Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Posted by : John Ross on May 08, 2008 - 10:12 AM Travel News

RENFE, Spain's state-owned railway company, took advantage of the May 1st long weekend to introduce whopping price increases on the Madrid-Barcelona line. In some cases, such as the "Web" fare for the AVE high-speed train from Madrid to Barcelona, these new prices are nearly 25% up on the "old" ones, which furthermore had only been in effect for a little over two months. I would prefer not to see this as a one-finger salute to consumers by the railway giant, but unfortunately I find it hard to interpret any other way. The first to protest have been the mayors of the AVE Cities Network, which includes Madrid, Barcelona, Lerida, Seville, Córdoba, Puertollano, Ciudad Real, Guadalajara, Calatayud and, significantly, Saragossa: Saragossa's Expo 2008 is just over a month away, and the tourist-class Madrid-Saragosa ticket has risen in price from 40 euros to 51.90, an increase of nearly 30%. More of this story.

RENFE's excuse for the price increases is that the trains have reached the target speed of 300 km/hour. The AVE Cities Network mayors point out that deficiencies in the service have included power failures and the non-substitution of conventional commuter trains which can no longer use the line. Certain airlines, particularly Iberia, will breathe slightly more easily - the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed railway connection has had a devastating effect on the use of the air shuttle, though not only because of its accessible price.

More:AVE Cities Network

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