On 8 January, His Royal Highness the Prince of Asturias and Girona, accompanied by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, President of the Catalonia regional government Artur Mas, and Minister for Public Works Ana Pastor, presided over the inauguration of the high speed Barcelona-Figueres section.
This railway infrastructure, which has received an investment of over 3.7 billion Euros, not including funds allocated for adaptation and construction works on the stations of Barcelona Sants, Girona and Figueres-Vilafant, completes the total length of the 804 km Madrid-Barcelona-French Border High Speed Line (HSL).
The new high speed line, which connects the four capitals of the Catalan provinces to the centre and south of the Peninsula, thus becomes one of the main communication links between Spain and Europe, and at the same time is integrated into the Mediterranean Rail Corridor, an infrastructure whose construction will boost the development of the entire coast from Catalonia to Andalusia.
Thus, the new high speed line encourages passenger transport between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe and enables the Catalan capitals to be linked by one of the highest performing transport systems on an international scale and to be connected with Madrid, Zaragoza and other Spanish cities as well as France, from April, once the direct high speed passenger connection between Barcelona and Paris comes into operation.
Nine high speed trains in each direction per day
In order to showcase this new infrastructure, Renfe has designed a service of high speed connections that allows national, regional and international mobility to be substantially improved on the Northeast Corridor. The journey time to Girona and Figueres has been cut to less than half, service frequency and seat availability in the region have increased, and punctuality, reliability, comfort and accessibility will be greatly improved.
As of 9 January, Renfe is operating nine trains in each direction between Figueres, Girona and Barcelona, of which eight will continue their journey to Madrid and Zaragoza. In addition, two of these trains will connect with the French high speed service (TGV) to Paris.
The journey from the centre of Barcelona to the centre of Girona will be made in 37 minutes (compared to the hour and a half it has taken up to the present time), and to Figueres in 53 minutes (instead of the current two hours). Girona and Figueres will be 14 minutes from each other.
The fastest journey time between Girona and Madrid will be 3 hours and 32 minutes, and 2 hours and 13 minutes between Girona and Zaragoza. The Figueres-Girona-Madrid AVE service will also connect with the stations of Camp de Tarragona, Lleida Pirineus, Zaragoza, Calatayud and Guadalajara-Yebes. The new service will also reduce the journey time to France by one hour.
Benefits of the new connection
With the inauguration of this high speed section, a corridor over 1,200 km in length comes into service, from Figueres to Málaga, connecting the far north and far south of the Peninsula, increasing territorial cohesion and providing an infrastructure that will enhance the economic growth of the country.
Thus, the Spanish high speed network now has 3,000 km in service, reaffirming Spain as the second country in the world, after China, and the first in Europe with regard to the length of high performance lines in operation. This experience is enabling Spanish railway technology to position itself as one of the most competitive in the world.
The new infrastructures facilitate passenger mobility on reducing journey times, and offers high standards of safety, quality, comfort, reliability and socioeconomic and environmental sustainability on the basis of full integration into the environment.
The start of this connection means an improvement in the inter-regional transport system, which will encourage economic development in the zones through which it runs, with all that this represents in terms of job creation, social cohesion and urban transformation.
In addition to these benefits are the bolstering of freight transport, as the Barcelona-Figueres section is interoperable and allows for mixed traffic, as well as an increase in safety through the use of state-of-the-art technology in the automatic driving systems of the trains and the absence of level crossings along the route.
Push for territorial structuring and international connection
The impetus to build an international high speed connection between Spain and France, which is manifested through the speeding-up of the process and building work for its entry into service, such as the laying of track between La Sagrera and Mollet del Vallès and the new station in Girona, confirms the Government’s commitment to provide the country with first class infrastructure that is capable of presenting new opportunities within the territory.
The opening of this new connection is in accordance with the objectives set out by the Government in the 2012-2024 Infrastructure, Transport and Housing Plan (PITVI), aimed at advancing the Spanish high speed network as one of the country’s main structuring elements that is effective and of the highest quality.
With the extension of high speed to Girona, the number of Spanish provinces directly connected to the Spanish high speed network has now risen to 20, which link approximately 57.7% of the population of Spain (according to data from the latest municipal census of the INE).
