HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line is a standard gauge
railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...
inaugurated on 20 February 2008. Designed for speeds of and compatibility with neighbouring countries' rail systems, it connects 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), an ...
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 ...
in 2 hours 30 minutes. In Barcelona the line is connected with the
Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line The Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed line is an international high-speed rail line between France and Spain. The line consists of a railway, of which 24.6 km are in France and 150.8 km are in Spain. It crosses the French–Spanish bord ...
leading into France which connects it to the European high speed network. Trains are operated by the national railway Renfe under the AVE and
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 ...
brands, and by private competitors Ouigo España 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� ...
.


First stages

In 2003 construction of the first phase of a new standard gauge line from Madrid to the French border (Madrid–Zaragoza–Lleida) was completed and on 11 October of that year commercial service began. This service also stopped at Guadalajara–Yebes and
Calatayud Calatayud (; 2014 pop. 20,658) is a municipality in the Province of Zaragoza, within Aragón, Spain, lying on the river Jalón, in the midst of the Sistema Ibérico mountain range. It is the second-largest town in the province after the capital, ...
. The service began running at only . On 19 May 2006, after two years of operation, speed was increased to when the Spanish ASFA signalling system was replaced with level 1 of the new European ETCS/ERTMS system. On 16 October 2006 the trains on this line increased their operating speed to . On 18 December 2006 the AVE started operating to
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 D ...
, and on 7 May 2007 the service increased its speed to the maximum allowable for the line, . This puts Tarragona at 30 minutes from Lleida. The extension to Barcelona was delayed various times due to technical problems; the Ministerio de Fomento having originally forecast the AVE's arrival in Barcelona by the end of 2007.


Complete operation

The complete line was opened February 2008. As of 2012, seventeen trains now run every day between the hours of 6 am and 9 pm, covering the distance between the two cities in just 2 hours 30 minutes for the direct trains, and in 3 hours and 10 minutes for those calling at all intermediate stations. Before the high-speed line was built, the journey between the two cities took more than six hours.


Speed

It was originally forecast that, after reaching Barcelona in 2004, the line would run at , the maximum capable speed of the new Siemens AVE trains which have replaced the Talgo Bombardier AVE S102, after the installation of level 2 of the ETCS/ERTMS. But on the AVE's first day of operating at to Tarragona the Minister of Public Works, Magdalena Álvarez, stated that the maximum commercial operating speeds of the AVE on all lines would be . Nevertheless, in October 2011 the speed was raised to 310 km/h on parts of the railway.


Usage

It was forecast that the AVE would substantially replace air traffic on the Barcelona – Madrid route (in the same way that the
Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...
has on the London-Paris/London-Brussels routes and France's
TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 1 ...
has on the Paris-Lyon route). Indeed, by the end of 2017, the line had already taken 63% of the traffic, taking most of it from aircraft. A few years before the Madrid-Barcelona route was the world's busiest passenger air route in 2007 with 971 scheduled flights per week (both directions). Similarly more than 80% of travellers between Madrid and Seville use the AVE, with fewer than 20% travelling by air.


Criticism

There was criticism during the construction of the Madrid-Barcelona line. A critical report by the consulting firm KPMG, commissioned by ADIF (''Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias'') at the behest of the Ministry for Public Works (') on 23 June 2004, pointed to a lack of in-depth studies and over-hasty execution of works as the most important reasons for the problems that dogged construction of the AVE line. For example, during the construction of the AVE tunnel near Barcelona, a number of nearby buildings suffered damage from a sinkhole that appeared near a commuter rail station, damaging one of its platforms. The construction committee of Barcelona's famed
Sagrada Familia Sagrada is a Spanish word meaning "sacred". It may refer to: * Sagrada, Missouri, a community in the United States *La Sagrada Família, a church in Barcelona, Spain *Rhamnus purshiana ''Frangula purshiana'' (cascara, cascara buckthorn, cascara ...
church lobbied for a re-routing of the tunnel – it passes within metres of the massive church's foundations. It also passes equally near the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...
-recognized
Casa Milà Casa Milà (, ), popularly known as ''La Pedrera'' (, ; "the stone quarry") in reference to its unconventional rough-hewn appearance, is a '' Modernista'' building in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was the last private residence designed by arc ...
also designed by
Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, '' sui generis'' style. Most are located in Barc ...
. Furthermore, until 2005 both Siemens and
Talgo Talgo (officially Patentes Talgo, SAU) is a Spanish manufacturer of intercity, standard, and high-speed passenger trains. Corporate history TALGO, an abbreviation of Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol (English: ''Lightweight articulated tra ...
/ Bombardier train sets failed to meet scheduled speed targets, although in a test run during the homologation tests of the new S102 trains of RENFE, a train-set
Talgo Talgo (officially Patentes Talgo, SAU) is a Spanish manufacturer of intercity, standard, and high-speed passenger trains. Corporate history TALGO, an abbreviation of Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol (English: ''Lightweight articulated tra ...
350 (AVE S-102) reached a speed of on the night of the 25/26 June 2006, and in July 2006 a Siemens Velaro train-set (AVE S-103) reached the highest top speed ever in Spain: . At this time, it was a record for railed vehicles in Spain and a
world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book '' Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizati ...
for ''unmodified'' commercial service trainsets, as the earlier
TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 1 ...
and
ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...
records were achieved with specially modified and shortened trainsets, and the 1996
Shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond ...
record of was using a test (non-commercial) trainset.


Extension to France


Barcelona to Figueres

Originally planned to open in 2009, the extension of some Madrid-Barcelona routes to Figueres–Vilafant railway station via
Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capit ...
, opened on 7 January 2013. This made possible upon the completion of the Barcelona-
Figueres Figueres (, ; , es, Figueras, ) is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Teatre-Museu Gala Salvador Dalí, a large museu ...
section of the
Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line The Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed line is an international high-speed rail line between France and Spain. The line consists of a railway, of which 24.6 km are in France and 150.8 km are in Spain. It crosses the French–Spanish bord ...
that connected for the first time the Spanish AVE high-speed network with the French
TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 1 ...
high-speed network. There have been delays in building a four kilometre tunnel in
Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capit ...
, the first phase of which was finished in September 2010, and controversy over the route between Sants and Sagrera stations in Barcelona. there are eight trains a day running from Madrid, connecting at Figueres Vilafant with two TGV services to Paris.


Figueres to Perpignan

This is an international high speed rail section between France and Spain. The section connects two cities on opposite sides of the border,
Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...
in