Barcelona has waited long enough for the promised high speed rail link to Madrid. Last Friday, the first AVE (Alta Velocidad, Spain's high speed rail) commercial test train arrived at the Barcelona Sants station. Only last week had the overhead wires been completed and Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, had been using diesel trains to test the new trackways. The opening date has not been announced yet, but some speculate the opening will be somewhere between 16 and 21 February 2008. The AVE to Barcelona was supposed to open in 2004. The Madrid Atocha to Barcelona Sants line will use Siemens-built trains, similar to those used on Germany's ICE. Renfe plans to sell round trip tickets at € 100, a very competitive price against airline tickets and the trip will take two and a half hours for the 600 km (373 miles) journey. Currently AVE has a policy where if the train is more than five minutes late, passengers are entitled a full refund.
Photo: An Alta Velocidad (AVE) train. Photo by Flickr user A. www.viajar24h.com. Used under the Creative Commons License.
