Big Success for Renfe AVLO Low-Cost, High-Speed Trains AVLO low-cost high-speed train - Photo credit - Pablo Monge The Spanish rail operator RENFE began their low-high-speed trains over a year ago now. The Talgo 400-seater trains are equipped with reclining seats, plugs in all seats, reading light... and all of this at 300 km/h.  Tickets start as low as €7 one way Madrid-Barcelona-Figueres Vilafant According to the Spain Travel News on September 14th,2022, during the first year since the launch of its Avlo trains, Renfe has transported 6.3 million passengers on its High Speed ​​services (Ave+Avlo) that run on the Madrid-Barcelona-Figueres Vilafant railway line. This figure signifies a tripling in the number of passengers compared to the same period for 2020-2021, which means an overall recovery of more than 4 million passengers. Occupancy rates on the trains are over 90%. Madrid and Valencia In November 2021, Spain’s state-owned launched company expanded their low-cost, high-spee...

While the debacle over the future of Canada's passenger rail system continues, over in Spain amazing things continue to happen. Renfe, the Spanish government low cost high-speed rail service is named. Avlo . It already had competition from France's SNCF low cost high-speed rail service Ouigo on some of the routes. Now the latest news is that Spain's Air Nostrum and Italy's main train operator, Tranitalia are teaming up and entering into the Spanish low cost high-speed rail market with  Iryo in 2023. The high-speed trains will be from Bombardier and Hitachi. Imagine three high-speed rail operators on one line!  Time to wakeup Canada.

We are happy to announce we have added a short promo video on our youtube channel of the low fare, high-speed train Avlo from Renfe in Spain. LINK Avlo is a 400-seat train equipped with reclining seats, plugs in all seats, reading light... and all of this at 300 km/h. You could travel from Alta Velocidad (high-speed) trains between Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza, tickets starting at €7. Furthermore, you can connect to the WIFI network, available on all Avlo trains, and enjoy exclusive content offered by PlayRenfe. The train is equipped luggage compartments and toilets adapted for people with reduced mobility. We deserve better Canada. http://highspeedrail.ca

 High Speed Rail in Spain - Opens Up to Competition   Guest post by Phillps - The 14th of December, 2020 was a historic day for Spain. 3 high speed corridors (Madrid-Barcelona; Madrid-Seville/Málaga; and Madrid-Alicante/Valencia) were opened for competition, bringing an end to state-owned Renfe’s monopoly. 3 operators won each one one of the three service packages that were offered. On this post I’ll cover all the information known to date about each operator, the rolling stock they’ll use, ticket prices and the services they’ll offer. RENFE State-owned Renfe won Package A, covering 60% of the services offered. Renfe’s services will be served with AVE and AVLO: AVE AVE is the high speed service Renfe has been offering since the introduction of the first line back in 1992. It’s a regular 3-class service that uses 4 different rolling stocks. Prices range depending on the line, with the highest prices on the Madrid-Barcelona line (between 60€ and 150€) and considerably lower on o...

High Speed Trains and Low Fares with AVLO in Spain Renfe chief Isaías Táboas in front of an AVLO train RENFE has announced some fare details on their new high speed rail discount  train service named ALVO. Let us compare VIA Rail Canada Toronto -Montreal service and Madrid to Barcelona service. (taking into consideration Madrid to Barcelona is a greater distance than Toronto to Montreal) The head of Renfe, Isaías Táboas stated in El Pais, "My proposal to the board will be to have a range of prices from €10 to €60 per trip. This is not a promotional price but rather a price scale that will depend on demand at any given time. Of course, there are not going to be €10 tickets for everyone, but at some point everyone will be able to buy an AVLO ticket for €10 to travel between Madrid and Barcelona. So on April 6, there will be tickets for €10.” MADRID - BARCELONA HIGH SPEED TRAINS Madrid to Barcelona - distance - 621km Speed - 300 km/h - max 330km/hr Trip Time - 2hr.30...

I have previously done an article on comparing RENFE Seville-Madrid and VIA Rail Montreal to Toronto. ( english link ) ( french link ) No surprise as RENFE was cheaper and faster than VIA Rail. Now RENFE is introducing their new low cost high speed train service in April 2020 called Alvo. Based on the current 112 series Talgo. Ministry of Development José Luis Ábalos, "Renfe is prepared to face the arrival of the competition", but has also requested "reciprocity" in other European countries in view of which "the liberalization of the railroad in this country is becoming the most open and balanced, a whole model. " This is in relation to the opening up of domestic railways to competition in the passenger rail industry. Avlo will be Renfe's high-speed service with the highest passenger capacity, with 438 seats per train, 20% more seats compared to the current 112 series trains. Subsequently, as the new service is extended , the new trains of t...

In a previous post we showed the passenger rail comparisons between Toronto-Montreal and Seville-Madrid Spain. ( french )  Now we would like to show you a short video from the Seville rail station of what we could have one day in Canada.

Bonjour à tous et bienvenue.  Je reviens tout juste du Portugal et d’Espagne où j’ai fait l’expérience de toutes sortes de moyens de transport. Nous le savons tous, il existe de bien meilleures façons de transporter les gens par chemin de fer au Canada que ce que nous connaissons actuellement. Le texte qui suit veut comparer deux parcours ferroviaires touchant des populations similaires mais avec des résultats dramatiquement différent. Merci Paul Langan, fondateur de Train à grande vitesse au Canada Comparaison entre les trajets par rail entre Toronto-Montréal vs Séville-Madrid  VIA Rail projette d’utiliser une ancienne emprise de chemin de fer pour établir une voie ferrée allant de Toronto à Ottawa et Montréal au coût de 6 milliards de dollars. Notre organisme a déjà dénoncé les principales failles de ce projet dans d’autres articles.  Je crois qu’il est nécessaire d’établir une comparaison factuelle entre le trajet entre Séville et Madrid et le trajet actuel et...

High Speed Rail Canada To Release Toronto-Montreal vs Seville-Madrid Passenger Rail Lines Comparison High Speed Rail Canada will release their comparison of the Toronto-Montreal and Seville-Madrid passenger rail lines. WireService.ca Media Release (09/17/2018) - MEDIA ALERT: At 8:00am on Tuesday September 18th, 2018, High Speed Rail Canada will have available on their website a copy of the their latest report to read and download. The population densities of Toronto-Montreal and Madrid-Seville are similar but the passenger rail options and trip times are dramatically different. High Speed Rail Canada, as part of their mandate to educate the Canadian public, has done an analysis of the two passenger rail lines in Canada and Spain. Media Contact - Paul Langan, High Speed Rail Canada founder at 226-505-7605 or by using contact page on website at http://highspeedrail.ca