Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line

In 2003 construction of the first phase of a new standard gauge line from Madrid to the French border (Madrid–Zaragoza–Lleida) was completed and on 11 October of that year commercial service began. This service also stopped at Guadalajara–Yebes and Calatayud. The service began running at only 200 km/h (124 mph). On 19 May 2006, after two years of operation, speed was increased to 250 km/h (155 mph) when the Spanish ASFA signalling system was replaced with level 1 of the new European ETCS/ERTMS system. On 16 October 2006 the trains on this line increased their operating speed to 280 km/h (174 mph).

On 18 December 2006 the AVE started operating to Camp de Tarragona, and on 7 May 2007 the service increased its speed to the maximum allowable for the line, 300 km/h (186 mph). This puts Tarragona at 30 minutes from Lleida. The extension to Barcelona was delayed various times due to technical problems; the Ministerio de Fomento having originally forecast the AVE's arrival in Barcelona by the end of 2007.[3]

The complete line was opened February 2008. As of 2012, seventeen trains now run every day between the hours of 6 am and 9 pm, covering the distance between the two cities in just 2 hours 30 minutes for the direct trains, and in 3 hours and 10 minutes for those calling at all intermediate stations. Before the high-speed line was built, the journey between the two cities took more than six hours.

Madrid-Barcelona-Figueres line in red

Maximum speed profile of the "Madrid-Barcelona-French Border" line, in 2015.

It was originally forecast that, after reaching Barcelona in 2004, the line would run at 350 km/h (217 mph), the maximum capable speed of the new Siemens AVE trains S103 which have replaced the Talgo Bombardier AVE S102, after the installation of level 2 of the ETCS/ERTMS. But on the AVE's first day of operating at 300 km/h (186 mph) to Tarragona the Minister of Public Works, Magdalena Álvarez, stated that the maximum commercial operating speeds of the AVE on all lines would be 300 km/h (186 mph).[4]

On 11 December 2011, the speed was raised to 310 km/h (193 mph) on a 60 km (37 mi) section of the railway (between km 64.4, near Guadalajara, and km 124.4), with plans to further increase the speed to 320 km/h (199 mph) on a 24 km (15 mi) sub-section (from km 81.0 to km 105.24) and plans to rapidly extend the 310 km/h (193 mph) speed throughout the Spanish high-speed network.[5][2][6][7] Nevertheless, after almost 5 years of operation with S103 trains running at up to 310 km/h (193 mph) on this section, the speed was decreased back to 300 km/h (186 mph) on 17 August 2016.[2] The tests performed by ADIF had revealed that, at speeds exceeding 300 km/h, the air which the trains were moving underneath was causing some stones of the ballast to rise, hitting the trains and causing damage of various kinds (the Spanish high-speed railways follow the French high-speed rail model of laying the rails on a bed of stones known as ballast, instead of laying the tracks on concrete plates, as is done for high-speed rail in Germany).[8] Due to this technical limitation and the substantial increase in costs and power necessary to break the 300 km/h barrier, the AVE in Spain abandoned prospects of operating at speeds over 300 km/h in the short or medium term.[8]

It was forecast that the AVE would substantially replace air traffic on the Barcelona – Madrid route (in the same way that the Eurostar has on the London-Paris/London-Brussels routes and France's TGV has on the Paris-Lyon route). Indeed, by the end of 2017, the line had already taken 63% of the traffic, taking most of it from aircraft.[9] A few years before the Madrid-Barcelona route was the world's busiest passenger air route in 2007 with 971 scheduled flights per week (both directions).[10] Similarly more than 80% of travelers between Madrid and Seville use the AVE, with fewer than 20% traveling by air.[11]

There was criticism during the construction of the Madrid-Barcelona line. A critical report by the consulting firm KPMG, commissioned by ADIF (Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias) at the behest of the Ministry for Public Works (Ministerio de Fomento) on 23 June 2004, pointed to a lack of in-depth studies and over-hasty execution of works as the most important reasons for the problems that dogged construction of the AVE line. For example, during the construction of the AVE tunnel near Barcelona, a number of nearby buildings suffered damage from a sinkhole that appeared near a commuter rail station, damaging one of its platforms. The construction committee of Barcelona's famed Sagrada Familia church lobbied for a re-routing of the tunnel – it passes within metres of the massive church's foundations. It also passes equally near the UNESCO-recognized Casa Milà also designed by Antoni Gaudí.

Furthermore, until 2005 both Siemens and Talgo/Bombardier train sets failed to meet scheduled speed targets, although in a test run during the homologation tests of the new S102 trains of RENFE, a train-set Talgo 350 (AVE S-102) reached a speed of 365 km/h (227 mph) on the night of the 25/26 June 2006, and in July 2006 a Siemens Velaro train-set (AVE S-103) reached the highest top speed ever in Spain: 403.7 km/h (250.8 mph). At this time, it was a record for railed vehicles in Spain and a world record for unmodified commercial service trainsets, as the earlier TGV and ICE records were achieved with specially modified and shortened trainsets, and the 1996 Shinkansen record of 443 km/h (275 mph) was using a test (non-commercial) trainset.

Planned services in 2012

At Paracuellos de la Ribera

Overview map of the high-speed connections from Barcelona towards France, with the year of opening

• High-speed rail in Spain
• LGV Méditerranée
• TER Languedoc-Roussillon
• List of highest railways in Europe

• Brunhouse, Jay (July 2009). "All Aboard » New high-speed Barcelona-Madrid". International Travel News. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013.

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