AVE

High-speed rail service in Spain

This article is about the high-speed rail service. For the Roman salutation, see Ave. For other uses, see AVE (disambiguation).

AVE

Main station(s)| Madrid Atocha, Barcelona Sants, Seville-Santa Justa, Zaragoza–Delicias
Other station(s)| Madrid Chamartín, Valencia-Joaquín Sorolla, Málaga-María Zambrano, Granada, Alicante Terminal, Valladolid-Campo Grande, A Coruña-San Cristóbal, Santiago de Compostela railway station, Ourense, Córdoba
Fleet| 22 S-100[1]
16 S-102[2]
26 S-103[3]
20 S-106[4]
25 S-112[5]
Stations called at| 52
Parent company| Renfe
Technical
Track gauge| Standard (1435 mm)
Electrification| 25 kV AC (some sections on 3 kV DC network)
Length| 3,966 km (2,464 mi)[6]
Other
Website| https://www.renfe.com

Alta Velocidad Española (AVE)[a] is a high-speed rail service operated by Renfe, the Spanish State railway company.

The first AVE service was inaugurated in 1992, with the introduction of the first Spanish high-speed railway connecting the cities of Madrid, Córdoba and Seville.

In addition to Renfe's use of the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias-managed rail infrastructure in Spain, Renfe offers two AVE services partially in France, connecting respectively Barcelona-Lyon and Madrid-Marseille.[7]

Alta Velocidad Española translates to "Spanish High Speed", but the initials are also a play on the word ave, meaning "bird". AVE trains operate at speeds of up to 300 km/h (186 mph).[8][9]

## Services

[edit]

As of 2024[update] Renfe offers the following AVE services:[10]

* Alicante–León via Albacete, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín, Valladolid and Palencia.
* Alicante–Ourense via Albacete, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín and Zamora.
* Barcelona–Granada via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba and Antequera.
* Barcelona–Málaga via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, and Antequera.
* Barcelona–Seville via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Puertollano and Córdoba (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
* Burgos–Murcia via Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Elche and Orihuela.
* Gijón–Castellón via Oviedo, Mieres Del Camín, La Pola, León, Palencia, Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Cuenca, Valencia and Sagunto.
* Gijón–Vinaros, via Oviedo, Mieres Del Camín, La Pola, León, Palencia, Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Cuenca, Valencia, Sagunto, Castellón, Benicàssim, Oropesa del Mar and Benicarló (only in summertime).
* Huesca–Seville via Tardienta, Zaragoza, Calatayud, Guadalajara, Madrid-Puerta de Atocha and Córdoba
* Madrid–A Coruña via Zamora, Ourense and Santiago De Compostela.
* Madrid–Alicante via Cuenca, Albacete, and Villena (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
* Madrid–Barcelona via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, and Tarragona (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
* Madrid–Castellón via Cuenca, Requena-Utiel and Valencia.
* Madrid–Figueres via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona (trains are scheduled with selective stops).
* Madrid–Gijón via Valladolid, Palencia, León and Oviedo.
* Madrid–Granada via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, Antequera and Loja (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
* Madrid–Huesca via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, and Tardienta.
* Madrid–León via Segovia, Valladolid and Palencia.
* Madrid–Málaga via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, and Antequera (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
* Madrid–Murcia via Elche and Orihuela (some trains are arriving to Alicante and then reversing towards Murcia).
* Madrid–Ourense via Zamora.
* Madrid–Seville via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, and Córdoba (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
* Madrid–Valencia via Cuenca and Requena-Utiel (non stop trains are also scheduled).
* Madrid–Vigo via Zamora, Sanabria, A Gudiña, Ourense, Santiago de Compostela, Vilagarcía de Arousa and Pontevedra (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
* Málaga–Murcia via Madrid-Puerta de Atocha, Cuenca, Albacete, Villena, Alicante, Elche and Orihuela.
* Valencia–Burgos via Requena-Utiel, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín and Valladolid (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
* Valencia–León via Requena-Utiel, Cuenca, Madrid-Chamartín, Segovia, Valladolid and Palencia (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
* Valencia–Seville via Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Puertollano, and Córdoba.
* International:[11]
* Barcelona–Lyon via Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Montpellier, Nîmes, and Valence.
* Madrid–Marseille via Guadalajara, Zaragoza, Tarragona, Barcelona, Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Béziers, Montpellier, Nîmes, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.

The central hub of the AVE system is Madrid's Puerta de Atocha, except for the Madrid–Asturias, Madrid–Burgos, Madrid–Galicia and Madrid–Alicante lines as well as the majority of the services on the Madrid-Murcia and Madrid-Valencia lines, that terminate at Chamartín station.[12][13]

## Trains

[edit]

Currently, there are several series of high-speed trains that run the AVE service:

* S-100, manufactured by Alstom, based on the TGV family trains.
* S-102, manufactured by Talgo and Bombardier, marketed globally as Talgo 350.
* S-103, manufactured by Siemens, marketed globally under the brand Siemens Velaro.
* S-106, manufactured by Talgo, marketed globally as Talgo AVRIL.
* S-112, manufactured by Talgo and Bombardier, an improved version of the S-102 with a different seat layout.

