What to know about Spain's new high-speed train between Madrid and Asturias
Spain launches today its first high-speed AVE train link to the country’s northern Cantabrian coast, a milestone for the beautiful region of Asturias, which will be reachable from Madrid in just over three hours.
Spain has an impressive rail network, but when it comes to its high-speed AVE links, the speed of development has been considerably slower in the northern half of the country than in the more populated east and south.
Northern cities such as Bilbao, San Sebastián, Santander, Oviedo and Gijón currently don’t have fully completed high-speed connections to and from the Spanish capital, although luckily for the latter two cities, this is about to change.
That’s because Asturias is set to become the second of Spain’s northern regions after Galicia to get the AVE, making train travel to Spain’s Cantabrian coast considerably faster.
READ ALSO: Eight fascinating facts about Spain's Asturias region
When will it launch?
November 30th 2023 is the first day train passengers will be able to use the revamped Madrid-Asturias high-speed line.
The new train link will be officially inaugurated the day before on November 29th by Spain's King Felipe, Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez as well as transport authorities and regional heads.
Después de casi dos décadas de obras, hoy, por fin, el AVE llega a Asturias. A esta hora, el rey y el presidente del Gobierno están haciendo el viaje inaugural.
📺 https://t.co/VjKzBgoHyr pic.twitter.com/s1RFassJet
— Telediarios de TVE (@telediario_tve) November 29, 2023
How long will each journey take?
The new AVE train will take passengers from the Spanish capital to Oviedo in 3 hours and 15 minutes, and in 3 hours and 39 minutes to Gijón.
That’s between one hour and one hour and a quarter less than it currently takes to Asturias’s two main cities.
When the Talgo and Alvia trains are replaced by Avril ones on the León-La Robla stretch in the first half of 2024, the duration of the trip will be reduced further still to around three hours, as these trains can reach speeds of up to 300 km/h.
They can also carry more passengers, which will help to achieve the objective of increasing the current number of 230,000 yearly passengers up to 600,000.
Where else will the train stop?
After setting off from Madrid's Chamartín station, the train will stop in Segovia, Valladolid, Palencia, León, Mieres (Asturias), Oviedo and Gijón.
Other stops in smaller towns will be included in some daily trips, meaning longer overall journey times.
How many trains a day?
There will be five trains a day in each direction, the same number as there are now.
Trains currently leave Madrid for Asturias at around 7am, 11am, 3pm, 5pm and 6.30pm.
How much will tickets cost?
State rail operator Renfe is promoting the new Madrid-Asturias line by selling tickets on its website for as little as €11 one way.
However, regular ticket prices are expected to be higher, although these have not yet been set in stone. Current one-way tickets between Madrid and Oviedo cost between €25 and €50.
READ ALSO: How to get free train tickets in Spain in 2023
Why has the Madrid-Asturias high-speed link taken so long?
The Asturian AVE has been 19 years in the making, its completion delayed by 13 years and has ended up costing €4 billion.
Local daily La Voz de Asturias even ran a headline in June 2023 which read “20 years of fake announcements about the AVE to Asturias”, although this time the launch seems certain.
The main reason why it’s taken so long to materialise is largely because the part of line they’ve been working on - La Variante de Pajares - a part of the line between Oviedo and León which is considered to be the most complex railway infrastructure ever built in Spain, given the geotechnical difficulties of the project and that it had to be adapted for both freight and passenger trains.
Eighty percent of this stretch of line runs through tunnels, the longest one being 25 kilometres.
Some critics maintain that it's technically not an AVE train that will be reaching Asturias as Alvia trains will still be used, both high speed but the former can reach 310km/h speeds whereas the latter has a maximum speed of 250km/h.
It's also worth noting that the pre-existing Madrid-Asturias train has suffered a number of delays over the years due to cows on the tracks being run over (Asturias is famed for its large bovine population).
READ ALSO:
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Spain has an impressive rail network, but when it comes to its high-speed AVE links, the speed of development has been considerably slower in the northern half of the country than in the more populated east and south.
Northern cities such as Bilbao, San Sebastián, Santander, Oviedo and Gijón currently don’t have fully completed high-speed connections to and from the Spanish capital, although luckily for the latter two cities, this is about to change.
That’s because Asturias is set to become the second of Spain’s northern regions after Galicia to get the AVE, making train travel to Spain’s Cantabrian coast considerably faster.
READ ALSO: Eight fascinating facts about Spain's Asturias region
When will it launch?
November 30th 2023 is the first day train passengers will be able to use the revamped Madrid-Asturias high-speed line.
The new train link will be officially inaugurated the day before on November 29th by Spain's King Felipe, Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez as well as transport authorities and regional heads.
Después de casi dos décadas de obras, hoy, por fin, el AVE llega a Asturias. A esta hora, el rey y el presidente del Gobierno están haciendo el viaje inaugural.
— Telediarios de TVE (@telediario_tve) November 29, 2023
📺 https://t.co/VjKzBgoHyr pic.twitter.com/s1RFassJet
How long will each journey take?
The new AVE train will take passengers from the Spanish capital to Oviedo in 3 hours and 15 minutes, and in 3 hours and 39 minutes to Gijón.
That’s between one hour and one hour and a quarter less than it currently takes to Asturias’s two main cities.
When the Talgo and Alvia trains are replaced by Avril ones on the León-La Robla stretch in the first half of 2024, the duration of the trip will be reduced further still to around three hours, as these trains can reach speeds of up to 300 km/h.
They can also carry more passengers, which will help to achieve the objective of increasing the current number of 230,000 yearly passengers up to 600,000.
Where else will the train stop?
After setting off from Madrid's Chamartín station, the train will stop in Segovia, Valladolid, Palencia, León, Mieres (Asturias), Oviedo and Gijón.
Other stops in smaller towns will be included in some daily trips, meaning longer overall journey times.
How many trains a day?
There will be five trains a day in each direction, the same number as there are now.
Trains currently leave Madrid for Asturias at around 7am, 11am, 3pm, 5pm and 6.30pm.
How much will tickets cost?
State rail operator Renfe is promoting the new Madrid-Asturias line by selling tickets on its website for as little as €11 one way.
However, regular ticket prices are expected to be higher, although these have not yet been set in stone. Current one-way tickets between Madrid and Oviedo cost between €25 and €50.
READ ALSO: How to get free train tickets in Spain in 2023
Why has the Madrid-Asturias high-speed link taken so long?
The Asturian AVE has been 19 years in the making, its completion delayed by 13 years and has ended up costing €4 billion.
Local daily La Voz de Asturias even ran a headline in June 2023 which read “20 years of fake announcements about the AVE to Asturias”, although this time the launch seems certain.
The main reason why it’s taken so long to materialise is largely because the part of line they’ve been working on - La Variante de Pajares - a part of the line between Oviedo and León which is considered to be the most complex railway infrastructure ever built in Spain, given the geotechnical difficulties of the project and that it had to be adapted for both freight and passenger trains.
Eighty percent of this stretch of line runs through tunnels, the longest one being 25 kilometres.
Some critics maintain that it's technically not an AVE train that will be reaching Asturias as Alvia trains will still be used, both high speed but the former can reach 310km/h speeds whereas the latter has a maximum speed of 250km/h.
It's also worth noting that the pre-existing Madrid-Asturias train has suffered a number of delays over the years due to cows on the tracks being run over (Asturias is famed for its large bovine population).
READ ALSO:
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