situation on the older narrow-profile lines (1 to 5 and the “Suburban” line) was even more dire – with all the finances of the historically chronically cash-strapped CMM going to the procurement of new rolling stock for the newer wide-profile lines, no new rolling stock had been purchased since 1968 (these being the 1000 Series trains for the then-newly-built Line 5) and crucially, no replacement had ever been made, and that since the opening of the metro itself! The rolling stock situation on the narrow profile was indeed a complete nightmare, with the majority of the fleet being formed of the “Classicos” (“Classic”) cars, the mothly collection of various pre-war types and designs that ranged from 1945 all the way to the original, 70-year rolling stock that the metro had opened with in 1919!

Thing started to change in the late 1970s when, after Franco’s death, the newly-democratic Spanish government directly intervened in 1978 by adopting a special funding and renewal plan and by placing CMM under close supervision by a dedicated committe of administrators nominated by the ministry of transportation.

The “Special Maintainance, Improvement and Investment” plan, as promulgated by decree law 13/1978 on June 7th fetaured three components – a short-term plan to procure additional wide-profile rolling stock for the lines due to open (chiefly Line 6 and it’s extensions), a replacement of two hundred cars of the oldest narrow-profile serieses and a medium-term plan to upgrade and improve the earliest narrow-profile lines (chiefly Lines 1, 2, 3 and the “Ramal”).

An immediate whole replacement was unfeasable, both technically and economically, and as such, the replacement phase had to be declined in phases, with some adaptations made – specifically the new trains, to be designated as the “2000” Series and to be built as a combination of the 1000 Series’ dimensions with the modern equipment of the wide-profile 5000 Series were to be initally introduced only on Lines 2, 3 and 4: all the 1000 Series sets would be concentrated on Line 5 (where the majority already ran) and for the time being, the remaining “Clasicos” cars would be concentrated on Line 1.

The design was further refined in the early 1980s, with construction being contracted to CAF in February 1982 for six permanently-coupled two-car sets, a total of twelve “Pre-Series” cars forming two six-car trains, with traction motors supplied by General Eléctrica Española (GEE, the spanish subsidiary of the american General-Electric conglomerate) and traction control supplied by the West-German AEG.

Originally supposed to be fitted with a current-chopper control (as were the 2nd batch 5000 Series trains delivered around the same time), the design was later changed, likely on AEG suggestions, to the very-german “VCVF” system, an inverter forerunner system, technically akin to a chopper but controlling brush-less three-phase AC motors – something that had been recently developed by Siemens and AEG and was already proving quite reliable and apt on a number of german light-rail and subway systems (Munich and Nuremberg specifically). Consequently, the specification for the traction motors changed as well, but GEE remained as the chosen supplier.

While the 12 pre-series cars (numbered M2001-M2002 to M2011-M2012) were still under construction, in April 1984 an additional order for 50 “full-production” cars was placed (R2025-M2026 to R2073-M2074), intended for Line 2, wich was the first Madrid Metro line being retrofitted with a modern ATP system. The key difference with the Pre-Series being that the full-production sets were to be formed as “M-R” (Motor-Trailer) sets, rather than Motor-Motor, a choice that had been made for the pre-series in order to provide redundancy for the “untested” VCVF equipment.

The “Pre-Series” batch of 12 cars was delivered to Canillejas depot between the 20th of June 1984 and the 14th of February 1985, with testing beginning on the 25th of January, and final acceptance and entry into revenue service of the 2000 Series on Line 2 on the 6th of February 1985.

A resounding success, the 2000 Series cars provided a much-needed relief from the decrepit “Clasicos”, with their modern angular, yet pleasant and friendly look, and their soft white and orange livery providing a stark contrast with older rolling stock.

