Rail’s next battle: winning while the network is rebuilt

An AVE train at Barcelona Sants. Non-stop runs to Madrid that once took two and a half hours are now above three. Photo: Smiley.toerist, Wikimedia Commons.

The corridor has been regarded as the showcase for how rail takes territory back from aviation. The proposition was simple: much faster city to city than flying, high comfort on board — and arrival in the centre of Madrid and Barcelona, not at an airport outside them. Within years of the line opening in 2008, the train carried the majority of the traffic.

By Dan Jensen

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Slow trains bring the plane back to Madrid–Barcelona