Trains in Spain

[delays]

Evening chaps,

Planning a little tour of Spain for September before uni starts back up, in an effort to avoid the summer crowds but still get some nice weather.

The plan is to do Seville, Cordoba, Toledo, Madrid, Zaragoza and then return from Barcelona 10 days later. I have a pretty good grasp of Spanish being a Spanish student, and therefore have no problem about organising public transport between the cities.

They've been chosen largely for their connection by train lines, and this seemed to be the best way to travel. However, the general consensus seems to be that Spanish trains are horrendous re: reliability and time-keeping.

Can anyone confirm/otherwise?

Thanks,

[The jiffle king]

I live in Barcelona and I´ve not had that experience. I might have been lucky but the longer routes are well served and the trains are pretty good. Of course there are exceptions, but they are pretty good in general.
PS - Barcelona is a cracking place...

[Neil_Sc]

I have heard the Renfe high speed trains are good, I hope so as I am going from Madrid to Zaragoza next week.

[miniman]

Trains in Spain? I'd go mainly on the plane.

[N Dentressangle]

They're great.

Coaches are much cheaper in Spain though, if you're strapped for cash.

[bleesh]

I did Valencia - Barcelona, Barcelona - Madrid and Madrid - San Sebastian a few years ago and
a) the trains left EXACTLY on time
b) barriers were closed about 3 minutes before the train left
c) the trains were VERY clean

All in all very pleasant

[Puggit]

wiki said:

All AVE trains are currently operated by RENFE, the Spanish state railway company, although private companies may be allowed to run lines in the future. Some TGV-derived trains do run on the broad-gauge network at slower speeds, and these are branded separately as Euromed. On the line from Madrid to Seville, the service guarantees arrival within five minutes of the advertised time, and offers a full refund if the train is delayed further, although only 0.16% of trains have been so. In this regard, the punctuality of the AVE is exceptional compared to other non-long-distance RENFE services. On other AVE lines, this punctuality promise is more lax (15 minutes on the Barcelona line). A possible reason for this is that AVE services slow down to 200 km/h for the Sierra Morena section of the journey, because of the tight curves, and 250 km/h for the Córdoba-Seville section, possibly on account of medium-speed services running on the line, meaning that they have an easy means of recovering lost time if held up earlier in the journey.

Seems they run a fairly tight ship!

[delays]

Well thanks for the info guys!

Looks like they're not as bad as expected. Excellent news.

[s1rallyemark]

I got the train from Bennicassim to Barcelona for about £30 first class, this was worth it as you get free wine!

[delays]

s1rallyemark said:

I got the train from Bennicassim to Barcelona for about £30 first class, this was worth it as you get free wine!

Excellent! Thanks for that. Although we'll be penny-pinching on the trip and slumming it in regular class.

Another question for seasoned Spanish travellers... how much will this cost, with a rough ball-park figure?

[The jiffle king]

try using the RENFE or ADF websites to get the cost. I think they both have English versions, if not a google translate will help you