Train Beats Plane in Spain

Renfe’s AVE is Smooth, Swift, and Stylish, but not Scenic Between Barcelona and Madrid

A Renfe AVE high-speed train in Barcelona Sants station. It runs at 300 km/hr. and makes this trip to Madrid, 386 miles away, in under two hours and 45 minutes.

With 2,464 route miles, Spain has the second longest high-speed rail system in the world, second only to China. In 1992 the country opened its first high-speed route. Now trains crisscross the country at top speeds of 300 km/hr. or 187.5 mph. For years I have joked that the the train in Spain is faster than the plane. If you don’t get the reference you are culturally deprived.

Last week I put that quip to the test when I rode one of Renfe’s AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) expresses between Barcelona and Madrid. For many, but not all, destinations in Spain traveling by high-speed train is faster when you factor in getting to and from airports and going through security checks. I can attest, however, that this was the fastest I have ever traveled on land.

The distance from Barcelona Sants station to Madrid Atocha station is 386 miles, which is slightly longer than New York – Rochester on Amtrak. However, it takes just under seven hours to get to Rochester while the AVE train we rode was scheduled for 2:45 and arrived seven minutes early.

This was our first trip to Europe since the 1980s. We chose a group tour with Road Scholar that included four nights in Barcelona and four nights in Madrid.

On our last day in Barcelona a chartered bus brought us from our hotel to Sants station. The station is a low, modern building totally devoid of charm. My first reaction was “oh no, Penn Station light.” However, inside the place was cleaner and brighter. About 30 minutes before our departure time we went to the security area as a group, put our stuff through the scanners, and descended to track level.

Like at Penn Station, the platforms and tracks at Sants are below ground. However, the platforms are wider, brighter, and cleaner. Two Siemens S103 trainsets coupled nose to nose comprised our train. Stretching 16 cars from end to end it was too long to fit on the platform so I couldn’t photograph the first power car.

An Iryo Frecciarosa consist sat on the adjacent In track decked out in a snazzy red, white and black paint scheme that probably would look good on soccer jerseys, as well. Iryo is a competing high-speed line owned by a consortium composed of Air Nostrum, Trenitalia, and Globalvia.

After having our luggage stowed in another car, we boarded the train. The coach interiors feature off-white walls and ceilings, gray carpeting and 72 dark gray leather seats. They were the most comfortable coach seats I have ever sat in.

At exactly 11 am our train departed. For the first five minutes we were still underground. Once we reached daylight the train started to go faster. After just nine minutes we reached 153 km/hr., roughly half the train’s top speed. As we proceeded west, the landscape changed from urban to suburban to rural, with farms and abandoned castles plus an occasional small village and/or industrial facility. Hills and small mountains lines the horizon.

The train continued to accelerate and soon we had reached top speed. Unless you looked up at the digital display at the front of the car you would not know we were doing 300 (kilometers).

In a nutshell, AVE is smooth, swift, and stylish. It can appeal to all kinds of travelers: business, students, families, seniors, vacationers, tourists. More than 40 million people ride these trains every year.

If there is anything not to like about this train it is the scenery. It is uninteresting, at best. But you don’t ride AVE for the scenery – at least on this route; you ride to get somewhere fast.

Even though the railroad gains 2,000 feet in elevation, the route is straight and has gentle grades – so much so that the traveler hardly notices the change. The countryside is arid. Some stretches reminded me of the Great Plains. Other areas felt like Arizona or Nevada. One of people on the tour told me director Sergio Leone (“A Fistful of Dollars,” “The Good, Bad, and the Ugly”) shot some of his “spaghetti western” films in locations we had passed through.

Eighty minutes into the journey we reached our only stop – Zaragoza, the capital of the province of Aragon with a population of more than 650,000, a 2,000-year history, and several buildings that comprise a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t see any of it because the station is in a tunnel. There are so many tunnels along the route that I lost count somewhere around 20. Also, the train runs over 16 kilometers of viaduct, but I did not notice crossing any major bodies of water or deep canyons or valleys.

After we left Zaragoza it was time for lunch. At our tour leader’s recommendation, we purchased food before the trip so I cannot report on the quality of food aboard AVE. However, I did visit the café car to buy beverages and a bag of chips to accompany our salads. The car layout was similar to the café cars on Amtrak Acela with a galley and counter at one end and a limited seating area in the other. One feature that caught my eye was the conductor’s office, which was enclosed in a curved glass wall.

The stretch between Zaragoza and Madrid is less arid but hillier than the eastern leg of the trip. As we got closer to Madrid the conductors announced instructions for people transferring to other trains. By 1:30 pm we reached Madrid’s suburbs. Eight minutes later the train came to a stop inside Atocha station, the city’s principal terminal. We retrieved our luggage and headed out the concourse to board another bus that took us to our hotel, which was 10 minutes.

Tracks are at ground level at Atchoa, which serves as the hub of Spain’s high-speed network. Like Sants in Barcelona it is a modern facility lacking in visual appeal. It has two levels – the upper level for departures, the lower for arrivals. Its most distinguishing feature is the giant roof canopy over the platforms that sits on reinforced concrete pillars. It provides a more open feel due to its height.

The station’s previous headhouse and trainshed, which date from 1892, were preserved and were used as an entertainment/dining/shopping complex. Currently they are undergoing renovation.

Renfe runs a great service, and the high-speed trains are a wonderful way to travel around Spain. They have become indispensable to the nation, the Spanish people, and visitors from around the world. The success of the Madrid – Barcelona line has spawned competition for AVE with no less than three brands vying with AVE for market share:

·        OUIGO, a discount, no-frills railroad that uses second-hand bi-level French TGV (Tren Grande Vitesse) trainsets.

·        AVLO, also a discounter and partly owned by Renfe, that runs with older AVE trainsets repainted purple.

·        IRYO, described previously, competes at the higher end. A friend who rode both IRYO and AVE said the rides were indistinguishable.

In addition to riding AVE, we used subways (Metros) in both cities. They came frequently (four-minute headways) and were always crowded. The Madrid system had better accessibility and cleaner stations. I also visited the Madrid Railway Museum, housed in the former Delicias station built in 1879. It has an extensive collection of historic steam, electric, and diesel locomotives that includes the first TALGO train.