Rail Europe

The new high speed line between Madrid and Barcelona opens tomorrow, the 20th of February: book your tickets with Rail Europe!

Rail Europe, the World leading distributor of European rail is delighted to announce that the high speed line between Madrid and Barcelona will finally open on February, 20th!

The two vibrant capitals, Madrid and Barcelona, are now connected with 17 daily services, in 2h38 instead of 3h55 today. Thanks to this new line, it will also take only 1h51 to go from Saragossa to Barcelona (39 minutes saved) and 1h03 from Lerida to Barcelona (27 minutes saved).

Enjoy this new European High Speed experience in total comfort, aboard the AVE trains, some of the most technically advanced trains of the Spanish Railways… and in the world!

Between Madrid and Barcelona, you will enjoy at high speed (300 km/h – 186 mph) the high quality services usually proposed onboard AVE trains such as individual sockets, reclining seats, movie screenings, etc. And if you travel in “Club” or “Preferente” class, you’ll even benefit from a new catering offer at your seat.

Just contact your Rail Europe travel agent to book your rail trip in Spain or just to get more information about Spanish trains and destinations.
Contact details to be found on www.raileurope.fr/wheretobuy.

Barcelona - ELIPSOS

The Spanish Railways have been operating a useful service since this summer that links Trenhotel Elipsos departures / arrivals at Barcelona-França station with Barcelona-Sants Station.
Trains leave every 30 minutes from each station and services are free for travellers with ELIPSOS tickets.

Spain: Madrid-Saragossa-Barcelona

For Spain’s 50 million visitors, Renfe, the Spanish Railways, reinforced services on the Madrid-Barcelon line. They recently launch ALVIA, a new service on the Madrid-Saragossa-Barcelona line. ALVIA runs 12 brand new train-sets, designed by CAF-Alstom, and cuts the journey time by 15 minutes between Barcelona-Madrid, which takes approximately 4 hours and 15 minutes on the direct service. As well as time savings, there are more frequent connections with six daily connections in each direction and one direct service between the two cities. The latter operates every day of the week except Saturdays.

Each train has 238 seats in air-conditioned carriages, with 82 seats in first class (there is a specially designed space for handicapped travellers) and 156 seats in second class. Each seat has plug-in facilities for listening to music or watching videos which can be hired in the dining carriage. First-class passengers are treated royally with extra privileges and services such as on-board meals and access to the Sala Club in the terminal train stations.

For more information on Rail Europe Passes to Spain or reserving your train seats on Alvia, please contact your agent: www.raileurope.fr/wheretobuy

Spain: AVE high speed trains run at 250km/h

More good news for travellers to Spain! Renfe, the Spanish Railways, who run AVE, the high speed train service announced that trains will circulate at 250km/h on the Madrid, Saragossa and Lleida line, heading northwards from Madrid.

Time savings between Madrid and Saragossa are 19 minutes with journey time now taking 1h40. On the Madrid to Lleida journey, time savings are 28 minutes with the trip now taking only 2h30.

In terms of comfort, the new series of carriages, built by the Talgo-Bombardier consortium, with its 316 seats has several comfort levels for passengers – 6 Tourist Class, 3 Preferential, 2 Club and I Restaurant carriage. Access to the carriages and seating have been adapted to ensure disabled travellers can manoeuvre on board with greater ease. Seats are reclinable and passengers can turn them around so that they can travel in the same direction as the train. Each passenger has its personal audio-video systems in his or her seat which operates via GPS technology and offers a selection of channels for relaxed journeys.
For more information on reserving train seats on the AVE or elsewhere in Spain, please contact your agent: www.raileurope.fr/wheretobuy

Elipsos: Spain, France, Italy with the train-hotel night service

Elipsos is the night-train service which runs between Barcelona and Paris, Barcelona and Zurich, Barcelona and Milan. In 2005, over 260,000 travellers used the night service to travel to and from their holiday destinations, with over 137,000 people travelling between Barcelona and Paris. Occupancy rates are very satisfactory (+80%) with primarily families and friends using the service – the joys of wakening up from a good night’s sleep in a choice of carriages ranging from Grand Class, Club Class, Tourist Class and Super Reclining Seats – and arriving in a foreign holiday destination.

Each train has a restaurant carriage open for dinner until 1am and re-opens for breakfast from 6am for travellers from the Grand Class and the Club Class…

Travellers with Spain, Spain-Portugal, France, France-Spain, France-Italy, France-Switzerland or Greece-Italy passes can use these services with a special pass holder fare. On all services arriving in Barcelona, travellers receive a book of discounted vouchers – Art Travel Pass, which offers a large range of discounts to some of Barcelona’s most well-known museums.

