Internationally, the SNCF opened a second route on Friday for its low-cost subsidiary Ouigo Spain between Madrid and Valenciaa year and a half after the one between Spanish capital and Barcelona (via Zaragoza and Tarragona), which has been used by three million passengers. The new service is operated in Euroduplex high-speed train Alstom's double-decker train will make five round trips a day, two more than initially planned, according to the company. This will enable it to carry 35,600 passengers every week. The journey takes 1 hour 50 minutes between Madrid-Chamartin-Clara-Campoamor and Valencia-Joaquim Sorolla stations. Tickets start at €9 and can only be purchased online from the Ouigo.com/es website.
The SNCF has no intention of stopping there, and as part of its call for tenders Ouigo Spain will serve Alicante (via Albacete) in the first half of 2023 with two daily return services, then Seville (via Cordoba) at the end of 2023. Its ambition is to carry 10 million passengers annually thanks to some 30 daily departures from the Iberian peninsula. As a reminder, the Madrid-Barcelona line is connected to the French network at Barcelona Sants station following the breakage earlier this year of theformer partnership with Renfethe Spanish national rail company. There is currently a daily return service between Paris-Gare de Lyon and Barcelona.
Spain whets appetites as Trenitalia could launch its Frecciarossaits "red arrows", under the brand name Iryo from the end of November with virtually the same services: from Madrid to Barcelona and Zaragoza on the northern route, and from Madrid to Seville, Malaga, Cordoba, Valencia and Alicante on the southern route. Renfe will soon have two competitors for its classic AVE high-speed trains and its low-cost Avlo offer.
Lisbon-Porto and Lisbon-Madrid high-speed lines back on track
Projects are also gathering pace further west, with the new high-speed links Spain-Portugal Madrid-Lisbon / Porto. The Portuguese government has relaunched its project for a high-speed line between Lisbon and Porto, the country's second city, which will be linked by 1h15 by 2030 compared with 2h49 today. Largely financed by European funds, almost 3 billion euros and six years of work from 2024 will be needed to build this 336-kilometre line. The work will be carried out in three phases, the first of which will be between Porto and Soure, close to the historic university city of Coimbra, reducing the journey time to 1 hour 59 minutes by 2028. The Portuguese rail operator is aiming for traffic of 16 million passengers from the first year of operation in 2031, compared with the current figure of 6 million.
Previously abandoned after the 2008 financial crisis, the project's return to favour is the result of a vast investment plan by 10 billion euros designed to develop and modernise the Portuguese network. The aim is to eventually link it to the already dense network in neighbouring Spain. An extension as far north as Vigo is already envisaged. And, above all, to get the high-speed link between Lisbon and Madrid back on track (via Badajoz and Toledo), the opening of which was initially announced for... 2013! Here too, the ambition is to halve journey times, with a 502 km route completed in 4 to 5 hours, compared with almost 9 hours at present.
