Avlo (, short for Alta Velocidad Low ''Cost'' literally ''"No Frills High Speed"'' ) is the name of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

low-cost

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

service, at the start between of the cities of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, by the national rail company Renfe.

History

Based on the popularity of the French low-cost high-speed rail service

Ouigo Ouigo () is a French low-cost service range of both conventional and high-speed trains. The literal translation of ''Ouigo'' from French to English is "yes go;" the name is also a play on words with the English homonym "we go." It is composed o ...

that was introduced in 2013 by French national rail company

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

, and keen to encourage train travel on the Spanish high-speed rail network, Renfe was interested in setting up their own such budget service. The service was announced on 6 February 2018 by the then

Minister of Public Works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

Íñigo de la Serna. It was provisionally named ''"eva"'', the name of the Renfe's own high-speed train service, AVE, spelt backwards and was aimed to be operational by the first quarter of 2019. The plan was for trains to run between Madrid and less frequently used AVE stations in Catalonia, namely

Camp de Tarragona Camp de Tarragona () is a natural and historical region of Catalonia, Spain. It includes a central plain, surrounded by the Serralada Prelitoral mountain chain on the west and in the north, with the Mediterranean sand beaches of the Costa Daur ...

and

El Prat de Llobregat El Prat de Llobregat (), commonly known as El Prat , is a municipality of Spain located in the ''comarca'' of Baix Llobregat in Catalonia. The Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport largely lies within the municipal limits. It is part of ...

, the latter only around 10 km from Barcelona's Sants terminus. This concept resembles the strategy of Avlo's potential low-cost competitor Ouigo, which goes to

Tourcoing Tourcoing (; nl, Toerkonje ; vls, Terkoeje; pcd, Tourco) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a Communes of France, commune within the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), ...

rather than the larger station

Lille-Europe Lille-Europe station (French: ''Gare de Lille-Europe'') is a SNCF railway station in Lille, France, on the LGV Nord high-speed railway. The station is primarily used for international Eurostar and long-distance SNCF TGV services, although some h ...

. However, after a series of delays and with the prospect of new competitors operating as of late 2020, such as the airline

Air Nostrum Air Nostrum, legally incorporated as ''Air Nostrum Líneas Aéreas del Mediterráneo, S.A.'', is a Spanish regional airline based in Valencia. It currently operates as a franchisee of Iberia as Iberia Regional and an affiliate member of the On ...

, the Italian rail company

Trenitalia Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government, the company was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulation of rail transp ...

, and Ouigo, a subsidiary of French rail company SNCF, Renfe felt obliged to revive the plans for a low-cost rail service of their own. Renfe went back to the drawing board and new sets of proposals for the service were announced on 11 December 2019, with services planned to begin on 6 April 2020 during the 2020 Easter holidays. Avlo was set to run between the stations Madrid Atocha, Zaragoza Delicias and

Barcelona Sants Barcelona Sants is the main railway station in Barcelona, owned by Adif, the railway infrastructure agency of Spain. It has become the most important transport hub of the city - being the centre of Rodalies de Catalunya including Barcelona sub ...

. In contrast with earlier plans, the service was to stop in Zaragoza rather than Tarragona. On the 15 March 2020 Renfe announced that due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the launch of the service would be postponed until further notice. Customers who had paid a promotional fare of €5 were given the option to travel at a later date, while non-promotional tickets were refunded in full. Avlo services between Madrid, Barcelona and Figueres on the French border commenced on 23 June 2021. Three daily services in each direction run between Madrid and Barcelona, while a fourth service stops in Guadalajara, Calatayud, Saragossa, Lleida, Tarragona, Barcelona, Girona and terminates in Figueres. As in the previous attempt to launch this service, promotional ticket prices start at €5. Six return services between Madrid and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

are scheduled to start from 21 February 2022.

Background

The Avlo service would consist of modified purple-coloured Talgo AVE trains. They will use the future S 106 trains with 581 seats, or the S 112 trains will be upgraded to 438 seats, both in all-second class configuration. Renfe has reported it is going to price tickets of the Avlo as low as €10, compared to the lowest offer of €48 for the normal AVE ticket for Madrid and Barcelona.

References

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:AVE AVE high-speed trains High-speed rail in Spain Renfe Regional rail in Spain Low-cost high-speed rail services