HIGH-SPEED rail services between Spain's largest two cities and France have been snapped up by half a million passengers in less than nine months, reveals the transport board.
AVLO 'low-cost AVE' tickets go on sale: What you need to know
22/01/2020
TICKETS will be on sale for the new 'low-cost AVE' rail link from this coming Monday (January 27), even though the train will not start to run until April 6.
The long-awaited 'AVLO' – a cheaper version of Spain's fastest rail service, but without buffet cars, VIP zones, WiFi or any other frills – will, at first, only run between Madrid and Barcelona, with one of the three daily trains operating a connection in Zaragoza.
It will run in both directions, leaving Barcelona's central Sants station at 09.25, at 16.25 and at 20.35, and leaving Madrid's Atocha station at 09.15, at 16.00 and at 20.00.
Later, a fourth connection will be added, leaving Barcelona at 12.40 and Madrid at 12.50, just before lunchtime, starting from May 4.
The direct links will take two-and-a-half hours to reach their destinations, whilst the one which stops in Zaragoza takes two hours and 45 minutes.
Two of the four connections stop in Zaragoza at Delicias station in either direction – at 10.53 in the direction of Madrid, which arrives at 12.10, and at 10.33 for Barcelona, arriving at noon, then in the evening, at 21.48 heading for Madrid and arriving at 22.45, and at 21.53 heading for Barcelona, arriving at 23.20.
Prices will be a considerable saving on the mainstream AVE link, although 'extras' such as additional suitcases, mobile phone charging point use and internet will attract additional costs.
At present, the cheapest one-way AVE ticket for the Madrid-Barcelona link is €37, but it is extremely difficult to find prices anywhere near this low.
On the AVLO, the same journey will cost between €10 and €60, with a flat rate of €5 for children under 14.
At first, tickets for the AVLO are only available online via Avlorenfe.com, but will later also be sold at physical station ticket offices, albeit with a surcharge.
Predicting a flood of potential customers on the first day in a bid to catch the lowest prices – which will be easier to find the farther ahead of the journey they are booked - rail board RENFE has upgraded its server to cope with the traffic.
RENFE learned its lesson during its 25th anniversary year when it launched an offer on the 25th day of every month of 25,000 one-way AVE tickets at €25 each, and its server kept crashing within seconds after midnight due to the sheer volume of customers.
RENFE director Isaías Táboas, asked why the AVLO did not stop in any other major station en route between Barcelona and Madrid – such as Tarragona, Lleida, Calatayud and Guadalajara – said the initial launch was concerned only with making the rail link cost-effective and as cheap as possible for users.
“We need to cover the journey as quickly as possible to allow trains to go back and forth as often as possible during the day, firstly,” Táboas explains.
“Secondly, they need to be full. All seats need to be occupied at all times. If someone buys, for example, a ticket from Lleida to Tarragona, I cannot be certain someone else will buy a Barcelona-Tarragona ticket and then a Madrid Lleida one.
“The stop in Zaragoza is, however, worthwhile, because it's always going to be highly likely that people will buy Zaragoza-Barcelona or Madrid-Zaragoza tickets, or the reverse.
“If the trains don't run to full capacity, it doesn't mean we won't make a profit; it means we'll lose them altogether – and we can't let that happen, especially as we'll be in competition with other operators by the end of the year.
“We calculate the AVLO will bring in a profit of about 3%, which is very tight indeed.”
From December this year, the State will open up rail travel to private competitors, meaning the public sector-run rail board RENFE will have to work harder than ever to keep customers.
The main purpose of the AVLO, Táboas explains, is for customers who 'don't use the AVE because it's too expensive'.
“Especially young adults who would otherwise travel by car, alone or in a shared car, or families,” he says.
“Our main aim is not to attract passengers from the 'air bridge'.”
The Madrid-Barcelona 'air bridge' is the name given to the regular commuter flight connections between Spain's two largest cities – and although Barcelona's mayoress Ada Colau wants it to close down, given the huge CO2 emissions involved in the constant to-and-fro plane journeys, Táboas says this would 'not be viable'.
“Neither the rail infrastructure, nor the stations, nor the trains themselves have the capacity to absorb the 2.5 million passengers a year who use the 'air bridge' – even though I realise rail travel is going to need to play a bigger rôle in distances of up to 600 kilometres, for environmental reasons.
“But scrapping the 'air bridge' to replace with trains is something that needs to be carefully planned; it cannot be improvised.”
As for those living elsewhere in the country who feel they would benefit from a cut-price high-speed train connection, they can be quietly optimistic about the AVLO's potential – according to Táboas, new trains will be ready for use by 2021, which will be when RENFE starts to 'plan where they might be economically viable'.
This could, in theory, be almost anywhere, given that authorities and the public all over the country have been calling for the AVLO to be set up where they live.
