AVE

The AVE to Extremadura has taken a key step in its connection with Madrid. It’s a small step that takes us back a decade.

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They say that things in the palace go slowly. We could say the same about high speed. Not only because “high-speed” trains are taking longer than ever, but also because the construction of each new line resembles a birth that lasts decades. For example, the AVE to Extremadura. A quarter of a century has now passed since the project was approved. 25 years. And what we continue to have are connections typical of the 70s until we enter Extremadura where, coincidentally, the pace is already accelerating past Cáceres. We don’t lie. In 1970whoever took a train to Extremadura would arrive at the current Monfragüe station in 181 minutes. Today if everything goes well it will only take 20 minutes less. More than half a century after passing times collected in this guideit still takes more than three hours to get from Madrid to Plasencia. And right now it is necessary to stop at the aforementioned station and take a bus because the train no longer goes there. At least, in Extremadura they can boast since last December of having Cáceres and Badajoz connected, now, by high speed. Since the last days of the year, it is possible to cover the journey in 50 minutes. It is the result of works that, although they have taken time, have ended up being completed. A milestone that they cannot boast of in Castilla-La Mancha. And, 25 years after beginning to study where the AVE will pass on its way to Lisbon, a new step forward has been taken. One that also takes us almost ten years back. One step forward, Toledo. One step back When it was planned that an AVE would connect Madrid with Extremadura, it was decided that the work would have two large, clearly differentiated sections. One of them would be Madrid-Oropesa, the second Talayuela-Cáceres. With its obvious delaysthat second section is close to completion and its completion past Cáceres is what has allowed the arrival of high speed in that interprovincial Extremaduran section. And, as they point out in this great review of the diary Today Despite all the dates that have occurred in this quarter of a century, the end of the project could have been very advanced if the La Mancha section had been built at the same speed. However, since 2008 the various parties involved have been discussing what to do with the passage through Toledo. Or, rather, whether or not the train should pass through Toledo. That year, with the environmental impact report of the Madrid-Oropesa section already approved, the final approval was given to the informative study that contemplated a connection with the Andalusian corridor next to the Toledo town of Pantoja. The idea was to take a branch of this line towards Extremadura and thus save costs. The works, however, were not carried out. The 2008 crisis wiped out the project and it was never launched. Without machines working, the environmental report expired and that was when the Ministry of Public Works indicated that the AVE would pass through Toledo. We are already in 2017. The Government’s proposal was that, by passing through Toledo, the line would attract a greater number of travelers since the line would connect with a city that is a World Heritage Site. Of course, this meant traveling more kilometers and increasing travel time because Toledo is located further south than the first proposal. The idea was rejected by local authorities from the first moment. And the passage through Toledo It’s delicate. The Executive’s proposal has always been to take the AVE to the current station, which is just two kilometers in a straight line from the city center. But that means building a viaduct to overcome the passage of the Tagus, which has received continued rejection from local governments and the neighborhood platforms that consider that the image of the city would be damaged. Their proposal was to build a new station in a nearby industrial estate. This is how the year 2020 was reached, with an informative study in which it was proposed to subdivide the section into four parts: Toledo, Torrijos, Talavera de la Reina and Oropesa. They also showed their rejection of this project in Torrijos, which led to more bureaucracy and carrying out a complementary study in 2022. This document was presented in 2024 and had the approval of this town the following year… but in Toledo, as we have said, they still do not view the project favorably. In order to streamline the project, finally The Ministry of Transport has finally approved a new informative study that would contemplate building two branches from the Andalusian corridor. They explain in Today that if the branch goes ahead it would have its origin in Pantoja (as planned from 2008 to 2017) and that it would allow passage in both directions with trains of Iberian width and international width. However, it would be necessary to use trains capable of making this jumpsince the rest of the route to Extremadura is built on Iberian gauge. That is, right now what is being studied is the same to the conclusion that It was arrived in 2008 and that remained on the agenda until 2017. At least, as an alternative until it is decided whether or not the AVE to Extremadura passes through Toledo. And, if it happens, where is it going to do it. Photo | Gunnar Ridderström, Jaime Lillo and Falk2 In Xataka | The theory said that the entry of the AVE into Galicia would plummet aircraft prices. Practice is something else

Vigo already has its “direct” AVE to Madrid without stops in Castilla y León. Now it takes longer than before

