- Regional
- Almeria
- Cadiz
- Cordoba
- Granada
- Huelva
- Jaen
- Malaga
- Sevilla
- National
- Features
- Environment
- Nature
- News Features
- Property
- Travel
- Archive

Green Guide- 2009 Edition
- 2008 Edition

Follow Us
On Twitter-
Malaga

14°C, Partly Cloudy
H: 16°C | L: 10°C - Granada

9°C, Light Rain
H: 11°C | L: 4°C - Almeria

14°C, Partly Cloudy
H: 14°C | L: 10°C - Seville

14°C, Rain
H: 16°C | L: 9°C
The 13.22 from Madrid has just overtaken the plane!
November 3, 2009 • Lead2 • 1 Comments
THE train has officially overtaken the plane. At least between Madrid and Barcelona, that is.
In the third quarter of this year more passengers took the new fast track AVE train than flew between Spain’s two principal cities.
Between July and September, 651,498 passengers made the 314-mile train journey, a rise of 21 per cent compared with the same period last year.
In comparison, 643,512 travellers made the journey by aircraft during the same period, a fall of 7.5 per cent compared with the third quarter of last year.
Madrid to Barcelona is the fifth busiest air route in the world, with four airlines offering 116 flights a day.
Since the rail link opened last year, Renfe and the airlines have fought a fierce battle to win passengers.
The high-speed train, which takes 2hr 40min to travel between Madrid and Barcelona, at 236.3 kilometres per hour, has won over commuters with competitive fares, greater comfort and the absence of elaborate airport security.
It also offers promotions to attract tourists, as well as business travellers.
In Spain, the Socialist Government is expanding the high-speed network rapidly. Renfe plans that by 2020 everybody in the country will live within 50 kilometres of the network. However, the expansion comes at a cost: the Government plans to spend €119 billion on infrastructure and millions more on trains.
Reader Comments »
November 4th, 2009 10:04 am
Signup for free!Signing up for a gravatar.com account is FREE and EASY, and all that's required is your email address.
| Bookmark/Share: |
Related Articles »
New year drunk and disorderly
January 1, 2010 | Lead2
More violence and alcohol problems this year… in the capital at least, while two die on Andalucian roads
Madrid Suffers Olympic Heartbreak
October 2, 2009 | Andalucia Lead2 National News
Madrid pipped at the post by Rio de Janeiro
AVE Maria for Sagrada Familia
September 30, 2009 | Lead2 National News
Engineers check whether new AVE tunnels could endanger cathedral
Full Speed Ahead
October 15, 2009 | Andalucia Malaga
AVE line underway between Algeciras and Antequera via Ronda
An electric car deal!
October 13, 2009 | Lead2 Sevilla
Electric car initiative sparked by government subsidies

(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)









Although its always nice to see the train win over the aeroplane there were two news bulletins that “got buried” by this piece.
One, Renfe and the Spanish Government received the first indictment of illegal state aid subsidies from the European courts.
and
Two, researchers at the university of Bonn (at least I think it was Bonn) published a paper stating that the supossed ecological benefits of Train vs Plane weren’t as clear cut as once was thought.