Page 509 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

High Speed Rail in Spain - a statement from a foreign expert

the different destinations Salamanca, Santiago de Compostela, Gijon, Santander, Bilbao
and San Sebastian. The result reads 39:6 =7 trains per day and direction. Although a
future higher traffic demand can be expected we can surely assume that during a 14 hour
service not even every hour a high speed train will be running per hour and direction.

2. And from these 39 trains at present only two are high speed trains capable of running
300 km/hand more (AVE 4099 and 4209); all the other trains (Alvia, Avant and IC) are only
running max 250 km/h or less (IC). But the high speed lines in Galicia are all designed for
a speed of 350 km/h.

3. Due to this expected very low use to capacity the new AVE line Palencia to Léon it is
built as a single track line in sections, The 162,7 long AVE line from Valladolid to Léon
comprises 78,7 km of double track and two single track sections totalling 84 km[10]. The
line is designed for a speed of 350 km/h. By these results and all other new AVE lines in
Northwest Spain someone only can come to conclusion that these measures never will
receive a positive costbenefit ratio for the AVE traffic.

Figure 15
When a foreign expert looks at the Spanish high speed network he is wondering about the
subject that no high speed line is planned between the second largest city in Spain, Barcelona,
and the third largest city, Valencia. This becomes clear, when someone studies the information
given on page 32 of the brochure “25 years of Spanish high speed rail” (in English) which
was published from the Spanish Railway Journal Vía Libre. The criteria normally given for
constructing a new high speed lines as improvement in quantity and quality for the passenger
service by switching from the classic line to the new high speed line and making free capacity
for the freight traffic on the classic line are obviously not given - at least in a necessary scope
- on all high speed lines currently under construction in Spain. But these criteria would apply
to a new high speed line between Barcelona and Valencia, exactly between Camp de Tarragona
and Valencia. So a foreign expert can only agree with with Catalan and Valencian businessmen,

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 507