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A little over a year ago, controversy arose between autonomous communities. Abel Caballero, mayor of Vigo, claimed that one of the reasons why the AVE to Madrid did not take the promised time was due to “an excessive number of stops in the Castilla y León area.” The response was not long in coming. Now, the people of Vigo have their “direct” train to Madrid, without stops in this autonomous community. The problem: they come out earlier and take longer than before. 215 minutes. That is the promise with which the railway link between Vigo and Madrid was announced. Yes, you read correctly: three hours and 35 minutes. Since high speed was launched in this corridor, the trains that have approached the promise that Óscar Puente put on the table in 2024 have been an exception. Instead, the trains have taken at least four hours. In the best of cases, barely a minute has been cut from the journey, but in practice they continue to move on the psychological border of 240 minutes. As long as there is no delay. And in the Galician corridor they know well what we are talking about. Too many stops. Given the impossibility of fulfilling that promise, Abel Caballero, mayor of Vigo, proposed a simple formula: that the trains not stop in Castilla y León. He did not say anything about Galicia because, in his opinion, it was the arrests in the neighboring autonomous community where the most time was wasted. “The current travel time on some of the routes is very long due to an excessive number of stops in the area of ​​Castilla y León, an area already close to Madrid that currently has a very important coverage of trains coming from all over the north and the rest of Galicia on high-speed routes” The words were picked up in the local media Atlantic.net and, according to Caballero, they were well received by Álvaro Fernández Heredia, president of Renfe since where they quickly denied this possibility. The proposal collided head-on with Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, president of Castilla-León, who in words reported by The Spanish He described Caballero’s words as “intolerable.” Vigo-Madrid route starting May 20 “Straight”. So, in quotes. Because starting May 20, Renfe will have an AVE without stops between Vigo and Madrid. The long-awaited Galician demand has been heard. As you see in the image above, from that day on the train from Vigo will leave at 5:50 a.m. and arrive in Madrid at 9:55 a.m. Once it leaves Vigo, the train will stop only in Galician cities. Once we have passed Ourense, the train will not stop until it reaches the Chamartín station in Madrid. It is, finally, the “direct” AVE that the people of Vigo demanded to be able to travel back and forth to Madrid in the shortest time possible. Vigo-Madrid route until May 19 Sure? And, contrary to what logic says, Vigo-Madrid takes longer than before. And, in addition, it will force passengers to get up earlier. And until that day, the first train that connects Vigo with the capital will continue to stop in Zamora but its journey will take eight minutes less. In addition, it leaves at 6:00 a.m., instead of 5:50 a.m. The reason is that, with the reorganization devised by Renfe, the first train has to stop in Santiago de Compostela, which has been omitted until now. And the residents of Ourense do not see a great reduction in times either, since it will only take four minutes less to reach Madrid despite not stopping in the Castilian-Leonese city. To make matters worse, the residents of Pontevedra will not find a substantial advantage either. In fact, they will now take eight minutes longer than before the last change. Now, with the latest changes, all trains leaving in Vigo and arriving in Madrid will take more than four hours. Adif, in the spotlight. Part of these “delays”, they point out from Vigo Lighthouseare due to the works that are being carried out in the Guadarrama tunnel at the entrance to Madrid. These add seven minutes to the final amount but as they point out from The Region There are numerous temporary speed limitations on the Galician section that hinder the promises of connecting Vigo and Madrid in half an hour less. He Vigo Lighthouse He also points out that Renfe has been complaining for some time about Adif’s management of the roads. According to the Galician media, the operator has requested on several occasions that some crossings between trains be relocated so that they are not on the single track sections. And the passage times have not been updated either, so, they point out, the current speed cannot be increased either. An exception. Since the Galician high-speed corridor began to operate at full capacity thanks to the use of the Talgo Avril that can change track gauge, doubts about the reliability and performance of these trains have been on the table. First for its disastrous arrivalthen for their problems with the change of year in 2025 and finally due to the cracks that appeared in these trains on the Madrid-Barcelona. However, the trains have proven capable of operating at full capacity and getting closer to the famous 215 minutes promised between Vigo and Madrid. Last November, A Renfe AVE managed to cover the journey in 217 minutes. The problem is that it only served to alleviate the delay accumulated at the origin. Being the last service and with the tracks already clear along the entire route, the Avril was able to travel at maximum speed for as long as possible. Photo | André Marques In Xataka | Renfe has found a scapegoat for its problems on the Madrid-Barcelona line: Talgo and its AVRIL trains

Spain wants 90% of the people on this map to have an AVE station 30 minutes away. There is small print

