The Granota Train

The Granota Train is a tribute to those hardworking people who with their own hands designed and built a new type of vehicle in the midst of the post-war period, with a modern look and technology in the historic Sarrià workshop. For this reason, as of today, FGC has put it back into circulation and thus helps present generations to know the railway heritage of our country.

Starting from the old Ferrocarril de Sarrià to Barcelona (FSB), put into service in 1863, the suburban extensions were built, already as a standard-gauge electrified railway. After the Civil War, the engineers of the workshop in Sarrià designed a new type of modernized vehicle, the 400 series, called by travelers "Granota train" (Frog train) because of its colors and characteristic lanterns on the front. It was first put into circulation in 1944.

On June 20, 1996, commemorating the anniversary with several official events, the last "Granota" trains of the 400 series were rolled out to be replaced by the new units of the 112 series. Subsequently, a good part of the vehicles were sold in the railways of Cuba (27 vehicles), some were transformed and three of them were preserved as historical material.

Its historical interest is undoubted, and it represents an entire era in the history of the railway that today operates Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC). They were built in the midst of the post-war period, with advanced aesthetics and comfort for those years. The "Granota" represented the bulk of the rolling stock of these lines for forty years.