jackytoo

No trainline for the Costas. marbella is the only City that has over 100,000 people and is without a rail connection. Some use all those AVE lines when people can't get to work, hospitals etc. in reasonable time.

http://www.diariosur.es/v/20120324/m...-20120324.html

Domino

surely the AVE is in the same class as the HS2, and Eurostar and for longer distance travel at high speed

people who wish to "go to work" or "go to the hospital" will be using local services

ok people may wish to "travel for work" for longer distances but the AVE is never going to break even and there are plenty of airline seats for the short hops inside Spain

steviedeluxe

Last time I looked Valencia (population over 800,000) and Barcelona (several million) were on the coast, and the AVE is quite successful there - ask the airlines who've had to cut flights between those cities and Madrid.
Some other coastal cities are due to get connected soon - Cadiz, Alicante and Murcia.
I think it's Galica where they are struggling to get the numbers.

steviedeluxe

There is now a high speed service from Marseilles to Frankfurt (article in Spanish) The Spanish link up to the European system is meant to be in operation from spring next year

http://ave-renfe.edreams.es/general/...rt-y-marsella/

steviedeluxe

You do wonder if the Spanish would have won the 8 billion contract in Saudi Arabia, or the 2 billion contract for Russia (link below), if they hadn't got this experience?

http://www.theconstructionindex.co.u...medium=twitter

jackytoo

Think you are missing the point Stevie. It's explained in the article.

steviedeluxe

Your point seemed to be about Marbella not having an AVE connection?

agoreira

Agree, seen it before, but with Jordi it's always worth watching again.
I prefer to watch this type of programme, a programme that tells us what is actually happening, not all the propaganda videos with their ridiculously optimistic, projected figures. A programme that tells us at times that Albacete has 16 passengers, on others the azafatas outnumber the passengers, and the eye watering costs of providing the service. The fist AVE trains were on the busiest, most profitable lines, and none of those are making money, the lines they are still building are doomed to financial failure. Toledo-Albacete has closed I believe, I can't see them being alone.
"Cada día se subían a esa línea directa sólo nueve viajeros de los 2.190 potenciales para ambos sentidos: 'Un desastre'."

jackytoo

No! despite all the hype about the AVE the costa del Sol doesn't even have a cercanias. As it says , despite being in the 21stC there is scarcely 30Km of rail track. If someone wanted to take the AVE to Madrid from say Estepona then they are faced with a bus journey which can take 2 hours to malaga. the buses are also infrequent and sometimes arrive full. Anyway the article explains local feeling about it, don't shoot the messenger, although I agree with what it is saying.

Domino

Jacky, you can't have AVE everywhere, the trains would be continually stopping, each can add 4-5mins per station which means the current high speed service will just become another stopping at all stations service.
I would love to have a station here, but just not practical, even my local stopping train station is in the next village

If you want to blame anyone blame Franco, he held things back too long, but AVE is bringing internal long distance and international travel to the country for the long term good.

Domino

good luck to them I say, it is positive news and Spain seems to be hiding this when it should be making a ginormous fuss and drum roll about it to ensure all the doomsayers in the money markets understand the country isnt falling down the pan

jackytoo

banging my head here It's not exactly about the AVE. I was just saying that there are AVE trains going nowhere that anyone wants to go but the Costa del Sol doesn't even have a railway after Fuengirola...it is trackless, not even a slow train. The CDS is a big tourist area, there is virtually no way to get around unless car hire is used, as the article says people find it difficult to get to work, the bus system is crap...I am giving up the will to live here.

What I am saying is what is the point of the AVE from Madrid to Málaga when there is no feeder service to the rest of the coast after Fuengirola. It is all explained in the article anyway. THE RESIDENTS ON THE CDS DON'T CARE ABOUT THE AVE, THEY WOULD JUST LIKE A RAIL NETWORK even a slow one!

Domino

Jacky, the people in Marbella, like you, can afford to have private jets, private boats, chauffeur driven cars
isnt hiring a complete section of the AVE a little bit ostentatious ??

considering your knowledge of the area can you now understand why so many people are horrified at the cost of the alternative route from Murcia along the coast ?
knock down houses, blocks of flats, huge rocky bits to blow up, good engineering fun, just so goddamned expensive.

I cannot travel to Granada by train cos they just dont run at the right times but the good old coach does the journey with no problems, and people use the 7am for work every day in Malaga

steviedeluxe

There's a site here that gives recent articles about train contracts abroad. I suspect they are busy enough trying to win those contracts, and don't see the benefit in blowing their trumpet on general public sites.

http://www.spanishrailwaysnews.com/principal.asp?cs=3

Fredbargate

The same people that were awarded the new road & tunnel contract to cross the airport in Gibraltar.

They are supposed to have claimed the tunnel was beyond their capabilities and walked out leaving a rather large hole at the end of the runway. This happened very shortly before the Saudi contract was announced

The New People can now confirm that the information reaching us last week, that OHL, the
Spanish company that was awarded the construction of the underpass across the runway has
abandoned the site, is true. We have tried to contact the company in an effort to get them to
comment on the matter but OHL has not replied to our internet requests nor have they answered
the telephone numbers available to us.