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The Ministry of Transport and Urban Mobility wants to turn the train into one of the great mobility axes of our country. To this end, the objective has been proposed to promote the use of high speed in the west of the Iberian Peninsula. The project has a clear headline: an AVE station half an hour away for 90% of the inhabitants of the Atlantic corridor. What has been announced? 9% of the population of the Atlantic Corridor will have access to a high-speed station within half an hour in 2030. This is the conclusion reached by the Territorial accessibility analysis carried out by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobilitythrough the Office of the Commissioner of the Atlantic Corridor. If the plans are fulfilled, the Ministry assures that in less than five years a total of 62 high-speed stations will be ready, spread across 28 provinces and 11 autonomous communities. The jump will have to be substantial because right now there are 33 stations available with high-speed service distributed in 8 autonomous communities and 19 provinces. What is the Atlantic Corridor? Within the mobility of the European Union, the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) defines nine major corridors to define your roadmap and investments. These corridors are large spaces through which a very important part of the citizens of the European Union and their goods move. In the different corridors, therefore, all mobility nodes are taken into account, from ports and airports to railways and roads. In the case of the Atlantic Corridor we are talking about a set of communication nodes that link the south of Germany with Paris and the entire west coast of France with Spain (on its western slope) and Portugal, culminating in the Cádiz area. In these moments, the Atlantic Corridor as it passes through our country offers the following data: 5,400 kilometers of railway tracks 2,900 kilometers of roads Nine seaports Five international airports Nine intermodal stations Four cross-border crossings with Portugal or France And it is linked to 13 autonomous communities and 40 provinces By train. Among the infrastructures designed to facilitate movement through all these places is the train. And, specifically, the boost to high speed that the European Union wants to give to encourage the use of this means of transport instead of the plane. These investments, according to the Ministry of Transport, will have to be completed before December 31, 2030 and represent an investment of 3,123 million euros. It must be taken into account that the European Union has been demanding better connectivity by train from Spain and Portugal than should crystallize with a Madrid-Lisbon in 2030. But It won’t be until 2034 when this line is completely a high-speed route. What does it imply? In order to achieve the milestone set by the European Union, it will be necessary for Spain to complete the “Basque Y”, the high-speed project that has been underway for more than 20 years to provide the region with a qualitative leap in railway connections. that seem not to arrive. Additionally, the entire project will need to be completed to connect Spain with Portugal through Extremaduraa journey in which, at the moment, it is not always possible to travel at high speed. And it will also be necessary to bring high speed to Huelva. 90% with small print. The big headline, as we said, is that 90% of the population of the Atlantic Corridor will have a high-speed station less than half an hour from their home… as long as such a station exists in their province. Here is the headline’s trick, if the province does not have a high-speed station, the percentage drops drastically in some cases. For example, in the press release no reference is made to Salamancaone of the conflicting points when talking about high speed in the Atlantic Corridor. The European Union roadmap marks a connection between the Spanish city and Porto but there is little progress in this regard. Another of the region’s usual demands is also discarded: recover the Vía de la Plata railway. The truth is that this project is neither here nor expected. Other data must also be taken carefully. The Ministry of Transport says that 100% of the inhabitants of the Basque Country will have access to a high-speed train station… but in this case less than an hour away and not 30 minutes. La Rioja will also make a qualitative leap, from the current 14% to 99% although no high-speed train stops in the region. These data lead us to the fact that, in 2030, 70% of the population of the Atlantic Corridor will have a high-speed station less than an hour from their home. The Ministry of Transport puts this number at 26.8 million people. Some controversies. However, having a high-speed line close to home does not mean that we have a high-speed train that is always accessible. Spain, the second country with the most high-speed roads in the world (second only to China), is a good example of how a poorly studied growth ended with high speed stations with very little traffic. Nor does living in a provincial capital guarantee that the train always stops. A paradigmatic example of this is Zamorawhere they fight so that more high-speed trains that cover the Galician corridor stop at their stop. And sometimes, The best solution is to offer high-speed stations in the middle of nowhereas a link between large populations. Increasing the number of high-speed stations does not automatically mean having ample schedules to take a high-speed train. However, this shouldn’t be bad in and of itself. A good example is Japan’s dense high-speed network where there are trains that stop exceptionally between origin and destination and others that dot their journey with more or fewer stops. Of course, there the density of passage in the number of trains facilitates mobility and the connection between “fast” trains and those that stop more frequently. Photo | Adif In Xataka | High speed in Madrid … Read more

