AVE
High-speed rail service in Spain / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Alta Velocidad Española (AVE)[lower-alpha 1] is a high-speed rail service operated by Renfe, the Spanish State railway company.
Main station(s) | Madrid Atocha, Barcelona Sants, Seville-Santa Justa, Zaragoza–Delicias |
---|---|
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 |
Fleet size | 22 S-100[1] 16 S-102[2] 26 S-103[3] 20 S-106[4] 25 S-112[5] |
Stations called at | 52 |
Parent company | Renfe |
Technical | |
Track gauge | Standard (1435 mm) |
Electrification | 25 kV AC (some sections on 3 kV DC network) |
Length | 3,966 km (2,464 mi)[6] |
Other | |
Website | https://www.renfe.com |
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]