* A Talgo 350 train (Renfe Class 102) at Madrid Atocha station.

* AVE train Talgo 350 (Renfe Class 102)

* Talgo 350 train (Renfe Class 102) at Lleida Pirineus station

* AVE "Alstom" (Renfe Class 100) trainset at Córdoba.

* A RENFE AVE S-103 (Siemens Velaro E) at Figueres Vilafant railway station in 2013.

* AVE Talgo Avril train (Renfe Class 106).

Unit  | Top speed  | Seating

capacity

| Number in Service  | First

built

|
|
|
|

km/h  | mph
S-100 | 300  | 186  | 329  | 22  | 1991
S-102 | 350  | 220  | 318  | 16  | 2005
S-103 | 300  | 186  | 404  | 26  | 2007
S-106 | 300  | 186  | > 500 735 (low cost version  | 20  | 2012
S-112 | 350  | 220  | 365  | 25  | 2010

## Passenger usage

[edit]

The still-growing network transported a record 39.0 million passengers in 2024.[14] Though the network length is extensive, it lags in ridership behind comparable high-speed rail systems in Japan, France, Germany, China, Taiwan, and Korea.

AVE passengers in millions from 2006 to 2024[15][16][14]

2000s

|  |  |  |  |  |  | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

|  |  |  |  |  | 4.878 | 5.559 | 11.461 | 11.250

2010s

| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019
10.851 | 12.563 | 12.101 | 14.697 | 17.967 | 19.428 | 20.352 | 21.108 | 21.332 | 22.370

2020s

| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029
7.603 | 12,282 | 23,562 | 31,784 | 39,019 |  |  |  |  |

This graph was using the legacy Graph extension, which is no longer supported. It needs to be converted to the new Chart extension.

|

### Rail infrastructure in Spain and Europe

[edit]

* Rail transport in Spain
* High-speed rail in Spain
* High-speed rail in Europe
* Train categories in Europe

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Spanish pronunciation:

[ˈalta βeloθiˈðað espaˈɲola], [ˈaβe]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "S-100". Renfe. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
2. ^ "S-102/112". Renfe. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
3. ^ "S-103". Renfe. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
4. ^ "Renfe pone en circulación los S-106 con un incremento de 14.400 plazas para los servicios Avlo que circulan entre Madrid, Aragón, Cataluña, Comunitat Valenciana y Murcia" (in Spanish). Renfe. 26 April 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
5. ^ "Flota de trenes". Renfe. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
6. ^ "Red de Alta Velocidad". ADIF. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
7. ^ "Renfe empieza a operar en Francia con un AVE entre Barcelona y Lyon". rtve.es. 13 July 2023.
8. ^ "Madrid — Barcelona at 310 km/h with ETCS Level 2". Railway Gazette International. London. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
9. ^ "Velocidades máximas de los trenes y de las líneas" (maximum speeds of the trains and of the lines), last updated on 10 December 2022, accessed on 7 May 2023.
10. ^ "Renfe". Renfe. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
11. ^ "Renfe places AVE (high-speed) tickets on sale in France". Renfe. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
12. ^ "Renfe reorganiza la oferta de los servicios AVE Madrid-Alicante tras el traslado de la cabecera de Puerta de Atocha a Chamartín Clara Campoamor" (in Spanish). Renfe. 19 August 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
13. ^ "El AVE Madrid-Murcia comenzará el servicio comercial el próximo 20 de diciembre". Renfe. 12 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
14. ^ a b "Transport. Total passengers by type, transport means used (ground, air and maritime) and distance". ine.es. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
15. ^ "High Speed: Open access comes to Spain". Railway Gazette International. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
16. ^ "Spain: high-speed rail passenger traffic 2022". Statista. Retrieved 2023-12-24.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alta Velocidad Española.

* AVE (Renfe)

Articles related to AVE (Alta Velocidad Española)

* v
* t
* e

High-speed rail in Spain

Lines in service|

* Atlantic Axis
* Antequera–Granada
* Madrid–Barcelona–Figueres
* Madrid-Galicia
* Madrid–Castellón/Alicante
* Madrid–Asturias
* Madrid–Málaga
* Madrid–Seville
* Madrid–Toledo
* Barcelona–Perpignan
* Seville–Cádiz [es]

Lines under construction|

* Basque Y
* Madrid – Basque Country [es]
* Mediterranean Corridor
* Andalusian transverse axis [es]
* Madrid–Extremadura
* Murcia–Almería
* Madrid – Jaén [es]

Planned lines|

* Porto–Vigo
* Two seas corridor [es]
* Central-Pyrenees corridor [es]

Rolling stock|

* 100
* 102
* 103
* 106
* 112
* 114
* /120 / 121
* 130
* 353
* 354
* 490

Services|

| Renfe|

* AVE
* Avlo
* Avant
* Alvia
* Euromed

|

* Ouigo España
* Iryo

* v
* t
* e

Rail transport in Spain

Operators|

| Passenger|

* Renfe
* AVE
* Avlo
* Avant
* Alvia
* Euromed
* InterCity
* Feve
* Media Distancia [es]
* Ouigo
* Iryo

|

Regional|

* Euskotren Trena
* Ferrocarril de Sóller
* Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya
* Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana
* Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca

