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Train sets out to beat the plane

Madrid: Delays and disruption, disgruntled passengers, accusations of political incompetence and financial mismanagement: the development of the Spanish railway system has provoked a number of grumbles. But when the new high-speed link between Madrid and Barcelona sets off later this month, those complaints will be set aside as the super-slick Ave S103 service carves its way through the Spanish countryside at speeds of nearly 350 kmph.

The Ave S103 is the kind of train that other commuters can only dream of, and forms the centrepiece of plans to make Spain a model for the rest of Europe, and the world leader in high-speed trains by 2010. Its 200-metre aluminium chassis carries 404 passengers, whose reclining chairs are fitted with video and music players.

“They are the future of travel in Spain and show that the train is anything but obsolete,” said Aberlado Carrillo, the director general of the state rail operator Renfe’s high-speed service.

In its first term in office, the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has spent €21 billion as part of a 15-year €108-billion project to transform the rail network. Around 70 per cent of this will be spent on the Ave (short for Alta Velocidad Espanola, or Spanish high speed).

The S103 will cover the 650 km from Madrid to Barcelona in two hours and 35 minutes, taking two hours off the journey time.

But it will face stiff competition from the highly successful air-shuttle, with a route that is one of the busiest in the world. The “air bridge” operated by Iberia airlines allows passengers to turn up at the airport, buy a ticket, and board, within 20 minutes.

Mr. Carrillo argues that the comparison between train and plane is a false one. “Time spent in a train is time won, while in a plane it is wasted,” he says. “In a train you can work, read, talk, use the Internet, eat, or simply relax and enjoy the journey. With a plane, the only objective is to arrive.”

If an Ave train arrives more than five minutes late, passengers are reimbursed the full price of their ticket. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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