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Barcelona: Estació de França (Railway Station)





The Estació de França is one of the major railway stations in Barcelona. It's the second busiest railway station of the city after Barcelona-Sants in terms of regional and long-distance ridership. It is worth seeing in its own right for the restrained mix of classical and more modern style that is complete with decoration in marble, bronze and crystal and its modernista and art déco motifs. Over the last three decades it has been eclipsed as Barcelona's main station by the underground sprawl of Sants. Indeed, most other stations of Barcelona are at least partly underground. The station's status as the terminus for international trains from and through France ended with the discontinuance of the trenhotels in 2013, which coincided with the introduction of the new high-speed daytime services to Paris, Toulouse, Lyons and Marseilles, all of which call at or terminate at Sants. Part of the original building now belongs to Pompeu Fabra University, serving as its "França building".