Editing Transport in Spain (section)

=== High-speed rail ===
{{Main|AVE}}
[[AVE|Alta Velocidad Española]] (AVE) is a [[high-speed rail]] service in Spain operated by [[Renfe]], the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to 330&nbsp;km/h (205&nbsp;mph). The name is literally translated from Spanish "Alta Velocidad Española" (Spanish High Speed), but its initials are also a play on the word ''ave'', meaning "bird". {{As of|2024|July}}, the Spanish high-speed rail network is the longest HSR network in Europe with {{convert|3,966|km|mi|abbr=on}}<ref name="ADIF">{{cite web|url=https://www.adifaltavelocidad.es/red-ferroviaria/red-de-alta-velocidad|title=''Red de Alta Velocidad''|publisher=ADIF |access-date=10 July 2024}}</ref> and the [[List of high-speed railway lines|second longest in the world]], after China's.

AVE trains run on a network of dedicated high-speed rail track owned and managed by [[Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias|Adif]]. The first line was opened in 1992, connecting the cities of Madrid, Córdoba, and Seville. Unlike the rest of the Spanish broad-gauge network, the AVE uses standard gauge tracks, permitting direct connections outside Spain. Some TGV-derived trains do run on the broad-gauge network at slower speeds, and these are branded separately as Euromed.{{cn|date=January 2024}}

On the line from Madrid to Seville, the service guarantees arrival within five minutes of the advertised time, and offers a full refund if the train is delayed further, although only 0.16% of trains have been so. In this regard, the punctuality of the AVE is exceptional compared to other non-long-distance Renfe services. On other AVE lines, this punctuality promise is more lax (15 minutes on the Barcelona line). A possible reason for this is that AVE services slow down to 200&nbsp;km/h for the Sierra Morena section of the journey because of the tight curves and 250&nbsp;km/h for the Córdoba-Seville section, possibly on account of medium-speed services running on the line, meaning that they have an easy means of recovering lost time if held up earlier in the journey.{{cn|date=January 2024}}

In 2020, access to the Spanish high-speed network was liberalised, and the AVE has since been joined by private competitors [[Ouigo España]] and [[Iryo]].

The AVE connects the following cities:

* Madrid – Valencia
* Barcelona – Madrid
* Seville – Madrid
* Ciudad Real – Madrid
* Tarragona – Madrid
* Valladolid – Madrid
* Madrid – Toledo
* Madrid – Cordoba
* Madrid – Murcia
Since the high-speed route between Barcelona to Madrid was launched in 2008, 75% of travelers now choose the train over the airplane, with flight passengers accounting for 25% of travelers.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-20 |title=Train three times as popular as plane in Barcelona-Madrid route as high-speed rail turns 15 |url=https://www.catalannews.com/business/item/train-three-times-as-popular-as-plane-in-barcelona-madrid-route-as-high-speed-rail-turns-15 |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=www.catalannews.com |language=en}}</ref>