Spain – a foretaste of summer planning

Summer planning is a wonderful remedy for alleviating gloomy winter drear as it brings promises of warmer sunshine days as well as memories of summer activities.

For those not planning to sleuth through Paris, London and Scotland in search of the Da Vinci Code or those getting their soccer gear ready for Germany or those heading for Austria to attend the multitude of festivities to celebrate Mozart’s 250th anniversary, there are many fascinating places to visit in Spain.   

Looking at one of our favourite themes which of course does not exclude sporting, gastromic or other cultural pursuits, World Heritage Centres are numerous in Spain and provide a different approach to itinerary planning. An interesting circuit might include any or all of the following:

Start off in Salamanca, 2 hours and 20 minutes by train from Madrid, this renowned univeristy city was
founded in 3 BC and has architectural remnants from the Roman, Moorish, Renaissance and Baroque
periods of its history. Amongst its treasures, it has 2 universities (one of the oldest in Europe) and 2 cathedrals and beautiful main plaza as well as a number of palaces and churches.

Avila, just 1 hour and 3 minutes by train from Salamanca, is an 11th century city founded to protect the Spaniards from the Moors and has lost none of its severe medieval exterior. Its reputation as a city of Saints and Stones are due to the presence of St Theresa’s grave as well as the magnificient stone walling with its 82 towers intact and its 9 entry points to the city.

Segovia has a very well preserved Roman aqueduct which probably dates back to 50 BC. Also worth visiting in the historic city are the Alcazar, which was built from the 11th century onwards and the Gothic cathedral dating back to the 16th century. The trip from Avila to Segovia takes just under 2 hours.

Madrid is a mere 2 hours by train from Segovia and as with any capital city has something exciting for every visitor’s taste. One of the World Heritage buildings in Madrid which is built on an exceptionally beautiful site is the Escurial Monastery.

Within a short distance of Madrid, 50 minutes by train, is the university and historic are of Alcala de Henares, one of the first university towns planned at the beginning of the 16th century. It inspired numerous other university towns throughout Europe and was brought to the Americas by Spanish missionaries. One of its most renowned pupils was Cervantes, author of Don Quichotte.

Aranjuez – located between Madrid and Toledo – is a riverside royal city, where the kings of Spain took up their summer residence in the 18th century. The royal city boasts a superb vegetable garden where the first asparagus was cultivated.

Toledo is a melting pot of 2 thousand years of history, of conquerors, of influences and this is seen in its palaces and builidings. Built on a craggy round in the centre of the Iberian peninsula, it is built around the Tagus river, 70 km from Madrid and 234 km from Salamanca, where our tour of World Heritage Cities commenced. Its historic centre is one of the largest in Spain with over 100 historical monuments – palaces, convents, monasteries and gardens. A visit to Toledo is incomplete without tasting some of its infamous dishes – perdiz roja estofada (stewed partiridge) or gazpacho la mancha (a revered winter dish, called Galianos in Don Quixote) and its delightful wines. “Que aprovechen!”

To avail of rail travel in Spain, Rail Europe offers the Eurail Spain Pass with unlimited travel on the national rail network from 3 up to 10 days within a 2-month period. For further details, please contact your travel agent.

Tilting trains

Countries looking to develop their high speed rail strategies have several potential solutions, including introducing tilting trains, which offer more speed using existing lines or building new speed lines for dedicated high speed train services. Obviously, cost is oftentimes a major concern, but nowadays, saturation on existing lines is also a factor. Tilting trains have been mooted as a fast and less expensive option to high speed services, simply because of the cost involved in building new lines.

In many countries, existing rail lines date from the 19th century and were built to cater for speeds up to 80km trains per hour, fast at the time, but nothing compared to the 300km of some high speed trains today,
notably in France. Tilting trains take the existing lines into consideration in their design and therefore are designed to “tilt” in sharp bends, so that passengers on board can enjoy speed without being thrown against the sides of the train in sharp bends. They can run at speeds up to 230 km/h. For the amateur, the difference between tilting trains and high speed or regular trains is the centrifugal force on tilting trains means that they tilt on corners.

Several countries have opted for the tilting trains and they include Amtrack, in the US with Acela Express, the ICE-T trains in Germany, the Pendolino in Italy, the Talgo in Spain, the X2000 in Sweden, the Intercity trains in Switzerland and the Cisalpino between Switzerland and Italy. Time savings are quite high compared with regular train services and travellers to Germany, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Italy and Spain, as well as some of the Eastern European countries, will enjoy their continental holiday without perhaps knowing that they are travelling on a tilting train.                     
                               

However, some countries are now facing saturation on their existing lines and tilting trains, whilst they go faster than regular trains, have to contend with existing trains on the lines – freight trains, regular trains, night trains – and use the lines accordingly.

