AVE

Alta Velocidad Española is a high-speed rail service operated by Renfe, the Spanish State railway company.
The first AVE service was inaugurated in 1992, with the introduction of the first Spanish high-speed railway connecting the cities of Madrid, Córdoba and Seville.
In addition to Renfe's use of the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias-managed rail infrastructure in Spain, Renfe offers two AVE services partially in France, connecting respectively Barcelona-Lyon and Madrid-Marseille.
Alta Velocidad Española translates to "Spanish High Speed", but the initials are also a play on the word ave, meaning "bird". AVE trains operate at speeds of up to.

WWW Official Site

Services

Renfe offers the following AVE services:

Eastern corridor

Madrid–Alicante via Cuenca, Albacete, and Villena.
Madrid–Castellón via Cuenca, Requena-Utiel and Valencia.
Madrid–Murcia via Elche and Orihuela.
Madrid–Valencia via Cuenca and Requena-Utiel.

Northeast corridor

Madrid–Barcelona via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, and Tarragona.
Madrid–Figueres via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona.
Madrid–Huesca via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, and Tardienta.

Northern corridor

Madrid–Gijón via Valladolid, Palencia, León and Oviedo.
Madrid–León via Segovia, Valladolid and Palencia.

Northwest corridor

Madrid–A Coruña via Zamora, Ourense and Santiago De Compostela.
Madrid–Ourense via Zamora.
Madrid–Vigo via Zamora, Sanabria, A Gudiña, Ourense, Santiago de Compostela, Vilagarcía de Arousa and Pontevedra.

Southern corridor

Madrid–Granada via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, Antequera and Loja.
Madrid–Málaga via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, and Antequera.
Madrid–Seville via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, and Córdoba.

Cross-country

Alicante–León via Albacete, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín, Valladolid and Palencia.
Alicante–Ourense via Albacete, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín and Zamora.
Barcelona–Granada via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba and Antequera.
Barcelona–Málaga via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, and Antequera.
Barcelona–Seville via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Puertollano and Córdoba.
Burgos–Murcia via Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Elche and Orihuela.
Gijón–Castellón via Oviedo, Mieres Del Camín, La Pola, León, Palencia, Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Cuenca, Valencia and Sagunto.
Gijón–Vinaros, via Oviedo, Mieres Del Camín, La Pola, León, Palencia, Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Cuenca, Valencia, Sagunto, Castellón, Benicàssim, Oropesa del Mar and Benicarló.
Huesca–Seville via Tardienta, Zaragoza, Calatayud, Guadalajara, Madrid-Puerta de Atocha and Córdoba
Málaga–Murcia via Madrid-Puerta de Atocha, Cuenca, Albacete, Villena, Alicante, Elche and Orihuela.
Valencia–Burgos via Requena-Utiel, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín and Valladolid.
Valencia–León via Requena-Utiel, Cuenca, Madrid-Chamartín, Segovia, Valladolid and Palencia.
Valencia–Seville via Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Puertollano, and Córdoba.

International services

* Barcelona–Lyon via Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Montpellier, Nîmes, and Valence.
* Madrid–Marseille via Guadalajara, Zaragoza, Tarragona, Barcelona, Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Béziers, Montpellier, Nîmes, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.

The central hub of the AVE system is Madrid's Puerta de Atocha, except for the Madrid–Asturias [high-speed rail line|Madrid–Asturias], Madrid–Burgos, Madrid–Galicia and Madrid–Alicante lines as well as the majority of the services on the Madrid-Murcia and Madrid-Valencia lines, that terminate at Chamartín station. Madrid Atocha and Chamartín station are linked by Madrid Metro and Cercanías Madrid services but not by any standard gauge lines, making it difficult for high speed trains to serve both.

Trains

Currently, there are several series of high-speed trains that run the AVE service:

S-100, manufactured by Alstom, based on the TGV family trains.
S-102, manufactured by Talgo and Bombardier, marketed globally as Talgo 350.
S-103, manufactured by Siemens, marketed globally under the brand Siemens Velaro.
S-106, manufactured by Talgo, marketed globally as Talgo AVRIL.
S-112, manufactured by Talgo and Bombardier, an improved version of the S-102 with a different seat layout.

Passenger usage

The still-growing network transported a record 39.0 million passengers in 2024. Though the network length is extensive, it lags in ridership behind comparable high-speed rail systems in Japan, France, Germany, China, Taiwan, and Korea.

rowspan="2"							2006	2007	2008	2009
						4.878	5.559	11.461	11.250	-
rowspan="2"	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
10.851	12.563	12.101	14.697	17.967	19.428	20.352	21.108	21.332	22.370	-
rowspan="2"	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029
7.603	12.282	23.562	31.784	39.019						-

AVE