Big spending in Spain

Over the past years, Spain has put themselves in pole position when it comes to investing in high-speed trains. The distance between Madrid and Barcelona is currently served in only 2 hours 38 minutes, as opposed to almost seven hours before the new link was introduced. This is a reduction equivalent to 60 per cent. The distance is the same as Oslo to Copenhagen, which today takes about eight hours and includes a change in Göteborg. And, where 88 per cent of all travellers between Madrid and Barcelona went by plane in 2007, and only 12 per cent got the train, 58 per cent got the train a year later.

The high-speed train link between Madrid and Seville, which was completed in 1992, has been branded a total success. Travel time between these two cities has been cut from six hours to only two, which equals 61 per cent.

In Spain's strategic infrastructure plan, PEIT, from July 2005, it was decided that a total amount of 100 billion Euro was to be spent on railways in the period to 2020. The money is split between improving the railways in general, and high-speed trains. It's an amount that equals 1,5 per cent of the annual Spanish GDP, and demonstrates how keen the country is on investing in trains. It is also a point that the money is granted even after a number of links are already in operation.

The aim is to build a network of high speed trains that will cover the entire country. In 2008, 40 per cent of the Spanish population lived within 5 miles of a station served by high-speed trains. This share is meant to be 55 per cent by 2012, and 90 per cent in 2020.

Foto: Siemens

In an article in the international magazine Monocle, which focus a lot on trains and connectivity, it emerges that the high speed trains has helped connecting the different regions of Spain in quite a unique way. In culture, statistics show that the biggest group of visitors to the Prado museum in Madrid are from Seville. And, two very different cultures like those of Madrid and Barcelona are starting to establish a much better social understanding of each other's culture. This would never have been possible without the high-speed trains, said Abelardo Carrillo, head of high-speed rail at Renfe, which is the Spanish equivalent to Norwegian NSB.

Spain is as well the European country with the most punctual trains. 99,7 per cent of all trains are on time. Norway comes in third, with a 96 percentage, according to the UIC (International Union of Railways).

Kilde: UIC (International Union of Railways) and Monocle, Issue 18 (2008)