At around the same time, with the further democratization of Spain, a system of devolved regional governments, with considerable autonomy in a number of sectors, among wich regional transit, was devised, with Madrid and it’s Metropolitan Area forming the “Community of Madrid” in 1983. As part of the newly-devolved powers in transit planning and financing, the Community of Madrid formed the “Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid” (“Madrid Regional Transportation Consortium”) in May 1985 as an atuhority in charge of planning transit expansion, coordinate all the operators concerned and administer “in detail” regional funding.

With the agency’s creation, on initiative of the community of Madrid and with the assent of the central government, the Madrid Metro was immediately entrusted to CRTM, with the “oversight committe” that had steered the system on behalf of the central government since 1978 being disbanded. As such, the Madrid Metro was finally brought under full pubblic ownership on the 31st of December 1986, ironically “nationalized” by the regional government.

As part of CRTM’s takeover, and the availability of additional funding (thanks chiefly to the economic boom at the time, as a direct consequence of democratization) an order for 100 more cars (R2101-M2102 to R2199-M2200) was placed, these being identical to the 1st “Full-Production” batch with the exception of the color scheme, with the new third-batch trains being delivered in a superbly funky red and white color scheme based on CRTM’s “corporate identity”.

In early 1987, the 2000 Series was cleared for Line 3, entering revenue services on the 2nd of February, and soon later, on the 6th of March, 2000 Series trains began revenue services on Lines 1 and 4. Finally, on the 2nd of September, the 2000 Series entered service on Line 5, thus covering all narrow-profile lines and starting to replace the late-1960s-vintage 1000 Series as well. In 1989, with enough 2000 Series sets available to replace them, the decrepit “Clasicos” were finally retired, after 70 years of non-stop-service since the opening of the metro itself. In the same 70th birthday year of the Metro, the system was spun-off from CRTM and transferred to the dedicated pubblicly-owned “Madrid Metro S.A.” company that has been operating it ever since (altough still under CRTM supervision and directions).

In the following years three further 2000 Series batches were delivered to replace the 1000 Series of Line 5 and the older 300 Series sets (both the 1950s-vintage ones and the stop-gap mid-1970s cars) on Line 10 (the former “Suburbano” line), these being the 4th batch consisting of 78 cars (R2301-M2302 to R2377-M2378), the 5th and largest one, 224 cars (R2401-M2402 to R2623-M2624) and the 6th and final one, 78 cars (R2625-M2626 to R2701-M2702). The 2000 Series would enter service on Line 10 in 1992, initially jointly with the 300 Series. The older stock would be retired in 1997 with the line’s extension to Avenida de America and the “absorption” of the “old” Line 8 to Fuencarral, date from wich the 2000 Series would be the only type of train in service on the line.

Thus, by the Mid-1990s, the total size of the 2000 Series fleet was of 542 cars, or 271 M-R or M-M 2-car sets forming 90 six-car trains (plus one spare 2-car set) and servicing all narrow-profile lines.

By then, additional oders for new narrow-profile rolling stock were changed to an updated derivative of the 2000 Series, known as “2000B Series”, designed by CAF jointly with Bombardier and ADtranz and introduced in 1995 on Lines 10 and 5 to replace the last remaining 300 and 1000 Series sets, all of wich were retired by the early ‘2000s.

Thruought the latter-half of the 1990s, the 2000 Series, as with the rest of Madrid Metro’s “up-to-date” rolling stock began to be repainted in the current blue and white livery.

In addition, with the resumption of subway construction (and at a rapid pace at that!) some “extra” 2000 Series sets made surplus by the acquisiton of the 2000B Series (especially on Line 5) were moved temporarily to newly-opened lines built to the wide-profile standard, but unable to use the “right trains” due to a lack of wide-profile rolling stock. Such case was with the “current” Line 8, inaugurated on the 25th of June 1998 between Mar de Cristal and Campo de las Naciones (later renamed Feira de Madrid) and later extended to Barajas, with 2000 Series sets providing service on the line (with station platforms retrofitted with temporary “extension boards” to bridge the gap between the train and the platform) until the 1st of December 2001, when, contextually with the line’s extension to Nuevos Ministerios, new wide-profile trains were delivered, in the form of the CAF-built 8000 Series, with the temporary retrofits being removed and the catenary voltage raised from 600 to 1500V DC.

