AVE

Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) is a high-speed rail service operated by Renfe, the Spanish State railway company.

The first AVE service was inaugurated in 1992, with the introduction of the first Spanish high-speed railway connecting the cities of Madrid, Córdoba and Seville.

In addition to Renfe's use of the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias-managed rail infrastructure in Spain, Renfe offers two AVE services partially in France, connecting respectively Barcelona-Lyon and Madrid-Marseille.

Alta Velocidad Española translates to "Spanish High Speed", but the initials are also a play on the word ave, meaning "bird". AVE trains operate at speeds of up to 300 km/h.

Services
Renfe offers the following AVE services:


 * Alicante–León via Albacete, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín, Valladolid and Palencia.
 * Alicante–Ourense via Albacete, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín and Zamora.
 * Barcelona–Granada via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba and Antequera.
 * Barcelona–Málaga via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, and Antequera.
 * Barcelona–Seville via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Puertollano and Córdoba (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
 * Burgos–Murcia via Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Elche and Orihuela.
 * Gijón–Castellón via Oviedo, Mieres Del Camín, La Pola, León, Palencia, Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Cuenca, Valencia and Sagunto.
 * Gijón–Vinaros, via Oviedo, Mieres Del Camín, La Pola, León, Palencia, Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Cuenca, Valencia, Sagunto, Castellón, Benicàssim, Oropesa del Mar and Benicarló (only in summertime).
 * Huesca–Seville via Tardienta, Zaragoza, Calatayud, Guadalajara, Madrid-Puerta de Atocha and Córdoba
 * Madrid–A Coruña via Zamora, Ourense and Santiago De Compostela.
 * Madrid–Alicante via Cuenca, Albacete, and Villena (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
 * Madrid–Barcelona via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, and Tarragona (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
 * Madrid–Castellón via Cuenca, Requena-Utiel and Valencia.
 * Madrid–Figueres via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona (trains are scheduled with selective stops).
 * Madrid–Gijón via Valladolid, Palencia, León and Oviedo.
 * Madrid–Granada via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, Antequera and Loja (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
 * Madrid–Huesca via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, and Tardienta.
 * Madrid–León via Segovia, Valladolid and Palencia.
 * Madrid–Málaga via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, and Antequera (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
 * Madrid–Murcia via Elche and Orihuela (some trains are arriving to Alicante and then reversing towards Murcia).
 * Madrid–Ourense via Zamora.
 * Madrid–Seville via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, and Córdoba (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
 * Madrid–Valencia via Cuenca and Requena-Utiel (non stop trains are also scheduled).
 * Madrid–Vigo via Zamora, Sanabria, A Gudiña, Ourense, Santiago De Compostela and Pontevedra.
 * Valencia–Burgos via Requena-Utiel, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín and Valladolid (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
 * Valencia–León via via Requena-Utiel, Cuenca, Madrid-Chamartín, Segovia, Valladolid and Palencia (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
 * Valencia–Seville via Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Puertollano, and Córdoba.


 * International:
 * Barcelona–Lyon via Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Montpellier, Nîmes, and Valence.
 * Madrid–Marseille via Guadalajara, Zaragoza, Tarragona, Barcelona, Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Béziers, Montpellier, Nîmes, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.

The central hub of the AVE system is Madrid's Puerta de Atocha, except for the Madrid–Asturias, Madrid–Burgos, Madrid–Galicia, Madrid–Alicante and Madrid-Murcia lines, that terminate at Chamartín station.

Trains
Currently, there are several series of high-speed trains that run the AVE service:
 * S-100, manufactured by Alstom
 * S-102, manufactured by Talgo and Bombardier
 * S-103, manufactured by Siemens, marketed globally under the brand Siemens Velaro
 * S-106, manufactured by Talgo, marketed globally as Talgo AVRIL.
 * S-112, manufactured by Talgo and Bombardier

Passenger usage
The still-growing network transported a record 21.3 million passengers in 2018. Though the network length is extensive, it lags in ridership behind comparable high-speed rail systems in Japan, France, Germany, China, Taiwan, and Korea.

Rail infrastructure in Spain and Europe

 * Rail transport in Spain
 * High-speed rail in Spain
 * High-speed rail in Europe
 * Train categories in Europe