Ouigo España is an

open-access operator In rail transport in Europe, an open-access operator is a train operating company that takes full commercial risk, running on infrastructure owned by a third party and buying paths on a chosen route and in countries where rail services run under ...

, that operates high-speed services between

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 ...

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 ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It is a subsidiary of

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 ...

, the French national railway company, and uses its trademark

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 ...

History

The company was founded on December 13, 2018, under the name of Rielsfera S.A., and on September 28, 2020, it changed its name to Ouigo España S.A., in line with the Ouigo brand, previously introduced in France for low-cost services. Before using the Ouigo brand, Rielsfera considered using the Falbalá brand. After the process initiated by Adif anticipating the liberalization of passenger rail transport, in November 2020 it signed the framework agreement that grants it capacity in the main high-speed corridors. As part of the liberalization of rail passenger transport in Spain, the SNCF has also been offering Ouigo services there since May 2021. Initially, five pairs of Ouigo trains will connect Barcelona with Madrid, and connections from Madrid to Valencia, Alicante, Malaga and Seville are also planned for a later date. 14

TGV Duplex The TGV Duplex is a French high-speed train of the TGV family, manufactured by Alstom, and operated by the French national railway company SNCF. It is unique among TGV trains in that it features bi-level carriages. The Duplex inaugurated the t ...

sets are used.Les Echos:
La SNCF lance la bataille des TGV low cost en Espagne
', 22 September 2020, retrieved 22 September 2020 Ouigo is in competition with the national railway Renfe's low-price brand

Avlo Avlo (, short for Alta Velocidad Low ''Cost'' literally ''"No Frills High Speed"'' ) is the name of the Spanish low-cost high-speed rail service, at the start between of the cities of Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona, by the national rail company ...

, which began service in June 2021, and

Iryo Iryo is a brand of Intermodalidad de Levante S.A., a private high-speed rail operator in Spain. The company is jointly owned by Trenitalia, Air Nostrum, and the infrastructure investment fund Globalvia. Trains began operating on the Madrid–Ba ...

(owned by

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 Onew ...

and

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 ...

) which started in 2022.

Services

Routes

As of March 2022, Ouigo España operates a single route between Madrid Atocha, Zaragoza–Delicias,

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

, 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 Rodalies Barcel ...

Rolling stock

9 TGV Euroduplex trainsets are used for the service. Unlike those used by

in France, these trainsets still have the conventional SNCF TGV inOui interior.

References

External links