Spain has been pretty much stopped in its tracks through the pandemic, like many other nations, However, the ambitious expansion of the European nation’s high-speed rail service seems to be going full speed ahead this yr.
Spanish state operator Renfe’s low-cost service Avlo will whisk passengers the 500 kilometers (300 miles) between Madrid and Barcelona in just two and half hours, with prices starting at €5 (about US$6). The Avvo service, which travels at speeds of as much as 330 kilometers an hour and has 438 seats, will start operating 4 daily return journeys between the 2 Spanish cities from June 23.
Whereas most journeys will take a minimum of three hours, with additional stops in Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, Tarragona, and Girona, the quickest trains will reach their final destination in around 150 minutes. Renfe has transformed its 112 high-speed trains for the new service, which had been scheduled to launch in April 2020.
However, this was delayed due to the coronavirus crisis. Avlo’s new launch date coincides with Renfe’s 80th anniversary and the operator opted to mark the event by offering €5 tickets for journeys up till December. Normal prices vary from €10 to €60 for a single journey.
Tickets went on sale on Tuesday and, based on a statement on Renfe’s official website, 100,000 were sold within 24 hours.
Avlo is basically a cheaper alternative to Renfe’s Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) network, which operates on the second-longest high-speed rail network in the world after China’s bullet train service.
It faces stiff competition from French state operator SNCF’s Ouigo network, another low-cost high-speed rail service between Madrid and Barcelona, which is due to launch in May. Ouigo’s first 10,000 return tickets are to go on sale for simply €1 each, whereas standard costs will start at €9 every way. As the 2 networks battle it out for customers, those who manage to snap up train tickets for journeys of more than 600 kilometers for €5 or less will surely really feel like the real winners.
However while the future looks bright for Spain’s high-speed rail service, the nation has been hit laborious by the pandemic and it is impossible to predict how issues will pan out within the coming months. After imposing one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe, the nation reopened to visitors through the summertime, however has since entered a state of emergency.
Residents are currently only permitted to leave their houses to attend work, for education, to buy medicine, or care for aged individuals or children, and masks are compulsory on public transport and in indoor public spaces.
Spain’s nationwide curfew is about to be lifted in May.