29 stations are currently integrated into the high speed network: A Coruña, Albacete Los Llanos, Antequera-Santa Ana, Barcelona-Sants, Calatayud, Ciudad Real, Córdoba Central, Cuenca Fernando Zóbel, Figueres-Vilafant, Girona, Guadalajara Yebes, Huesca, Lleida Pirineus, Madrid (Puerta de Atocha and Chamartín), Málaga María Zambrano, Ourense, Puente Genil-Herrera, Puertollano, Requena-Utiel, Santiago de Compostela, Segovia Guiomar, Seville Santa Justa, Tardienta, Camp de Tarragona, Toledo, Valencia Joaquín Sorolla, Valladolid Campo Grande and Zaragoza Delicias.
Optimisation of the long and medium-distance service
In the new connections Renfe will apply a system of dual commercialisation in order to optimise the high speed service, seat occupation and the profitability of the trains. On each of the S-103 series trains, some of the seats will go on sale as an AVE product for long distance journeys, and others as the Avant service, for journeys between Barcelona, Girona and Figueres, with season ticket discounts for frequent travellers.
The AVE reaches Girona and Figueres as an extension of the Madrid-Barcelona AVE service, with eight daily trips per direction in tourist and business class, with on-board service and all the other AVE features. In the same vein, a price system with discount offers of up to 70% is in place (the estrella, web and mesa promotions).
The opening of this AVE to Girona comes with a campaign of over 60,000 promotional seats in the first three months. The Madrid-Girona AVE will be able to be purchased from 37.90 Euros and the Madrid-Figueres AVE from 38.40 Euros. From Zaragoza one will be able to travel to Girona from 23.50 Euros and to Figueres from 24.80 Euros.
In addition, tickets will be sold on journeys that link up with the French high speed train, the TGV, in order to travel to Paris, connecting at the station of Figueres-Vilafant.
Season tickets for frequent travellers
To travel between Barcelona, Girona and Figueres, Renfe will put on sale some of the seats on these nine trains, which premiere tomorrow, as the Avant service (medium-distance high speed for the regular traveller) with more economically-priced tickets. Coinciding with this opening, Renfe is launching the sale of two new registered season tickets for frequent travellers, with which the journey between Barcelona and Girona on high speed will cost 6.91 Euros. The “Tarjeta 10 Plus” – 10 Plus Card - (for undertaking 10 journeys in 8 consecutive days) and the “Tarjeta 10 Plus Estudiante” – 10 Plus Student Card - (10 journeys in 10 days), on sale since 2 January, cost 69.10 Euros between Barcelona and Girona, and 88.90 Euros between Barcelona and Figueres.
Moreover, Renfe will be selling the registered “Abono Plus” for 30 to 50 journeys to be taken in 30 days. With the 50-journey “Abono Plus” the traveller using these trains will take the trip between Barcelona and Girona for 6.15 Euros and between Barcelona and Figueres for 7.92 Euros.
These season tickets are on sale via all the sales channels and will require seat reservation for each journey.
In both cases, as high speed services, these trains guarantee universal accessibility and Renfe’s commitment to punctuality. The trains and stations on the entire line are accessible and will offer the help service for passengers with problems of mobility: Atendo.
With the putting into operation of the Avant and AVE services in Girona and Figueres, Renfe will also be applying the commitment to punctuality that is a feature of high speed, with reimbursements of 50% of the ticket price for delays of between 15 and 30 minutes and 100% for delays of over 30 minutes, in those cases in which the incident is attributable to railway operation.
In this manner, Renfe completes its railway provision in Catalonia. The Barcelona-Girona-Figueras corridor is one of the busiest on the current railway map, with almost 2.5 million medium-distance passengers a year. It is expected that, thanks to high speed trains, a million more passengers (some 40%) will be gained in the region.
European funding
For the construction of the Barcelona-Girona-Figueres High Speed Line, Adif received assistance in the 2000-2006 period from TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Networks) to the sum of 12.4 million Euros for studies and projects and for platform works on the Maçanet-Sils section. TEN-T assistance also co-financed in the 2007-2013 period the implementation of the ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System), with assistance of 10.6 million Euros.
The Madrid-Barcelona High Speed Line was co-financed in the 2000-2006 period by the Cohesion Fund, on the platform works of the Madrid-Barcelona section as well as the supply and laying of track on the Madrid-Vilafranca del Penedès section and the electrification, signalling and communications installations on the Madrid-Lleida section, with assistance reaching 3,358.1 million Euros.
TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Networks) assistance in the same period financed studies and projects to the amount of 58.5 million Euros.
The total European assistance received by the Madrid-Barcelona-Figueras High Speed Line is 3,439.6 million Euros, 3,358.1 million Euros from the Cohesion Fund and 81.5 million Euros from TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Networks) assistance.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is also participating in the funding of this high speed line.
(Source: ADIF)
