All aboard the Avlo
First low-fare high-speed train arrives in Alicante from the capital
THE FIRST low-fare, highspeed train (AVE) between Madrid and Alicante arrived on the Costa Blanca on Monday – 10 years after the line was inaugurated in 2013.
The Avlo service, provided by public rail company Renfe, offers tickets for as little as €7 and made the journey in two hours and 20 minutes, after setting off two minutes late from Chamartín station in the capital at 07.00.
It is the third Avlo service to open in three years, following Madrid-Barcelona in June 2021, and Madrid-Valencia in February 2022.
Each train can hold 359 passengers and more than 50,000 tickets have already been sold for the Alicante route, which can be booked on the Renfe website for dates up to December 9.
The first Alicante-Madrid Avlo was 82% full with 300 tickets sold, while the first return service was 92% full with 332 people.
More than 1,100 people travelled the route on the four Avlo trains which ran that day, two in each direction, out of the 1,436 seats available.
All four trains stop in Albacete, while one in each direction also stops at Cuenca and Villena.
These trains have wi-fi and all seating is in a single class, while a ‘dynamic pricing’ system offers ‘the best price available at each moment for the requested journey’, claims Renfe.
Clients can add extra services such as choosing their seat, changing times or cancelling, and additional baggage, although the basic price includes a free cabin suitcase and one piece of hand luggage.
The trains from Chamartín leave at 07.00 and 17.00, and those from Alicante at 11.45 and 21.00.
These four new services bring the total number of daily AVE services on the line to 28, but French low-fare company Oiugo will add four more in a few weeks and Iryo will follow that.
Renfe added that there is a set price of €5 for children under 14, while registered large families can obtain discounts of 20% for general category seats and 50% for the upgraded ‘special category’.
New train connections on track
The ministry for transport is working on the location of a new local train service stop in Elche’s business park and in a few months will put a contract out to tender for connection between the city and its highspeed train (AVE) station in the rural district of Matola.
The news was given by the government’s representative in the region, Pilar Bernabé at a meeting with mayor Carlos González and councillors.
The first phase of the socalled Torrellano bypass will connect the C1 local line with the city and with AlicanteElche airport.
Funding to design the project was in this year’s state budget and the contract was awarded in February for €2.4 million, said Sra Bernabé.
The mayor said improvements to the line are vital for Elche, and the connections with Alicante city, Murcia and the Vega Baja area.
He also told her that the line’s ‘completely outdated’ rolling stock needs replacing, in addition to plans to electrify the line and add a parallel one to run in the opposite direction.
Another state investment highlighted by Sra Bernabé was the recently completed resurfacing of the A-7 motorway for €6M.