A similar story was had with Line 11, built to a wide-profile standard and initially inaugurated in 1998 by wide-profile trains, due to low demand (correlated to the short lenght of the line) and the necessity for the wide-profile stock elsewhere, in October 2000 the line was adapted to narrow-profile rolling stock (by fitting the afromentioned “platform extension boards”), with surplus 2000 Series stock entering in service on the 11th. Five years later, in 2006, contextual with the extension to La Peseta and the catenary voltage increase from 600 to 1500v DC, the 2000 Series trains were replaced with their multi-voltage narrow-profile successors, the 3000 Series (Line 11 would be finally “de-retrofitted” to recieve wide-profile trains, also in the form of the 8000 Series, in September 2010).

2000 Series trains would also cease all services on Line 10 on the 3rd of August 2002, being replaced by the AnsaldoBreda-built 7000 and 9000 Serieses with the line’s conversion to the wide-profile standard and 1500v DC catenary.

With the 2000 Series’ “operational area” shrinking, by the mid-2000s, the first retirements began, also partly fueled by the introduction of a successor, the afromentioned 3000 Series. In 2005, the R2025-M2026 two-car set was retired from revenue services and converted into an inspection train, the “Vehículo Auscultador de Instalaciones” (“Infrastructure Detector Vehicle”) or “VAI”, numbered AR101-AM102. On the 9th of July 2010, the whole nearly-30-year old “Pre-Series” batch of six two-car set was retired from service, reducing the 2000 Series fleet to 265 2-car M-R sets, or 88 6-car sets plus one spare 2-car set.

At the end of summer 2006, on the 30th of September, the 2000 Series was retired from Line 3, being replaced by the 3000 Series. A similat fate was suffered by the 2000 Series sets assigned to Line 4 in 2007 and on Line 2 and the “Ramal” shuttle between Opera and Principe Pio in 2008. Since then, the “narrow-profile” fleet was redistributed to have uniform fleets between lines – all the remaining 2000 Series sets were thus concentrated on Line 1, where they still operate, having been retrofitted with CBTC equipment in 2009. Conversely, the 2000B Series was concentrated on Line 5 and the newer 3000 Series was assigned the remaining Lines 2, 3, 4 and R.

As of today, sixty-eigth 2000 Series trains are still in service, exclusively on Line 1, formed semi-permanently (due to the CBTC equipment being fitted only at the very end cabs) as six-car sets, for a total of 408 cars or nearly exactly 3/4 of the original fleet.

With the design now 40 year old, and the “youngest” trains having already surpassed the 30-year mark, their full replacement at the hands of a new series of 40 trains to be built by CAF is envisioned by 2026.

While not as longeval, nor “vintage-charming” as the “Clasicos” (for wich the 70-year old service life will certainly remain unbeaten), the 2000 Series remains notable, as it’s introduction coincided with the end of the directorial-style network expansion completely and functionally divorced from the privately-owned and chronically insolvent CMM and has marked the start of the “current” Madrid Metro – in pubblic ownership, under CRTM supervision and under the Madrid Community’s auspices.

As Madrid Metro’s first properly “modern” train for the narrow-profile network, set M2001-M2002, the first delivered “Pre-Series” set was set aside for preservation, and it is currently safely stored inside Canillejas Madrid Metro’s depot, along with some of the preserved “Clasicos”, 1000s and 300s it had replaced 30 years earlier.

 

Trivia:

While the nickname of the 2000B Series – “bubbles” – is well known, and has even been made official by Madrid Metro, the 2000 Series also has a nickname, altough less well-known: “Panda”.

This originates back in the mid-1980s, at the time of their introduction – The white livery, “friendly shape” and docile nature led the 2000 Series to be nicknamed after Chu-Lin, a Panda at the Madrid Zoo that at the time was very popular with visitors.