Madrid–Valencia railway

Madrid–Valencia railway
RENFE rolling stock at the height of El Romeral
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Adif
Termini	Madrid Chamartín Valencia-Nord
Service
Operator(s)	Renfe Operadora
History
Opened	9 February 1851
Technical
Line length	480.6 km (298.6 mi)
Track gauge	1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in) Iberian gauge
Route map v t e Madrid-Valencia Legend line to Colmenar Viejo line to Guadalajara AVE line to Valladolid line to Ávila 8.0 Madrid Chamartín Madrid Chamartín-Atocha 6.1 Madrid Nuevos Ministerios 2.8 Madrid Sol 0.0 Madrid Atocha line to Príncipe Pío line to Guadalajara AVE line to Barcelona Manzanares river 7.2 Villaverde Bajo line to Villaverde Alto San Cristóbal de Los Ángeles San Cristóbal Industrial El Casar Getafe Industrial Madrid-Aranjuez Pinto Valdemoro Ciempozuelos Seseña Jarama river Tagus river Aranjuez line to Cuenca AVE line to Seville AVE line to Valencia Aranjuez-Albacete Aranjuez-Alcázar de San Juan Castillejo-Añover line to Toledo Community of Madrid Castilla-La Mancha Villasequilla Tembleque El Romeral Villacañas Laguna Larga Quero Alcázar de San Juan Alcázar de San Juan-Albacete line to Cordoba/Cádiz Campo de Criptana Záncara river Socuellamos Villarrobledo Minaya La Roda de Albacete La Gineta AVE line to Cuenca 321.7 Albacete-Los Llanos Albacete-Chinchilla Chinchilla de Montearagón line to Murcia common section with AVE line AVE line to Alicante Almansa-Valencia Almansa-Xàtiva Almansa Castilla-La Mancha Valencian Community La Encina line to Villena Moixent Vallada Montesa L'Alcúdia de Crespins Xàtiva Xàtiva-Valencia line to Alcoy Canyoles river Albaida river Manuel-L'Ènova L'Ènova-Manuel La Pobla Llarga Carcaixent Júcar river Alzira AVE line Magro river Algemesí Benifaió-Almussafes line to Gandia Silla Catarroja Massanassa Alfafar-Benetússer AVE line to Madrid line to Cuenca line to Tarragona Valencia-Joaquín Sorolla Valencia Nord

The Madrid–Valencia railway is the conventional railway line linking the Spanish capital Madrid with the country's third largest city of Valencia in the Valencian Community. It now primarily serves local commuter rail services and regional traffic since the opening of the Madrid–Levante high-speed rail network in 2010.

Prior to the opening of the high-speed rail line between Madrid and Valencia, the classic Iberian gauge railway provided a travel time of 3 hours and 30 minutes between the two cities.^[1]

The line is used by Cercanías Madrid's C-3 service and the C-3 of Cercanías Valencia; along with numerous regional services along various stretches of the line. The Regional Express service runs the full distance between Madrid and Valencia, taking 6 hours and 36 minutes with stops at numerous intermediate stations;^[2] since the opening of the AVE high-speed rail line travel has been reduced to 1 hour and 40 minutes non-stop, freeing up the older slower line for other traffic.