its new contest for the AVE will prioritize quality over money

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Last month, Renfe gave the green light to the purchase of those 30 new AVE trains (expandable to 40) with which it hopes to renew its fleet in Spain. The railway operator has launched them into competition and it is expected that in September we will know which companies will be in charge of producing these new trains. What is clear is that Renfe does not want to repeat the chaos suffered with Talgo, and has already admitted that it will seek to prioritize quality over price. About the Avril trains. This new tender has a starting point that has given the operator quite a headache. We talk about The Talgo Avrilthe series 106 trains that today cover, among other routes, the Galicia-Madrid high-speed line. Renfe ordered 30 units in two batches between 2015 and 2016 and the result ended up being a deadline disaster. The trains arrived more than two years late, costing Talgo a penalty of 116 million euros. And when they finally went into service, the first few months left a rosary of incidents on different lines. Renfe does not want to repeat this chaos, so it intends to be more cautious in the specifications. How the new contest works. The operator has structured the scoring of the offers so that the technical proposal worth 70% of the final gradecompared to 30% that corresponds to the price. Within this technical section, almost 60% of the total is evaluated with objective criteria, but there is 10.2% reserved for value judgments, that is, a more qualitative assessment. Normally in public contracts, the price usually has much more weight. Here, Renfe is betting on paying a little more if that guarantees a better train. Interested manufacturers must submit their offers by June 9, and the opening is scheduled for September 9. The trains requested by Renfe. The specifications require that the new convoys travel at 350 kilometers per hour, that they carry the European ERTMS/ETCS and the Spanish ASFA signaling systems, and that they have at least 450 seats. The first five trains must arrive within 40 months from the signing of the contract, and the entire fleet within 78 months, at a rate of one new train every 45 days. The contract also includes the supply of spare parts and maintenance, bringing the total value of the agreement to 4,145 million euros, according to they count from CincoDías. Who has more chances to win. Two manufacturers start as favorites: Siemens, with its Velaro Novo, and Hitachi, with the ETR-100. But there are more candidates. And just as account The medium, Talgo, despite the Avril precedent, is analyzing the specifications to see if it can present an improved version of that same model. Alstom could also opt with its Avelia AGV, the same train that operates in Italy. The elephant in the room: Chinese trains. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, announced the contest at the end of March in the Congress of Deputies. Puente has been sending messages about the possibility of buying Chinese trains to reduce costs, an idea that has generated controversy in the sector. For now, the specifications point in the opposite direction, since both the technical requirements, the deadlines and the weight given to quality over price would make it very difficult for a Chinese manufacturer, with no presence or history on the Spanish railway network, to compete. At least in this particular tender. Why the secrecy? Renfe has shielded the documents with a confidentiality clause. Whoever wants to see them has to request them directly from the company, sign a commitment signed by a manager, and receive them in hand. The reason that the operator has officially given is the liberalization of the high-speed market and the presence of competitors such as Iryo and Ouigo, to whom Renfe does not want to give clues about its commercial strategy. Renfe has also warned of possible legal, civil or criminal actions against anyone who leaks the content. What’s coming now? If the schedule is met, Renfe could know in September who it will buy its next AVE from. With 124 of the 160 high-speed trains circulating in Spain, the fleet needs to be renewed, since some models have been in operation for many years and their withdrawal is urgent. Cover image | Renfe In Xataka | Two floors, 200 meters long and one objective: to modernize the most used and chaotic Cercanías line in Spain

The Portuguese AVE has a much juicier promise than the connection with Madrid. One of 7,000 million euros

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When talking about trains and infrastructure, there is a country that rubs its hands every time a new project is approved: Spain. Our country has a network of construction companies and rolling stock manufacturers that are among the most leading in the world. And they are already taking positions regarding a new project. One that has 7,000 million euros at stake. The Portuguese AVE. We said a few days ago that Portugal continues to move into an internal high-speed rail connection and that, in fact, its plans go directly through connect Lisbon with the south of Galicia before with Madrid. There are two reasons for this: the movement between Galicians and Portuguese has always been very high but, in addition, it means connecting the two largest Portuguese cities, finally, with a high-speed train. The objective is for the AVE between Lisbon and Porto to be ready in 2033, as well as its connection with Vigo. A year later the link with Madrid should arrive. If the deadlines are met, we will be talking about close a chapter that opened more than 20 years ago. 61 kilometers. It is the distance that runs in the Aveiro-Soure section, which the Portuguese Government has put out to tender. Although, really, we should say that “it’s back in the competition.” And from Portugal they have already tried to award this section without success through a public-private tender. To this tender only The Portuguese company Mota Engil was presented but his project has finally been rejected. This company had already gotten the go-ahead to build the first section between Porto and Aveiro but this time it was not so lucky. 7,000 million euros at stake. They explain in elEconomista.esthat the Portuguese Government has republished this contest with the aim of attracting more companies and projects. And the attraction is clear: now the contract has a potential of 7,000 million euros. The contract is launched to build the high-speed section and the required connections, which requires an adaptation of the Coimbra station, modifying the Northern Line between Taveiro and the southern entrance of said station and building an electric traction substation in the area. But, above all, it has something more juicy: the maintenance of all infrastructure except the section of the Northern Line and the Coimbra station. They explain in the middle that the maximum amount of the award is 1,603.36 million euros but that, in addition, payments are contemplated for a total of 30 years that can reach 4,765 million euros. Added to this is that the project will be partially financed during its construction with 600 million euros. The sum of the project, therefore, is more than 7,000 million euros. The Spanish options. In the middle they also point out that from Spain there will be competition on two fronts. One of them will be Acciona, FCC and Ferrovial, a “team” that has already attended together on other occasions and that, in fact, they dropped out of the tender for the first section of this new high-speed line. Sacyr will also present itself to the project but will do so accompanied by DST and ACA Engenharia & Construção, Portuguese partners with whom it is also presenting itself to the projects in the neighboring country. Again, Sacyr is also another company that already has experience obtaining contracts related to Portuguese railway lines. Pointers. Portugal is the last scenario that Spanish companies will attend, but it is by no means the only one. In recent years, Spanish construction companies have taken over the business of what is known as “AVE to Mecca” and They have found a gold mine in Saudi Arabia for your accounts. They have also found a vein in Vietnam. Although on other occasions this expansionism across half the world has cost some of them some displeasure. CAF, which had been acquired “the contract of the century in Belgium”decided accept the construction of a light rail in Jerusalem. One that passed through Israeli colonies on Palestinian land, which ended up leave the company out of the competition on the new Barcelona Metro trains. Photo | Alex Azabache and Seoane Prado In Xataka | France has tried by all means to prevent CAF from winning “the contract of the century” for Belgian trains. There is good news

