Page 375 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 5

Economic, geographical and time-based exclusion as main factors inhibiting Spanish users from choosing High
Speed Rail

and the longest in Europe (MAEC, 2013), with around 3,100 km of HSR lines in operation (see Figure
1). The service of HSR in Spain –known as AVE, Alta Velocidad Española– is operated by RENFE
Operadora, the Spanish national railway company. Since 2005, AVE trains run on a HSR network
owned and managed by ADIF, the public company in charge of the management of most of the
Spanish railway infrastructure. Although RENFE Operadora is the only company operating the
high-speed trains nowadays (CNC, 2013), private companies may be allowed to operate trains
in the future, in accordance with the EU legislation. It is envisaged that the Madrid-Valencia
corridor will be the first case to introduce competition in the HSR services in the country.
Figure 1. Spain´s HSR network as of May 2016, and annual passengers in the main
AVE lines for 2012. Source: El País (2016)

During the last 20 years, the Spanish high-speed network has rapidly developed no matter
whether there was sufficient demand to justify the construction of new lines. The expansion of
this network has been considered in the last National Transport Plans as an essential element
to promote social and territorial cohesion among territories. Indeed, one of the traditional
objectives established in the transport agenda by previous governments has been linking the
capitals of the 47 provinces in the peninsula by both high capacity roads and high speed rail
services.
As a consequence of this policy the system is characterized by a reduced economic feasibility,
and the suitability of the investments in the Spanish HSR has been strongly questioned in several
occasions (see for instance De Rus, 2012 or Albalate, et al., 2011). Recently, Betancor, et al.
(2015) analysed the economic feasibility of the Spanish HSR and found that only operating
costs were covered, so they concluded that the investment was not profitable neither from a
financial nor from a social point of view.
The first high-speed line was opened in 1992, connecting the cities of Madrid, Córdoba and

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 373