The new AVE high speed train
High-speed rail infrastructure took a significant leap the past weekend, with the inauguration of two new lines joining Madrid with Valencia, and Barcelona with Paris.
The country’s entire political leadership was on hand to celebrate the new AVE link between Madrid and Valencia on Saturday, a journey that now covers 391 kilometers in a little under 95 minutes. The S-112 train carried 250 passengers, including King Juan Carlos, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, leader of the opposition Popular Party Mariano Rajoy, and the regional and local leaders of Valencia and Madrid.
Spain now claims to be a world leader with the most kilometres of high speed train routes with the addition of the new High Speed rail link between Valencia and Madrid that opened on 18th December. The new journey time between Valencia and Madrid cuts over three hours from the previous timings. The price for the new journey is 79,80 euros for turista class booked via the Internet. The Alaris service that it replaces previously cost 47,50 euros.
What has not been so widely publicised is that it is now possible to go from Castellon to Madrid via the high speed route at a journey time of around three hours. This is possible thanks to the Alvia high-speed and variable gauge train, which can run on both types of track in Spain and that changes from standard gauge to the Iberian gauge at Valencia. The Alvia, offering 299 seats can run at a speed of 250 kilometers per hour over the new high speed line between Madrid and Valencia will depart daily from Castellón station at 7:30 am and 17:30 pm, and arrive at the Puerta de Atocha Station in Madrid at 10:25 hours and 20:32 hours respectively. Conversely, these trains depart from Madrid at 9:10 am and 17:10 pm and arrive at Castellón at 12:07 hours and 20:02 hours.
The new Barcelona-Paris journey, which takes seven hours and 25 minutes, is a joint Spanish-French project that takes passengers from the Catalan capital to Figueres, where they board a TGV train.
Another day in paradise 