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South Madrid and High Speed. An example of symbiosis

immediate vicinity of Atocha station have been renovated and new establishments triple the
original figure of rooms offered.

Table 4: Renovated and new hotels in Atocha Area in the period 1992‐2017
Renovations Opening Renov. Rooms New openings Opening Rooms
since 1992 after
1992
Mediodía 1914 cont. 167 AC Atocha 2009 161
Mora 1950? cont. 55 NH Atocha 1994 68
Only You
Nacional * 1926 1995 206 2016 204
Atocha
Sleep’n 1956 2016 80 Paseo del Arte 2003 260
Rafael Atocha 1998 245
Total 508 Total 938
* Closed from 1978 to 1995 Source: Data collected by the author

8. Madrid‐Puerta de Atocha 25 years later

8.1 HS first impact

The implementation of a HS line drew a lot of scepticism. As late as 1991 the press complained
about the decision of building the line with standard gauge and forecast a failure in passenger
numbers and an unnecessary excess of capacity. Figures were not very ambitious: Madrid Seville line
began with twelve services a day, six on each direction, and a forecast of 3.900 passengers a day.
In spite of gloomy predictions, the ‘AVE’ made a big impact on public opinion. Passengers
demand exceeded the most optimistic predictions and the services soared accordingly. After
ten years of operation the turnout had more than tripled. A new mezzanine was built in 2002
in order to separate passenger flows. In 2010 arrival flows were displaced southwards to a new
pedestrian bridge, which was the first element of a new arrivals terminal, still to be completed.
8.2 A country’s hub

In these past 25 years, Atocha station has experienced a dramatic rise in passengers’ number,
from an early figure of 1,9M HS travellers a year in 1993, the first whole year to be operational,
to the current 19M in 2016. That means exactly tenfold.

Figure 55: HS trains in Atocha. Source: Juan Ayrault

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 121