This article is about the high-speed rail service. For the Roman salutation, see
Ave. For other uses, see
AVE (disambiguation).
Alta Velocidad Española (AVE)[lower-alpha 1] is a high-speed rail service operated by Renfe, the Spanish State railway company.
Quick Facts Main station(s), Other station(s) ...
AVE![Thumb](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Renfe_AVE.svg/200px-Renfe_AVE.svg.png) |
![Thumb](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Trenes.jpg/250px-Trenes.jpg) |
Main station(s) | Madrid Atocha, Barcelona Sants, Seville-Santa Justa, Zaragoza–Delicias |
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Other station(s) | Madrid Chamartín, Valencia-Joaquín Sorolla, Málaga-María Zambrano, Granada, Alicante Terminal, Valladolid-Campo Grande, A Coruña-San Cristóbal, Santiago de Compostela railway station, Ourense, Córdoba |
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Fleet size | 22 S-100[1] 16 S-102[2] 26 S-103[3] 20 S-106[4] 25 S-112[5] |
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Stations called at | 52 |
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Parent company | Renfe |
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Track gauge | Standard (1435 mm) |
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Electrification | 25 kV AC (some sections on 3 kV DC network) |
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Length | 3,966 km (2,464 mi)[6] |
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Website | https://www.renfe.com |
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The first AVE service was inaugurated in 1992, with the introduction of the first Spanish high-speed railway connecting the cities of Madrid, Córdoba and Seville.
In addition to Renfe's use of the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias-managed rail infrastructure in Spain, Renfe offers two AVE services partially in France, connecting respectively Barcelona-Lyon and Madrid-Marseille.[7]
Alta Velocidad Española translates to "Spanish High Speed", but the initials are also a play on the word ave, meaning "bird". AVE trains operate at speeds of up to 300 km/h (186 mph).[8][9]
As of 2024[update] Renfe offers the following AVE services:[10]
- Alicante–León via Albacete, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín, Valladolid and Palencia.
- Alicante–Ourense via Albacete, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín and Zamora.
- Barcelona–Granada via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba and Antequera.
- Barcelona–Málaga via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, and Antequera.
- Barcelona–Seville via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Puertollano and Córdoba (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
- Burgos–Murcia via Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Elche and Orihuela.
- Gijón–Castellón via Oviedo, Mieres Del Camín, La Pola, León, Palencia, Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Cuenca, Valencia and Sagunto.
- Gijón–Vinaros, via Oviedo, Mieres Del Camín, La Pola, León, Palencia, Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Cuenca, Valencia, Sagunto, Castellón, Benicàssim, Oropesa del Mar and Benicarló (only in summertime).
- Huesca–Seville via Tardienta, Zaragoza, Calatayud, Guadalajara, Madrid-Puerta de Atocha and Córdoba
- Madrid–A Coruña via Zamora, Ourense and Santiago De Compostela.
- Madrid–Alicante via Cuenca, Albacete, and Villena (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
- Madrid–Barcelona via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, and Tarragona (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
- Madrid–Castellón via Cuenca, Requena-Utiel and Valencia.
- Madrid–Figueres via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona (trains are scheduled with selective stops).
- Madrid–Gijón via Valladolid, Palencia, León and Oviedo.
- Madrid–Granada via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, Antequera and Loja (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
- Madrid–Huesca via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, and Tardienta.
- Madrid–León via Segovia, Valladolid and Palencia.
- Madrid–Málaga via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, and Antequera (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
- Madrid–Murcia via Elche and Orihuela (some trains are arriving to Alicante and then reversing towards Murcia).
- Madrid–Ourense via Zamora.
- Madrid–Seville via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, and Córdoba (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
- Madrid–Valencia via Cuenca and Requena-Utiel (non stop trains are also scheduled).
- Madrid–Vigo via Zamora, Sanabria, A Gudiña, Ourense, Santiago De Compostela and Pontevedra.
- Valencia–Burgos via Requena-Utiel, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín and Valladolid (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
- Valencia–León via via Requena-Utiel, Cuenca, Madrid-Chamartín, Segovia, Valladolid and Palencia (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
- Valencia–Seville via Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Puertollano, and Córdoba.
- International:[11]
- Barcelona–Lyon via Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Montpellier, Nîmes, and Valence.
- Madrid–Marseille via Guadalajara, Zaragoza, Tarragona, Barcelona, Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Béziers, Montpellier, Nîmes, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.
The central hub of the AVE system is Madrid's Puerta de Atocha, except for the Madrid–Asturias, Madrid–Burgos, Madrid–Galicia, Madrid–Alicante and Madrid-Murcia lines, that terminate at Chamartín station.[12][13]
Currently, there are several series of high-speed trains that run the AVE service:
A
Talgo 350 train (Renfe Class 102) at
Madrid Atocha station.
AVE train Talgo 350 (Renfe Class 102)
Talgo 350 train (Renfe Class 102) at Lleida Pirineus station
AVE "Alstom" (Renfe Class 100) trainset at Córdoba.
A RENFE AVE S-103 (Siemens Velaro E) at Figueres Vilafant railway station in 2013.
AVE Talgo Avril train (Renfe Class 106).
The still-growing network transported a record 21.3 million passengers in 2018.[14] Though the network length is extensive, it lags in ridership behind comparable high-speed rail systems in Japan, France, Germany, China, Taiwan, and Korea.
More information 2000s, 2010s ...
AVE passengers in millions from 2006 to 2023[15][16]
| | | | | | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
| | | | | | 4.878 | 5.559 | 11.461 | 11.250 |
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
10.851 | 12.563 | 12.101 | 14.697 | 17.967 | 19.428 | 20.352 | 21.108 | 21.332 | 22.370 |
2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 |
7.603 | 12,282 | 23,562 | 31,784 | | | | | | |
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Rail infrastructure in Spain and Europe
"S-100". Renfe. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
"S-103". Renfe. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
"Renfe". Renfe. Retrieved 7 May 2023.