Portugal had to choose where to take its AVE first. And between Madrid and Galicia, it is very clear

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It was October 2025 when the news broke. Then we learned that Madrid and Lisbon would be linked by a high-speed train in 2034. The objective set by Spain, Portugal and the European Commission is that both capitals are connected by a train that covers the journey in about three hours of travel. The first step to recover that connection is to have a line ready in 2030 with conventional trains that reopen traffic between both cities without having to change trains. The project rescues a line that It already existed in the 19th century but that time has erased. Furthermore, it follows the designs of a European Union that opts for the train over the plane and is that being able to cover this journey in 180 minutes would be a blow against air traffic, which is much more polluting. If the schedule is met, the AVE between both cities will be available almost three decades later than planned. The news, furthermore, seemed to indicate that Galicia was being relegated to the background. And the region has been fighting alongside Portugal for years to have a high-speed rail connection that structures the Atlantic axis. We now know that Portugal will prioritize Galicia over Madrid. First Galicia, then Madrid The confirmation came from the Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, during the XXXVI Spanish-Portuguese Summit held in La Rábida (Huelva) who has indicated that he trusts that the Lisbon-Oporto-Vigo line will be completed in 2033 and, therefore, the deadlines prior to the agreement are met with Europe and Spain on Madrid-Lisbon. The words were collected in The Newspaper and it is confirmation that between Madrid and Galicia, The first place Portugal looks to is Galicia. The latest agreements to carry out trains between both cities seemed to put this connection between the Galician city and the two large Portuguese cities at risk. It must be taken into account that the first objective was for Madrid and Lisbon to already have a high-speed connection ready by 2030, the year in which Spain and Portugal (along with Morocco) will organize the Soccer World Cup. However, given the impossibility of meeting the deadlines, a delay until 2034 was agreed upon. This delay has not put at risk the Atlantic corridor in which The European Union has already invested 250 million euros (more than 750 million euros of European funds have already been spent on Madrid-Lisbon) and up to 3,000 million euros delivered by the European Investment Bank (EIB) in the form of soft loans. In Portugal they defend that the connection between their cities and the north of Spain is much more important than the link with Madrid. The high-speed project between Lisbon, Porto and Vigo had already consumed 11,000 million euros as of 2023 and, in the words of Carlos Fernandes, vice president of Infrastructure in Portugal, collected by The reason “develops our country and the centrality of our cities, and not the centrality of other Iberian cities (in relation to Madrid).” For the project to go ahead, it is necessary for Portugal to comply with the plans but also for Spain to have a high-speed exit between Vigo and Tui. From the Portuguese side, they have never denied that they prefer to prioritize the corridor towards Galicia. Pedro Nuno Santos, then Minister of Infrastructure, criticized Renfe in 2022 in an interview with The Countryensuring that they had maintained the night train between Vigo and Portugal but that on the Spanish side no one towed the trains. Right now, the trip between Vigo and Porto takes two hours and 20 minutes. That is, 140 minutes that would become only 50 minutes once the high-speed connection between both cities is consolidated. In fact, those 140 minutes are what is expected to take between Vigo and Lisbon, a huge leap by current standards. The big loser of the dispute is Extremadura. The region has been hearing for years about a Madrid-Lisbon connection that never seems to come. After years where trains have been a real headache, everything indicates that high speed should be completely ready in the region by 2030 but the delay to 2034 has been marked by the deadlines on the Portuguese side. The step forward in high speed is also key in Extremaduran mobility because, for example, it will allow connecting Madrid with Cáceres in one hour (right now it takes more than three hours) and Madrid with Mérida or Badajoz in just over an hour and a half when to reach the latter from Madrid you have to spend more than four and a half hours. Photo | Pedro Correia, Joaoalves0217 and Mstyslav Chernov In Xataka | Madrid and Lisbon will be linked by the AVE. It will only arrive (if it arrives) 24 years late

The Adamuz accident has plunged demand for the AVE by 30%. It is a fact that hides something worse: mistrust

