As for reducing the AVE price provided by Renfe, later in the year they plan to have private operators running services. i don't know if that is certain to go ahead, but when it does expect to see yet further deals (and there already are lots of deals if you book ahead).

That's what I thought when I heard it on the radio this morning. There must only be 20-30 AVE stations in total

Just goes to show that agoreira knows what he's talking about

in fact Agoreira's statement is more than a bit if an exaggeration. I found a one way Seville to Madrid ticket for just over 25 euros. Admittedly it's at an unpopular time. But it's fairly easy to get a 45 euro ticket. You just have to know the quirks of the website.
Book 2 months minus one day in advance for the very cheapest fares. Another way to go cheaply is as a table of 4. I was a bit confused about the bit of the form where it appeared to ask if you were a 'familia numerosa' but you can ignore that bit. That's not relevant. It did put me off once and I ended up paying full price because I thought being 'familia numerosa' was part of the deal...it wasn't.

Article in English on the proposed fare cuts for the AVE

http://www.02b.com/en/notices/2012/1...sales_3529.php

I think this is misleading, the important news is that the government is considering the closure of up to 175 little used stations. The bit about reducing prices on the AVE is to make sure the headlines are not about station closures.

Don't shoot the messenger, it's all quoted from the article, which quotes the minister, Ana Pastor. Perhaps she's lying, either way I doubt she found it easy to admit the system is failing miserably. If they close 175 stations, people will have to travel even further before they get to a station where the AVE stops. Let's hope everyone has their life sorted out months in advance like you, can travel at odd hours, just so they can afford to jump aboard. Unlike you, many Spanish are not sold on the train, they are regretting the loss of the trains they could afford.

He still doesnt get it

That's ironic.

Sorry to butt in, but can any one of you train buffs tell me why there is no railway station at Girona airport, when Google maps show the AVE damn near slicing through the runway ?

Ta.

Yes, I'm sure Stevie will love it.

For anyone else its an obvious nightmare of a trip before even setting off, unless of course they're absolutely terrified of both flying and driving.

Well at least you can give our Stevie a wave as he whizzes past without even stopping to say hello, on his half empty train.

Seems they've learned quite a bit from the last UK govt about hiding bad news.
175 stations and surrounding areas are losing their train services.

Never mind about that.
Who cares that 175 districts are losing out, when some other fares may be reduced in the near future ?
On the other hand with privatisation in prospect, maybe the less said about future fare prices the better.

a consideration is - will they go to "care and maintenance" duty or to stopping only duty rather than totally closed ?

as Beeching pointed out - it aint no good having a train stop for one person.

some of Spain's stations are request stops although I think 2 or 3 round here are permanantly closed and have been for some time

I'm devastated by this piece of news if it's true

We use the line frequently to go to the two eateries mentioned in the article (the owners are friends) or up to Ronda or down to Algeciras. In spite of what the article says, it will obviously be the locals who will be most affected. Many students use this line to get to Uni in Granada. It will have a very adverse effect on the villages of The Guadiaro valley.

I believe some years ago Maersk offered to upgrade the line, doubling the track in order to serve the container traffic from Algeciras. However the relevant authorities turned them down.

Can't say I'm surprised, I've said many times the AVE is hemorrhaging money, it would make more sense to chop a few of those AVE lines, they could keep all the small local loss losing lines going forever.