The station is in the Atocha neighborhood of the district of Arganzuela. The original façade faces Plaza del Emperador Carlos V, a site at which a variety of streets converge, including the Calle de Atocha, Paseo del Prado, Paseo de la Infanta Isabel, Avenida de la Ciudad de Barcelona, Calle de Méndez Álvaro, Paseo de las Delicias, Paseo de Santa María de la Cabeza, and Ronda de Atocha. Atocha station is a railway complex, formed by the Madrid Atocha Cercanías and Madrid Puerta de Atocha stations of the Spanish national railways and a station of the Madrid underground called Atocha-Renfe. Renfe is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains since 1941.
History
At this site, Madrid's first railway station was inaugurated on 9 February 1851 under the name Estación de Mediodía. After the building was largely destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt by the MZA railway company and reopened in 1892. The architect for the replacement, in a wrought iron renewal style was Alberto de Palacio Elissagne, who collaborated with Gustave Eiffel. Engineer Henry Saint James also took part in the project. The name Atocha has become attached to the station because of the nearby basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Atocha. The train platforms were partly covered by a roof in the form of inverted hull with a height of approximately 27 meters and length of 157 meters. The steel and glass roof spreads between two brick flanking buildings. This complex of railway tracks expanded through the years. In 1985, a project of complete remodeling began, based on designs by Rafael Moneo. In 1992, the original building was taken out of service as a terminal, and converted into a concourse with shops, cafés, and a nightclub. Like the Orsay Museum in Paris, the concourse has been given a new function, that being in the case of Atocha a stunning covered tropical garden. A modern terminal was also designed by Moneo, and built in adjacent land to serve both the new High Speed trains, regional and local commuter lines. The main lines end in the new terminal; regional and commuter train platforms are located underground, at the ingress to a rail tunnel extending northward under the Paseo de la Castellana. The station is served by two Madrid Metro stations, Estación del Arte and the Atocha Renfe metro station. The latter was added when the new terminal building was constructed and is directly linked to the railway station, providing access to Line 1. A connection to Line 11 will be constructed in the first half of the 2020s.
On 11 March 2004, packed arriving commuter trains were bombed in a series of coordinated attacks, killing 191 people and wounding 1,800. The official investigation by the Spanish Judiciary determined the attacks were directed by a terrorist cell.
Memorials to the 2004 attack
On 10 June 2004, a somber and minimalist Atocha station memorial was dedicated to the victims of the attack. The monument includes a [|virtual shrine]. Visitors to the attacked stations can leave a hand silhouette and a message through special-purpose consoles. A second monument to this event, known as 11-M in Spain, is the Bosque del Recuerdo in the Parque del Buen Retiro near Atocha. This monument is made up of 192 olive and cypress trees, one for each person who died on that day, with a tree also planted in remembrance of the police officer who died on 3 April 2004, along with seven of the perpetrators whose capture was underway. Initially inaugurated as the Bosque de los Ausentes the site was renamed on the first anniversary of the devastating attack. The forest is surrounded by a stream, with water as a symbol of life.