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The high-speed accident in Adamuz (Córdoba) has turned the Spanish railway upside down. Closures, speed restrictions and a loss of credibility in the service have directly impacted the sales of the three companies that operate on Spanish roads. And it has translated into data: a 30% drop in sales. The data. Demand for high-speed trains has fallen by 30%, according to data collected by Trainlinea railway ticket price comparator that operates in our country. The information was released by Pedro García, its general director in Europe and Spain, at an event organized by the company this week. According to this platform, the demand for banknotes has fallen by 30% in the weeks following the Adamuz accident (Córdoba) in which 46 people died after an Iryo derailed and, still under investigationthe subsequent crash and derailment of an Alvia that was traveling in the opposite direction. No trust. We could say that it hints at it but it is almost a cry: the customer is distrustful of high speed. It is not only a question of security, the drop in demand is undoubtedly influenced by speed restrictions that have been imposed and the cancellations late in the day between Madrid and Barcelona. It must be taken into account that, in just over a month, we have had the following schedule on the Spanish railway lines: Later. In the current state of high-speed lines, only one thing is clear: the train is going to arrive later. First of all, because Adif is reviewing all avenues and that requires, for example, In Madrid-Barcelona, ​​25 minutes have already been added by default to the journey. And that is in the best of cases. Because as reported by a train driver Xatakathose who drive the trains have the power to stop the train or move more slowly if they consider that the tracks are not safe or, at least, not at maximum speed. Their repeated complaints have led to temporary speed limitations that have been activated and deactivated but, ultimately, yours is the last word. This situation has been experienced with the reopening of the Madrid-Seville line. The driver, passing through the Adamuz section He stopped the train thinking that something was happening on the premises.. Then it turned out that, simply, confusion had arisen due to repairs carried out. to the plane. This distrust has caused a transfer of passengers to the plane. And the thing is that, especially companies, have been putting aside the use of the train for daily trips between Madrid and the large capitals of Spanish provinces. Especially in the Madrid-Barcelona route, where business use of the train was very high, demand for air travelers skyrocketed to the point that Iberia capped dynamic prices at 99 euros. The Ombudsman even asked the CNMC to study the price increases that were experienced in the following days in airlines and car rental companies. The rise in demand for aircraft between Madrid and Barcelona has been such that Vueling has returned to the Air Bridgea route that had abandoned in a movement where, without a doubt, The arrival of Ouigo and Iryo on Spanish roads had influenced. And an impact on the accounts. The combo of cancellations, high-speed restrictions and insecurity in arriving at the agreed time has caused a hole in the accounts of the large railway companies. According to theEconomistalready in January 2025 the losses were recorded at more than one million euros per day if only the cut in the southern corridor was taken into account. In The reason They raise the impact to a loss of 109 million euros in Malaga tourism alone. Losses that are yet to be quantified for companies but that arrive at a bad time, just when Ouigo and Iryo aspired to make money in our country after completing its landing phase. Photo | Samson Ng. D201@EAL In Xataka | The first AVE trains are more than 30 years old and are still in circulation: Renfe has not yet found a company for their maintenance

Madrid and Barcelona have built an entire social and business life with the AVE. They are finding out what happens when it fails

