The elimination of AVLO trains between Barcelona and Madrid increases ticket prices by 40%.

BarcelonaIn just one month, high-speed rail users between Barcelona and Madrid are clear: the elimination of Renfe's AVLO trains has skyrocketed prices. This has been seen by those traveling from one city to another, but also by those who took advantage of the railway operator's low-cost option to reach the Catalan capital from Tarragona, at a better price compared to the AVE.

Trainline, a train travel booking platform, estimates the price increase at 40% for this journey between Barcelona and Madrid, if data from this September is compared with the same month last year. Renfe decided to abandon the low cost on its main high-speed corridor after all the problems experienced by the Talgo trains operating that service, which forced the temporary suspension of service at the end of July. On the other corridors served by the AVLOs, which connect Madrid with Andalusia and Galicia, the railway operator has maintained the low-cost service, despite operating with the same Talgo model.

This September price increase for high-speed trains between Barcelona and Madrid has been distributed among all operators, not just Renfe. Before the decision to eliminate high-speed trains, in the second quarter of this year, the average journey price was €63, which was already 15% more expensive compared to the previous year, according to data from the National Competition Commission (CNMC). In the case of high-speed trains, it stood at €51.95, while high-speed trains remained the most expensive, at €73.91. Despite the price increase, passenger numbers reached a new record, reaching 3.9 million in just one quarter, with the forecast of exceeding 10 million annually, compared to the 5 million before the pandemic.

Trainline hopes this upturn will be temporary and eventually moderate, while waiting for Renfe to fill the gap left by the other operators that serve this route, Ouigo and Iryo, to do so. "The trend is toward more liberalization," argues Trainline's general manager, Pedro García, "but all operators are recording losses and the pressure to increase prices is evident." Despite this recent increase, the liberalization of the railway sector has caused train ticket prices between Barcelona and Madrid to fall by 35% since 2019, before the pandemic and the entry of competitors, in addition to boosting the number of passengers. This trend is repeated in other markets such as France, with a 43% decrease in the average price of the Paris-Lyon route, or Italy, with a 40% reduction on the Milan-Rome route.

Barcelona, ​​​​gateway to southern Europe

The Catalan capital not only hosts many connections to Madrid, with around 20 routes, but also to other cities such as Seville and Valencia, where demand has grown by 113% and 90%, respectively, in recent months, according to Trainline data. Barcelona's influence extends beyond Spain, with increased traffic to Lyon (+118%), a route offered from Sants by Renfe and the French operator SNCF. It is also growing towards Paris (+38%), a destination only served by SNCF after the obstacles it put in place to allow Renfe to operate it.

Despite the data, Trainline still sees cross-border connections as a pending issue, with Spain being one of the European countries where this option for traveling between neighbors is least known, and people most often consider taking a plane. While 60% of French people and 67% of Italians are aware of international train routes departing from their country, in Spain the proportion falls to 47%.