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Barcelona Madrid AVE train |
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The Ave High Speed Trains are running!
The first AVE high-speed trains arrived a few minutes early in Barcelona and Madrid providing an amazing new transport link between the two cities. As of 20th February 2008 17 high-speed AVE trains will travel the 699 km route daily from 06.00 to 21.00 between Barcelona Sants Estació station and Madrid's Puerta de Atocha station. Prices are competitive with flights and the comfort level is high!
 Click here for Barcelona to Madrid AVE train ticket prices
Click here for Barcelona to Madrid AVE train timetables
Click here to buy Barcelona to Madrid AVE tickets at Renfe, the Spanish Railway website.
 Click here for the location of Sants Estació Station in Barcelona in Google Maps
Click here for the location of Puerta de Atocha station in Madrid
The historic first AVE Siemens model S-103 train left Barcelona's Sants station at 6 a.m on the morning of Wednesday 20th February 2008 and had a smooth journey over the 699 km of tracks linking the two cities.
The AVE from Barcelona pulled into Madrid's Puerta de Atocha station in the centre of Madrid at 8.35 a full eight minutes ahead of the estimated arrival time, having travelled at average speeds of over 250 kilometres an hour with high speeds of around 300 kilometres per hour.
The direct AVE route between Barcelona and Madrid is scheduled to take 2 hours and 38 minutes. The connections htat have stops along the way at Zaragoza, Lleida and camp de Tarragona add 45 minutes to the travelling time.
In the long run there is no doubt that this service will be a big hit with commuters to Madrid. Although low-costs flights are still cheaper on average at the moment, the AVE has several advantages . The biggest advantage of the AVE is perhaps that the high speed trains leave on time and do not wait for late arrivals!
At almost 3 hours, the journey time is longer than flying, but comparable if you include transport time to airports, check-in time and luggage pick-ups at airports in addition to the actual flying time.
The big benefit of the AVE train is that the 2 hours and 38 minutes journey time from the city centre of Barcelona to the city centre of Madrid is spent with much more legroom, more space to work, more space to move around and much better dining options.
Ticket prices are competitive. As low as 40 euros for a one way ticket is it is bought online 15 days in advance. Normal prices are €120 for a one-way ticket - € 191 for a return on the direct route.
All in all it's a much more stylish and comfortable way to travel and with much less impact on the environment, less stress and at reasonable prices.
Now that's progress!
Click below to read more about the AVE high speed train on the official information site
http://www.descubrelaaltavelocidad.com
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