Extra high-speed train link
Third return service added to Orihuela-Elche-Madrid line
AN ADDITIONAL high-speed train (AVE) will be running between Orihuela, Elche and Madrid from Monday, February 28, national public rail company RENFE has announced.
Tickets are already available for this new service, which will leave from Orihuela Miguel Hernández at 11.52, stopping at Elche AV station in Matola at 12.04 to arrive at Madrid Puerta de Atocha at 15.03.
It leaves Madrid at 16.05 to arrive in Elche at 19.06 and Orihuela at 19.20.
The Orihuela-Elche-Madrid AVE service was launched over a year ago with two trains in each direction each day, but one on weekends, which has now been increased to three, making a total of 2,190 places.
Elche mayor Carlos González, who recently wrote to the president of RENFE, Isaías Táboas, asking for more frequent trains on the line, said this was good news for the municipality and responded to increasing demand.
The Madrid-Orihuela services have had an average occupation of 32%, increasing month by month and peaking in December, and exceeding 900 passengers on some days.
A total of 156,000 people have travelled on the line so far, of whom 18% used the station in Matola and 67% (105,000) Miguel Hernández station in Orihuela.
The service also stops at Alicante city, Villena, Albacete and Cuenca.
The mayors of Orihuela and Elche have both complained at the inclusion of other stops, as there were none when the line was opened and it made the journey in about two hours, compared to over three hours for the newest service.
There are also connecting trains to go on from Orihuela to Murcia del Carmen, Balsicas-Mar Menor, Torre-Pacheco and Cartagena with a single ticket.
There are three types of AVE ticket – Básico, Elige and Premium – which offer varying amounts of space and other optional extras.
Sr González said the figures confirm there is a real demand that makes it viable to increase the frequency of the trains.
“I’m convinced this increased service will result in continuing increased demand given that Elche is a station of reference for the municipalities in the surrounding area,” he assured.
He said that 28,000 passengers having travelled to and from Elche on the line in the first year was positive since the service is still being consolidated and this period had been complicated by the pandemic.
The vast majority of these passengers were just from Elche or very nearby places, noted the mayor.
He insisted the AVE is ‘essential for the development of our municipality’ and a ‘basic factor for the economic growth of Elche and its area’.
Sr González has also asked the RENFE president to include the station in Matola when it starts offering the lowcost AVE service, known as AVLO, between Madrid and Alicante this summer.