Low-cost Ouigo trains to reach Spain's Valladolid and Segovia in April

Spain's high-speed train coverage continues its expansion in 2024, with new stops set to arrive in two Castile and León cities: Valladolid and Segovia.

The new routes, which are set to have two daily services, one of them with connections to Albacete and Alicante, forms part of the company's broader expansion plans for high-speed rail in Spain in 2024.

Mayor of Valladolid, Jesús Julio Carnero, has praised the decision, stating that it will provide local people with "affordable, quality and sustainable" high-speed train travel, and added that the distance between Madrid and Valladolid must be reduced “from a cultural, social, economic and relational point of view.” 

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Valladolid and Segovia will join the list of seven city destinations already covered by Ouigo in Spain, including Madrid, Zaragoza, Tarragona, Barcelona, Valencia, Albacete and Alicante.

The Ouigo trains available as of January 2024, which doesn't include the upcoming stops in Valladolid and Segovia in April and several other Spanish cities over the course of the year.

 

Segovia is 85 kilometres north of Madrid and is known primarily for its Roman aqueduct, while Valladolid is 230km northeast of the Spanish capital and is Castilla y León's most populous city with 300,000 inhabitants.

Both cities are within the company's broader 2024 expansion plans along with Murcia, Elche and Cuenca, also slated for services sometime in the first half of 2024.

In the second half of the year, high-speed services are also set to be expanded to southern Spain with stops in Málaga, Córdoba and Seville.

General fare prices will start from €9, free for children up to three years old if they travel with an adult, and €5 for children between 4 and 13 years old. Ouigo trains have 509 seats spread over two floors.

In recent years, the French-owned Ouigo company has increased its presence in the Spanish rail market.

This came after the liberalisation of Spain’s rail networks cranked into gear from 2021 onwards, opening up the market to encourage increased competition and allowing trains not operated by state rail provider Renfe to circulate on Spanish rail infrastructure.

Spain has the most high-speed rail in Europe in terms of total kilometre coverage, and the second most in the world.

However, critics argue that the massive expansion of high-speed rail services in Spain is not evenly distributed and has been overly focused on urban centres, leaving many parts of the country disconnected from the rest or with the need to take connections via Madrid.

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