SPAIN: RENFE has announced that its low-cost Avlo service from Madrid to València will begin running on February 21, in time for the city’s Las Fallas fiesta celebrations, which in 2022 will begin on the last Sunday of February.
The València route will complement the existing Avlo service between Madrid and Barcelona. Tickets will go on sale on January 20, with single fares starting at €7. There will be three trains in each direction daily, with a capacity of 2 200 seats per day, departing Madrid-Puerta de Atocha at 06.30, 12.40 and 18.40 and València at 09.28, 16.15 and 21.10, using refurbished Talgo S112 trainsets. Two trains will stop at Cuenca and Requena-Utiel, the other return journey being non-stop.
Launched in June last year, the Avlo service between Madrid and Barcelona has already proven very popular, with average load factor exceeding 90%. SNCF’s Ouigo also looks set to launch on the Madrid to València line in spring 2022. There have been calls in the media for an expansion of low cost high speed services to cities not yet served by Avlo and Ouigo, such as in Andalucía and in the northwest.