“It's great that people are asking for something that hasn't even been created yet,” Táboas says.
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TICKETS will be on sale for the new 'low-cost AVE' rail link from this coming Monday (January 27), even though the train will not start to run until April 6.
The long-awaited 'AVLO' – a cheaper version of Spain's fastest rail service, but without buffet cars, VIP zones, WiFi or any other frills – will, at first, only run between Madrid and Barcelona, with one of the three daily trains operating a connection in Zaragoza.
It will run in both directions, leaving Barcelona's central Sants station at 09.25, at 16.25 and at 20.35, and leaving Madrid's Atocha station at 09.15, at 16.00 and at 20.00.
Later, a fourth connection will be added, leaving Barcelona at 12.40 and Madrid at 12.50, just before lunchtime, starting from May 4.
The direct links will take two-and-a-half hours to reach their destinations, whilst the one which stops in Zaragoza takes two hours and 45 minutes.
Two of the four connections stop in Zaragoza at Delicias station in either direction – at 10.53 in the direction of Madrid, which arrives at 12.10, and at 10.33 for Barcelona, arriving at noon, then in the evening, at 21.48 heading for Madrid and arriving at 22.45, and at 21.53 heading for Barcelona, arriving at 23.20.
Prices will be a considerable saving on the mainstream AVE link, although 'extras' such as additional suitcases, mobile phone charging point use and internet will attract additional costs.
At present, the cheapest one-way AVE ticket for the Madrid-Barcelona link is €37, but it is extremely difficult to find prices anywhere near this low.
On the AVLO, the same journey will cost between €10 and €60, with a flat rate of €5 for children under 14.
At first, tickets for the AVLO are only available online via Avlorenfe.com, but will later also be sold at physical station ticket offices, albeit with a surcharge.
Predicting a flood of potential customers on the first day in a bid to catch the lowest prices – which will be easier to find the farther ahead of the journey they are booked - rail board RENFE has upgraded its server to cope with the traffic.
RENFE learned its lesson during its 25th anniversary year when it launched an offer on the 25th day of every month of 25,000 one-way AVE tickets at €25 each, and its server kept crashing within seconds after midnight due to the sheer volume of customers.
RENFE director Isaías Táboas, asked why the AVLO did not stop in any other major station en route between Barcelona and Madrid – such as Tarragona, Lleida, Calatayud and Guadalajara – said the initial launch was concerned only with making the rail link cost-effective and as cheap as possible for users.
“We need to cover the journey as quickly as possible to allow trains to go back and forth as often as possible during the day, firstly,” Táboas explains.
“Secondly, they need to be full. All seats need to be occupied at all times. If someone buys, for example, a ticket from Lleida to Tarragona, I cannot be certain someone else will buy a Barcelona-Tarragona ticket and then a Madrid Lleida one.
“The stop in Zaragoza is, however, worthwhile, because it's always going to be highly likely that people will buy Zaragoza-Barcelona or Madrid-Zaragoza tickets, or the reverse.
“If the trains don't run to full capacity, it doesn't mean we won't make a profit; it means we'll lose them altogether – and we can't let that happen, especially as we'll be in competition with other operators by the end of the year.
“We calculate the AVLO will bring in a profit of about 3%, which is very tight indeed.”
From December this year, the State will open up rail travel to private competitors, meaning the public sector-run rail board RENFE will have to work harder than ever to keep customers.
The main purpose of the AVLO, Táboas explains, is for customers who 'don't use the AVE because it's too expensive'.
“Especially young adults who would otherwise travel by car, alone or in a shared car, or families,” he says.
“Our main aim is not to attract passengers from the 'air bridge'.”
The Madrid-Barcelona 'air bridge' is the name given to the regular commuter flight connections between Spain's two largest cities – and although Barcelona's mayoress Ada Colau wants it to close down, given the huge CO2 emissions involved in the constant to-and-fro plane journeys, Táboas says this would 'not be viable'.
“Neither the rail infrastructure, nor the stations, nor the trains themselves have the capacity to absorb the 2.5 million passengers a year who use the 'air bridge' – even though I realise rail travel is going to need to play a bigger rôle in distances of up to 600 kilometres, for environmental reasons.
“But scrapping the 'air bridge' to replace with trains is something that needs to be carefully planned; it cannot be improvised.”
As for those living elsewhere in the country who feel they would benefit from a cut-price high-speed train connection, they can be quietly optimistic about the AVLO's potential – according to Táboas, new trains will be ready for use by 2021, which will be when RENFE starts to 'plan where they might be economically viable'.
This could, in theory, be almost anywhere, given that authorities and the public all over the country have been calling for the AVLO to be set up where they live.
“It's great that people are asking for something that hasn't even been created yet,” Táboas says.
Related Topics
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