04Experiences

Between cities

The AVE

AVE is the high-speed service of Renfe. The first journey opened in 1992 on the line that joined Madrid to Córdoba and Seville. Trains run at up to 300 kilometres an hour. The length of the high-speed track, as given with the infrastructure figure from ADIF, is 3,973 kilometres. The name shortens Alta Velocidad Española, and the letters also spell the word for bird. Beside that first line, Toledo was linked to Madrid in 2005 at 250 kilometres an hour, so the trip from Atocha to the city on the river bend needs neither an airport nor a mountain road. Barcelona is on the network too, and one day can join the capital to the Mediterranean or the capital to the Guadalquivir valley, as long as the walking inside the city stays longer than the time in the seat. Fares change with the day and the hour, and they are taken from the operator rather than copied here as a fixed number. An identity document is enough at the station, and on the platform the train is the white nose with the red stripe. In summer, book an early seat if Seville is the arrival: the heat outside is harder than the heat in the carriage.

0 kilometres of high-speed track.

Network length

Up to 300 kilometres an hour.

Speed