The Madrid–Barcelona railway is the conventional railway line linking 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

capital

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

with the country's second largest city of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

. It now primarily serves local

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

services and regional traffic since the opening of the

Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line The Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line is a standard-gauge railway line inaugurated on 20 February 2008. Designed for speeds of and compatibility with neighbouring countries' rail systems, it connects the cities of Madrid and Barcelona in ...

in 2008, prior to which only 1.98 million annual passengers travelled between the two cities.

Route

The line serves important Spanish cities including

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in Camp de Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. The area has long been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental significance during the time of the Phylloxera plague. Currently it is known f ...

and

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

. At Casetas the line forms a junction with the Casetas–Bilbao railway. Prior to the high-speed railway opening, journeys between Madrid and Barcelona on this railway took up to seven hours.

Services

The line is used by

Cercanías Madrid Cercanías Madrid is the commuter rail service that serves Madrid, the capital of Spain, and its metropolitan area. It is operated by Cercanías Renfe, the commuter rail division of Renfe, the former monopoly of rail services in Spain. Its tot ...

services C-2 and C-7, C-1 of

Cercanías Zaragoza Cercanías Zaragoza is the name given to the Renfe operated commuter train service in and around the city of Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain. There is currently one line, the C-1 which it runs from Zaragoza-Miraflores station to Casetas. Trains r ...

, and

Rodalies de Catalunya Rodalies de Catalunya (; "Commuter Railways of Catalonia") is the main Commuter rail, commuter and regional rail system in the Spain, Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. It is administered by the Generalitat de Catalunya, Government of C ...

's R2 line; along with numerous regional services along various stretches of the line. The Regional Express service runs the full distance between Madrid and Barcelona, taking 9 hours and 24 minutes; since the opening of the

AVE is a Latin word, used by the Roman Empire, Romans as a salutation (greeting), salutation and greeting, meaning 'wikt:hail, hail'. It is the singular imperative mood, imperative form of the verb , which meant 'Well-being, to be well'; thus on ...

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

line travel has been reduced to 2 hours and 30 minutes non-stop, freeing up the older slower line for other traffic.

References

Railway lines in Spain Rail infrastructure in the Community of Madrid Rail infrastructure in Catalonia Railway lines opened in 1859 Iberian-gauge railways {{Spain-rail-transport-stub