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The Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line has collapsed. The trains do not arrive on time and no one pays their compensation, Adif has asked the companies to withdraw last-minute services, airlift prices have skyrocketed and there are companies working at half throttle because the goods do not arrive. A social and economic backbone of the country has been fractured. A Russian roulette. Taking a high-speed train between Madrid and Barcelona is, right now, Russian roulette if what you want is to arrive on time for an appointment. The link between the two most important cities in Spain has been broken via train and a round trip in the day is almost impossible. It is the result of a hasty revision of the train tracks, a direct consequence of the fateful Adamuz train accident (Córdoba) and the continuous warnings of the train drivers. Actions that have diluted the “high speed” concept between Madrid and Barcelona. What has happened? Since last January 18 An Iryo train derailed near Adamuz (Córdoba) and collided with another Renfe train that was traveling in the opposite direction, leaving 45 dead, Adif has been facing criticism about the track maintenance. In the case of Madrid-Barcelona, ​​the consequences were soon seen: speed limitations. Between confusing messages, Adif ended up imposing temporary speed restrictions at numerous points on the line, especially between Madrid and Zaragoza. Later, 300 km/h returned. But it didn’t last long because speed was reduced once again. The role of machinists. Since then, travelers between Madrid and Barcelona have been reporting severe delays, with trains taking more than four hours to reach their destination. As they explained to us Xataka From the SEMAF union, train drivers have the power to reduce speed if they consider it essential for the safety and comfort of travelers. They must notify the line controllers and put it in writing in a report. In addition, on each journey a document is filled out specifying the problems that have been found on the line. A train driver, who preferred to remain anonymous, corroborated this version to Xataka and made it clear that for months they have been traveling at a speed lower than the maximum speed allowed on the line and, especially, between Madrid and Zaragoza. Likewise, he pointed out that they have been complaining for months about the vibrations suffered by the trains but that they had not received a response until now. Adif’s role. Although unions and drivers claim to have been complaining about this situation for months, it was not until January when Adif appears to have taken more far-reaching measures. The road manager is doing an exhaustive review of the roads based on the continuous complaints from workers. These inspection and repair works, when necessary, are delaying travel times. The company has asked Renfe, Iryo and Ouigo to assume that trips will be extended to three hours (and they just pointed out that these travel times will extend until December) but has also asked them to eliminate the last services of the day to have more time for their performances. Collapsed by land and air. The result is a collapsed train line. The trains are not arriving on time nor in the three hours indicated by Adif (instead of the usual 150 minutes). And the problem for those passengers, who throw in the towel with punctuality, is that The companies are not responsible for compensation either. for delays, pointing out that they are the result of a problem beyond their control and that, therefore, they do not fall within the refund policies. At the same time, demand on flights has skyrocketed. Without the possibility of getting there and back within the day by train or for fear of doubling the usual travel time, travelers have turned to airlines. And the result is full flights and skyrocketing prices. After some bills will reach 300 euros, Iberia has reached its Air Bridge at 99 euros per trip. Vueling has also increased its frequencies. And the road alternative did not improve the situation either. Only in BlaBlaCar has an increase in demand of 130% been recorded, in data provided to The Newspapercompared to the previous year. Car rental companies do not seem to have been left behind either, since The Ombudsman has asked the CNMC to analyze whether illegalities have been incurred by skyrocketing prices for car rentals and plane tickets. And problems for companies. Companies in both cities have not only had to see meetings canceled or postponed these days. Some of them are having problems having their raw materials. In The Vanguard They include the case of some of them. Inovyn, in Martorell (Barcelona) had to send its 300 employees home earlier this week because they did not have the basic materials to produce plastic. “In normal situations we receive one train a day loaded with dichloromethane, a material with which we manufacture many of our compounds, but in the last ten days we have received only one train,” they explain to the newspaper. They explain that 18% of the goods that arrive at the port of Barcelona are sent to their destination by train. Those that use international gauges are stopped due to works in the Rubí tunnel and those that use the Iberian gauge circulate at night and in dribs and drabs. and in The Country They explain that the city’s port is becoming isolated, with an 80% drop in products coming from Germany, France or Poland by train. The road alternative is not working either. The AP-7 already there is enormous congestion since road tolls were lifted but, furthermore, there are not enough trucks to be a complete alternative given the volume of goods that move along the railways. Added to this are problems derived from the latest storms and the increase in traffic derived from a Rodalies service that has not been back to normal for more than ten days. Photo | Phil Richards In Xataka | Spain wants its AVE trains to travel at 350 … Read more

the AVE at 160 km/h in sections of the Madrid-Barcelona route

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Months of notices from the train drivers, who They were traveling below the maximum speed allowed on the road, and with the images of the Adamuz train accident (Córdoba) very present, Adif has reduced the maximum speed at which you can travel on the Madrid-Barcelona high speed train to 160 km/h. This is all that has happened. What has happened? Adif reduces the speed to 160 km/h in a section of 150 kilometers of the 667 kilometers that correspond to the Madrid-Barcelona route. The measure is temporary and, they announced this morning in Chain Being Before it became official, it was done after hearing the drivers complain that there were potholes in it that reduced driving comfort. after the accident. The exceptional measure comes at a delicate moment. last sunday an Iryo train derailed on a straight line near the town of Adamuz. 20 seconds later, an Alvia train traveling in the opposite direction collided with the last carriages of the Italian train and derailed. When we write these lines, 41 deaths have been reported. Since then, the videos have multiplied in which reference is made to the excessive vibrations of the high-speed trains that circulate through our country. However, the causes of the accident are unknown and It is very likely that it will take us months to know all the details. of what happened. There has been speculation about a defective switch, a stress-fractured track and train vibrations, but nothing has been confirmed by any official source. What is happening in Madrid-Barcelona? For months now, train drivers have been reporting problems traveling at the maximum speed on the track, which in The now cut section was 300 km/h. The complaint about excessive vibrations has been reported by passengers but also by workers. “The crew members complain, the interveners complain and we write complaints, because there are areas where we are hitting boats,” a Renfe driver complains to Xataka who prefers to remain anonymous. From SEMAF (Spanish Union of Railway Machinists) have confirmed to us that the machinists have been reporting considerable deterioration on the tracks for months, to the point of traveling at a speed below that expected. The height of the controversy came when last summer some S-106 trains known as the Talgo Avril cracked. Since then, Talgo and Adif blame each other for what happened. How serious is it? From SEMAF they assure us that vibrations directly impact the running comfort and the useful life of the train components but they rule out that there is a risk of derailment for this reason. From the General Council of Industrial Engineers share this vision: “the usual vibrations are foreseen in the design of both the train and the infrastructure. High-speed railway systems work with very wide safety margins,” they assure Xataka also pointing out that the perception of small irregularities on the road or in the rolling stock are amplified when driving at high speeds. And the driver who has offered us his testimony thinks the same. “If we understand that there is a danger to traffic, we call the command posts and they take measures by putting limitations, although for months we have also been taking them by slowing down. We are the first interested parties, we want to return home,” he emphasizes. First consequence. Adif’s decision is the first significant measure taken after the accident in Adamuz (Córdoba) in which 41 people have died and in which rescue work continues. It remains to be seen if more measures of this magnitude are taken but it must be remembered that the specific reason that led to the accident remains unknown. Photo | André Marques on Wikimedia In Xataka | Spain thought that Spain could manufacture the perfect trains for Spain. The reality: Spain is already looking for trains in Germany

