High-speed rail in Spain (Spanish: línea de alta velocidad, LAV) consists of five dedicated passenger train main lines. The total length of the network is 2,665 km, making it the longest high-speed rail line in Europe, and the second in the world after China.
Connecting the capital, Madrid, with several of Spain's largest cities, the five lines are named according to their terminus cities. The first line to open was the Madrid–Seville line, followed by the Madrid–Valladolid line, the Córdoba–Málaga line, the Madrid–Barcelona line, and the Madrid–Valencia line. The network is to be greatly expanded during the next decade with most of the Spanish peninsula being connected.
The lines are operated by Renfe, mainly with its long distance AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) service, and other shorter range services (Alvia, Avant).
Read more about High-speed Rail In Spain: Lines in Operation
Famous quotes containing the words rail and/or spain:
“Old man, its four flights up and for what?
Your room is hardly any bigger than your bed.
Puffing as you climb, you are a brown woodcut
stooped over the thin rail and the wornout tread.”
—Anne Sexton (19281974)
“England and France, Spain and Portugal, Gold Coast and Slave Coast, all front on this private sea; but no bark from them has ventured out of sight of land, though it is without doubt the direct way to India.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)