The Madrid–Valencia 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 third largest city of

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

. 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–Levante high-speed rail network The Madrid–Levante high-speed network is a network of high-speed rail lines that connects Madrid with the Mediterranean coast of the Levante Region, specifically with Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencian Community and the Murcia Region autonomou ...

in 2010.

History

Prior to the opening of the high-speed rail line between Madrid and Valencia, the classic Iberian gauge railway provided a travel time of 3 hours and 30 minutes between the two cities.

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 ...

's C-3 service and the C-3 of

Cercanías Valencia Cercanías Valencia () is the commuter rail service that serves Valencia and its metropolis, Spain. It is operated by Cercanías Renfe, the commuter rail division of RENFE, the former monopoly of rail services in Spain. The network is owned by A ...

; along with numerous regional services along various stretches of the line. The Regional Express service runs the full distance between Madrid and Valencia, taking 6 hours and 36 minutes with stops at numerous intermediate stations; 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 1 hour and 40 minutes non-stop, freeing up the older slower line for other traffic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madrid-Valencia railway Railway lines in Spain Railway lines opened in 1851 Iberian-gauge railways Rail infrastructure in the Community of Madrid Transport in Castilla–La Mancha Rail transport in the Valencian Community