The alternative approach means investing in separate high speed lines and high speed trains. Due to saturation, this strategy, whilst involving initial heavy financial commitment and time to building new lines, does mean that there are dedicated high speed lines which are separate from the regular trains, including slower freight or night trains. Therefore, high speed trains can run long distances making fewer stops and maintaining high speeds over longer distances.

French Railways made the high speed choice over twenty years ago and over the years has built up its high speed network, so that Lyons is 2 hours from Paris and Marseilles a mere 3 hours. Had the French Railways opted for the tilting trains, time savings on a 4 hour Lyons-Paris trip would only have been shortened by about 10 minutes.

Europe’s high speed network: concepts and plans

Europe’s high speed network continues its tentacular spread. Initially instigated by the French and German railways, over twenty years ago, Spain, Italy and the UK are catching up and making up for lost years with a growing network. It is interesting to see how each country has developed its concept of high speed, in terms of infrastructure, rolling stock and service areas. The 5th Eurailspeed Congress, recently held in Milan, provided an excellent opportunity to review the high speed services in operation and preview developments for the coming years.

In Germany, the focus is on connectivity. ICE services stop between major towns and cities within 150 km of each other on a given route. As a result, speeds rarely surpass 300km and only for a short time. Reservations are not obligatory on these services.

The French concept of high speed is to compete directly with the airlines. With direct services between Paris-Marseille (800 km apart) travelling at speeds of over 300kms, the three hour journey has eaten into airline market share.

The Spanish Railways, Renfe, opted for the latest ICE design for the Madrid-Barcelona a high speed service with a focus on passenger comfort.

The Netherlands announced, however, that the high speed line from Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp will not commence service in 2007 but in 2008.

The year 2007 will see many new projects enter into commercial service, Eurostar’s new terminal at St. Pancras, the TGV East will bring Strasbourg and Nancy much closer to Paris and stretch through to Germany...we shall keep you informed on a regular basis on progress on these projects.

The UIC (International Union for Railways) has participated actively in moving forward the trans-national developments for the European railways. As part of the move to integrate these services across Europe, signaling and power are being adapted and standardised to ensure smooth passage from one country’s system to another. On the ticketing side, Eurostar and Thalys plan to issue joint tickets in 2006. This alliance will benefit travellers to the World Cup matches in Germany. We will keep you informed in future issues of the Press Release.

Lastly, financing new lines and material is also on the UIC agenda, with Western European railways show-casing choices made to enable their Eastern European counterparts prepare for the extension of lines into their regions.

The future for travellers using high speed services in Europe is due to improve even more.

New high speed line opens between Madrid-Toledo

High speed trains went into operation between Madrid-Toledo mid-November, putting both cities at 20 minutes distance one from the other. Toledo, a beautiful medieval town, is situated 80 km south of Madrid. The new service means visitors can either base themselves in Toledo and commute to Madrid for day trips or vice versa.

Spanish high speed trains, known as AVE in Spain, focus on passenger comfort. Seats are reclinable, the new streamlined train is one single class with 237 seats and 4 entrances, one specially designed for disabled travellers. On-board service in also provided.

Ten return trips will operate per day, with first departure at 6:50am from both Madrid and Toledo, with the last train leaving Madrid at 9:50pm and from Toledo at 9:20pm.

Among the governement officials who attended the opening, the Prime Minister, Mr Zapatero underlined the fact that the high speed service was part of an ambitous Transport Plan (mentioned in previous issue) launched in 1992 to link Madrid to Sevilla in the south and to Lleida and the French border in the north. He qualified the new service as an excellent project clearly meeting transport needs.

Spain: high speed train services

Spain’s governement recently presented a new Strategic Transport and Infrastructure Plan which puts passenger and freight intermodal needs to the forefront. The plan aims to increase rail competitivity compared to road and air. The government also expects that the plan will help reduce gas emissions by 20% by the year 2020. 

More than half of the €248,9 million proposed investment for the Transport and Infrastructure Plan will be attributed to rail with a major expansion in high-speed services. Over the next 15 years, 9,000 km of high-speed, double-track, “standard gauge” (i.e. size of train tracks) electrified lines will be built. This is an ambitious plan compared with the 1,031 km built in the past 15 years. In the future, the government wants to ensure that provincial capitals are all conncted to the high-speed network. This would mean that more than 90% of the Spanish population would be less than 50km from high speed train services. With “standard gauge” in place, Spanish railways will be accessible to the majority of trains from the European network.

Today’s services connect some of the larger cities on the Barcelona-Madrid-Malaga axe. However, with this Plan, visitors travelling to Spain in the coming years will be in a position to access more easily all parts of the country.

Rail Europe will keep you informed in later issues.