Guy Betsy

Having taken a roundtrip between Madrid and Barcelona, I have to say that I find Renfe's AVE trains to be the best in Europe.

I've a Eurailpass so I needed only to pay the 24.40 euro supplement each way. The trains are clean, the seats seem more comfortable than the Deutsch Bahn ones even though the AVE are essentially the same as the ICEs.

The train left exactly on time. And arrived on time too. I think the AVEs have a money back guarantee if the Madrid-Barcelona and v.v. service is delayed in arriving by 15mins or 5 min for Seville! I'm shocked. Even DB doesn't have such guarantees.

The staff attendants are nice and polite as they come through the coach with newspapers and menus for the meal. Then they came round to give out a warm towelette. Followed by an aperitif service, and then the meal. Free wine were offered.

After the meal, came coffee. Dessert was already on the tray. Its like an airline meal. I was impressed with the way they crew wiped down the tables as they collected the trays ! Wow ! And then came another beverage service. Then they came round again with handywipes and some chocolate. Not bad for a journey lasting 2hr 45min.

But you know what impressed me the most...?

I was wondering why all the seats faced forward. I've never seen any train coaches with all the seats facing the same as the train moving forward. Then I found out, that the seats can individually be rotated to face in the direction of movement. As the train arrives at each station, the cleaning crew turns each seat around, except the ones by the end of each coach. There they are arranged so that a table is between them and the seat opposite them. The staff also moves the table!

I have never, ever known another train company in Europe that does that !

Makes any of the British trains seem pathetic by comparison !!

For those who want to read more about Spain's most extensive High Speed Network :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVE

ToGo

Class?
I know why! The use separated Tracks.
In Austria and Germany quit all Trains use ohne Track if one Train is delayed all Trains behind have to wait. The Problem in Germany is the Deutsche Bahn reduce the Tracks to save money. Before a Train can going around an small Railway Station now the drive slow behind locals Trains...
The DB want make Shareholder happy not Passengers.So you drive in the highest Class?!

Dieuwer

I had the same experience Valencia - Barcelona. Excellent service!

ToGo

Class? Ticket?

stut

This seems odd. There are many fully segregated (as well as segregated, parallel) high-speed railway lines in Germany. The Westbahn in Austria has lengthy, segregated high-speed parallel sections. Yes, they do mix once off the high-speed line, as they do pretty much everywhere, to prevent passengers from having to change.

The main difference in Spain is that traditional trains use a different gauge, so the mixing is reduced - but there are plenty dual-gauge tracks where this happens.

ToGo

Yes and No:
http://www.oebb.at/infrastruktur/de/...ere_Karten.jsp
Karte ÖBB-Netz.pdf
Just the Westbahn have some Brand new Tracks the other are old and slow.
But the are just historical backgrounds. The choose the European size to get cheaper Trains and default Parts for the Railway system to save Money.
lol?
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnell...CE_Network.png
Red = New Hight-speed = 2x
Yelow = New and Upgraded Tracks = 5x
Blue = Upgraded Tracks

And i see not one realy parallel hight speed Track.

Guy Betsy

Class of travel, is First Class. I doub't crew will come round with towelettes and meals in 2nd class

On DB, the only real high speed track is between Frankfurt Flughafen and Koln.

Palal

As quoted on another thread DB's long distance services have been plagued by delays earlier this year. RENFE has a completely separate high-speed network for its AVE services, using 1435mm standard gauge, which (except for the trains that change gauge and continue on the conventional network) are not subject to big delays. Also, on the Madrid-Seville line, there is enough of a cushion for RENFE to make up the lost time. So, in short, a comparison to DB or SNCF is not valid, because these HS trains are different beasts. Comparing it to Trenitalia is a bit more valid, because Italian high-speed trains use little of the conventional network.

You should go to Japan. Even commuter rail has this feature, AND the seats rotate automatically there.


But overall, I agree that for quality of service and punctuality - this is a great system!

Palal

Very little dual gauge tracks, except on the Med coast in a couple of places. There has been talk of slowly converting the entire network to standard gauge, and for now they only have a line running from the border to the port of Barcelona.

Reindeerflame

German trains are much better in one respect: food service, on ICEs where a full restaurant car operates.

I rode the direct RENFE AVE from Seville to Barcelona last October, which bypasses Madrid, and which likely is the longest continuous HSR line in Europe, and was quite pleased. Unfortunately, I travelled on a Saturday, when no at-your-seat food service is offered in first class. Fortunately, the up-charge for using a Eurail pass was also reduced to compensate.

Guy Betsy

Yeah, on the oldest ICE trains they still have the restaurant cars.

On the newer ICE 2 and 3s, they only have the bordbistro service.

ToGo

and all use a ordinary microwave...

mfkne

Don't forget Nürnberg-München.

Guy Betsy

Sad that British rail is lagging so far behind in speed and service. With very high fares to boot!