High-speed rail changing travel in Spain

10,000 km of track by 2020.

Steve Hawley, Jan 15, 09.

Spain’s new AVE high-speed trains have become wildly popular, dramatically changing the way Spaniards travel, according to the UK newspaper The Guardian. Between January and November 2008, new AVE routes reduced the number of air travelers by 400,000, or 20 percent, while increasing high-speed rail traffic by 28 percent.

The Spanish government is going even further, “[promising] to lay 10,000 km [over 6200 miles] of high-speed track by 2020 to ensure that 90% of Spaniards live within 30 miles of a station.” The sleek trains travel at approximately 220 miles per hour and use 19 percent less energy than traditional trains, and the average AVE passenger “accounts for one-sixth of the carbon emissions of an aeroplane passenger.” That article notes that high-speed rail tickets usually cost less than airfare, and 99 percent of the trains arrive on time. A Spanish business professor predicts that within two years, AVE traffic will equal air traffic in the country.