Metro Bilbao was and it is a public transport company founded in 1995 of metro system serving the city of Bilbao and the region of Greater Bilbao. Access to the metro is provided by 'fosteritos', glass structures affectionately named after the architect who designed them, sir Norman Foster. These modern-looking tunnels stand attractive alongside the modern and innovative interior of the stations.
Large caverns of a 160m2 cross section were dug for stations, creating large open spaces, as opposed to the traditional sets of linked tunnels. For example the ticket line is in the same space as the trains, for this purpose steel structures called 'mezzanines' have been built over the tracks. Trains are fully accessible by lifts and escalators. Materials such as steel and concrete have been used throughout.
Its lines have a ""Y"" shape, with two lines that transit both banks of the Nervion river and then combine to form one line that ends in the south of Bilbao. It has been configured as the backbone of the transport public in the territory of Bizkaia. It has transported 87,615,088 passengers in 2012. The rail infrastructure consists of one meter railway, 43,28 km network route an 40 stations (24 underground stations(and 16 overground) and 10 substations.
The underground system consists of an extensive range of facilities, some of which are auxiliary but which define the quality of the service. At the stations there are escalators and moving walkways.
The Bilbao underground system features a global safety system on its entire network known as ATP (Automatic Train Protection), as well as an Automatic Operation system known as ATO.
The complex operation of the Metro is controlled and supervised from an Operations Control Centre (OCC) located at the Metro headquarters in a type of bunker complety protected.