Freight|

* Acciona
* Captrain España
* Continental Rail
* Logitren Ferroviaria
* Low Cost Rail
* Tracción Rail

Commuter rail|

* Asturias
* Cantabria
* Bilbao
* Cádiz
* Catalonia (Barcelona, Camp de Tarragona and Girona)
* Galicia
* León
* Madrid
* Málaga
* Murcia/Alicante
* San Sebastián
* Seville
* Valencia
* Zaragoza

Metro|

* Barcelona
* Bilbao
* Madrid
* Palma
* San Sebastián
* Seville
* Valencia

Tram/Light rail/Tram-train|

| Active|

* Alicante
* Barcelona
* Trambaix
* Trambesòs
* Bilbao
* Cádiz
* Granada
* Madrid
* Málaga
* Murcia
* Parla
* Seville
* Tenerife
* Valencia
* Vitoria-Gasteiz
* Zaragoza

|

Heritage|

* Sóller
* Barcelona
* Tramvia Blau

Defunct|

* Jaén
* Vélez-Málaga

Proposed/planned|

* Bages Tram-train
* Barcelona Metro
* Barcelona Metro Diagonal line
* Barcelona Metro line 13
* Barcelona Metro line VI
* Barcelona Metro line 9
* High-speed lines
* Murcia–Almería
* Basque Y
* Madrid–Extremadura
* Orbital Railway Line
* TramVallès
* Tren de Gran Canaria

* v
* t
* e

High-speed rail

Part of rail transport

Technologies|

* Conventional
* Hovertrain
* Maglev

| Proposed|

* Hyperloop/Vactrain
* Swissmetro

|

High-speed trains
by service speed
or planned service speed|

| 400 km/h
(249 mph)
or more|

* China Railway Fuxing CR450AF, CR450BF
* Transrapid
* Shinkansen Series L0
* HEMU-430X

|

350–399 km/h
(217–248 mph)|

* China Railway Fuxing CR400AF, CR400BF
* Zefiro 380

300–349 km/h
(186–217 mph)|

* Renfe Class 100, 101, 102, 103
* Alstom AGV
* China Railway Hexie CRH2C, 3C, 380A / MTR CRH380A, 380B, 380C, 380D
* ETR 500
* ETR 400
* Eurostar e300; e320
* ICE 3
* KTX-I, Sancheon, Cheongryong
* Oaris
* PBKA
* Shinkansen Series 500, N700/N700A, N700S, E5/H5, E6, E8, E10
* AVRIL
* TGV Sud-Est (refurbished), Atlantique, Réseau (PBA), Duplex, POS, 2N2, M (Avelia Horizon)
* TCDD HT80000
* THSR 700T
* Siemens Velaro
* Zefiro 300

250–299 km/h
(155–186 mph)|

* Avelia Liberty
* China Star, DJF2, China Railway Hexie CRH1A, 1B, 1E, 2A, 2B, 2E, 2G, 3A, 5A, 5E, 5G, China Railway Fuxing CR300AF, CR300BF
* ICE 1, 2, 4 (ICx)
* KTX-Eum
* New Pendolino
* Renfe Class 120, 121, 130
* Sapsan
* SBB RABe 501, RABe 503
* Shinkansen Series 200, 300, 700, 800, E2, E3, E7/W7
* TCDD HT65000
* TGV Sud-Est (original), La Poste
* V250
* Zefiro 250

200–249 km/h
(124–155 mph)|

* Acela
* AEM-7
* ACS-64
* Adelante
* APT
* China Railway DJJ1, China Railway Hexie CRH6, China Railway Fuxing CR200J
* ER200
* EU200
* HHP-8
* IC4
* ICNG
* InterCity 125, 225
* ICE T, TD, L (ECx)
* Javelin
* NSB Class 71 (Flytoget), 73, 74, 78
* Pendolino
* Railjet
* Regina
* Shinkansen series 0, 100, 400, E1, E4
* SBB RABDe 500
* Re 460
* SC-44
* SCB-40
* X 2000, SJ X40
* Z-TER (Z 21500)
* Sokol
* British Rail Classes 800, 801, 802, 803, 805, 807, 810
* Talgo XXI
* Voyager/Meridian
* X3

Experimental and prototype high-speed trains (category)

High-speed railway line|

* List of high-speed railway lines

By countries and territories

planned networks in italics|

| Africa|

* Egypt
* Morocco

|

Americas|

* Argentina
* Brazil
* Canada
* Mexico
* United States

Asia|

* China
* Hong Kong
* India
* Indonesia
* Iran
* Iraq
* Japan
* Kazakhstan
* South Korea
* Malaysia
* Saudi Arabia
* Singapore
* Taiwan
* Thailand
* Turkey
* Uzbekistan
* Vietnam

Europe|

* Austria
* Belgium
* Croatia
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Italy
* Latvia
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Russia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* United Kingdom

Oceania|

* Australia

* Proposed high-speed rail by country

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