After 20 years of works and 4,000 million euros, Asturians demand one last thing for the AVE: traveling with their dog

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“Our dogs are family. They are not an extra suitcase, they are an essential part of the trip. Europe is already ahead of us by allowing dogs of all sizes on trains. Why can’t Renfe be just as modern and empathetic?” With these words and the support of more than 5,000 signatories, Isa Díaz Yusta, who promotes a petition on Change.org, summarizes the feelings of Renfe travelers in the north of the country as stated The New Spain. And the train company does not allow the access of dogs weighing more than 10 kg on the routes that go to Galicia, Asturias or the Basque Country. That impossibility has open a wound in northern Spain. The aforementioned request is not the only one. With almost 5,000 supports, another user of the same platform also has a petition open for Renfe to allow dogs weighing more than 10 kg to travel on these routes. “We can’t always drive or leave them with someone. Many of us need the train to go see family or for work, and leaving our colleagues behind is not an option,” says the promoter on this occasion. Arancha Gómez, again another Change.org user, asks that the possibility of carrying accompanying dogs be expanded on all lines operated by Renfe. It is the same thing that Laura Serena asks for, whose request has already been collected more than 26,000 signatures. I don’t have a driving license, so I depend entirely on public transportation. And, although I have been waiting for a change for years, Renfe only allows traveling with dogs weighing more than 10 kg on four routes. FOUR!!. The rest of the country remains inaccessible for those of us who travel with large dogs. Not without my dog Indeed, as noted in the last petition, Renfe only allows traveling with dogs weighing more than 10 kg on limited routes. Since the petition was launched, Renfe has been expanding the destinations in which you can travel accompanied by large dogs but, for now, the only AVE available are still the following: Madrid-Barcelona Madrid-Zaragoza Madrid-Alicante Madrid-Valencia Madrid-Seville Madrid-Málaga Madrid-Granada However, the company The possibility of traveling with dogs is not enabled between 10 and 40 kg on all high-speed and long-distance lines. On the contrary, dogs of this size and any other can ride on Cercanías trains. If we want to travel with a dog weighing less than 10 kg, Renfe allows us to do so on all AVE, long-distance, AVLO, medium-distance and metric gauge trains. Except in the latter, the pet can travel in a carrier that does not exceed 60x35x35 cm for a surcharge. On those trains that have places specifically reserved for dogs to travel, you can pay 35 euros so that the pet does not travel in the carrier. However, as we say, only on selected routes you can travel with dogs weighing more than 10 kg. In this case, it is mandatory to fill out a document discharging the company’s responsibilities and another to confirm that we are aware of the regulations. The dog will travel in the adjacent seat and this cannot be chosen because there are pre-established places for this purpose. Furthermore, in these cases, the company provides a travel kit and has a series of standards and recommendations that are summarized in this document. In the delivered kit there is a seat cover and a mat to place on the window seat. The dog must be on a leash of a maximum of 1.5 meters and with a muzzle. In all cases, only one pet is allowed per traveler, but in the particular case of dogs weighing more than 10 kg, no more than two pets are allowed per car on the same train. Furthermore, on the Madrid-Málaga and Madrid-Granada corridors, only one pet of this size is allowed per train. Asturian users, as we have seen, complain about this type of restrictions for a line that It opened in 2023 after 20 years of work (13 years late) and a investment of 4,000 million euros. Even on lines that do allow it, some travelers also complain that the purchasing process can be too complicated. They explain in the blog Pipperontour that not all trains on the enabled lines allow traveling with dogs and, furthermore, this possibility only appears to be added in the last step of the purchase process, which makes it difficult to get a ticket. To try to make everything clearer, Renfe has a space where all frequencies can be consulted that allow large dogs but the aforementioned blog states that this list is not always updated. To all of the above we must add that it is no coincidence that some of the popular petitions requested through the Change.org platform come from northern Spain. In one of them it is remembered that Gijón is one of the cities in our country with the most registered dogs and Asturias is the Autonomous Community with the most dogs per inhabitant of our country. Photo | john crozier and Phil Richards In Xataka | “In 1961 it took Bilbao three hours and five minutes. Now it takes three and ten”: Cantabria and Spain’s drama with the train

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