15th anniversary of the Madrid-Barcelona high speed train
1 March, 2023On 20 February 2008, the AVE service began connecting Madrid to Barcelona in 2 hours and 38 minutes. The arrival of the AVE to the Catalan capital completed a railway relationship that had begun between Madrid, Calatayud, Zaragoza and Lleida and later also Camp de Tarragona.
The initial AVE offer was 17 trips in each direction between Madrid and Barcelona, progressively increasing due to demand until it reached 54 daily trips. Travel times have also been reduced, which currently amount to 2 hours 30 minutes for direct trains.
In parallel, the circulation of AVE trains has increased by 51.7%, which in the Madrid-Barcelona relationship has increased from 18,400 in 2008, to 27,900 in 2022. The trains provided by Renfe in the corridor, AVE, Avlo, Avant and Alvia amount to 407,000 throughout the 15 years of service. In 2008, 5.7 million travellers used Renfe’s high speed train in this first line whilst in 2022 there were over 12.1 million travellers.