Rail traffic grew by 13.3% up to November thanks to the recovery of mobility and competition
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, 21 (PRESS EUROPE)
Renfe transported almost 1.8 million passengers during the first year of the high-speed service between Galicia and Madrid, which practically doubles the data recorded in the same period of 2019.
On December 21 last year, Renfe put the AVE Madrid-Ourense into operation and claims that the offer in long-distance services connecting Galicia with Madrid is better, “with better journey times, more frequencies and new connections “.
The nearly 1.8 million passengers who have used Renfe services currently correspond to all AVE and Alvia services linking A Corua, Ferrol, Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, Pontevedra, Vigo and Ourense (as well as intermediate stops on these routes) with Madrid , specifies Renfe.
What is still not available a year later are the ‘Avril’ trains with which the Ministry of Transport has promised to bring high speed directly to other Galician cities outside of Ourense.
In its balance sheet, Renfe is also targeting customers on the “new direct transversal AVE” between the city of Ourense and Alicante, with stops in Zamora, Madrid Chamartn, Cuenca and Albacete.
The number of journeys in this first year meant that the movements of more than 1.2 million private vehicles were avoided which, according to estimates by the railway operator, would have emitted more than 81,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
COMPETITIVE TIMES AND MORE FREQUENCIES
Renfe has proposed, as of December 21, 2021, a commercial offer which has led to a reduction in times ranging from 54 minutes to one hour and 44 minutes, depending on the case, as well as an increase in frequencies (direct or via direct connection ) . ).
Each week it offers 57 frequencies per direction between Galicia and Madrid and seven frequencies per direction between Ourense and Alicante, which translates into a 56% increase in traffic compared to 2019.
The recommendation and the travel experience receive an evaluation of 8.5 out of 10 from the customers of these services, to whom Renfe thanks the trust placed in the company in this first year.
RAILWAY TRAFFIC
For its part, rail traffic in Spain increased by 13.3% in the first eleven months of the year compared to the same period of the previous year, thanks to the recovery of mobility due to the lifting of restrictions and the entry of competition.
According to the latest data from Adif, a third factor has been added to these two factors, namely the entry into service of new high-speed lines, which have also significantly increased passenger traffic.
In particular, in the High Speed lines the greatest growth occurred in the Madrid-Valladolid-Len-Zamora-Galicia connection, the last stretch of which was inaugurated in December last year and recorded a growth of 74.2%.
This is followed by the first liberalized lines that have opened up to competition, such as the Madrid-Levante, which grew by 41.1%, and the Madrid-Barcelona, with an increase of 38%. Even that of Madrid-Andaluca, despite not yet having new operators, grew by 32.3%.
For its part, in the conventional lines, the Madrid-Alcazar-Crdoba-Sevilla-Cdiz line is the one that has recorded the greatest growth (17.1%), while the Venta de Baos-Len-Ourense-Vigo line has recorded an increase in 11.3% and in Madrid-Zaragoza-Lleida-Barcelona-Portbou another 1.6%.
By type of service, the most significant increase was recorded in long-distance traffic (32.8%). Proximity, intercity and freight traffic recorded increases of 6.8% and 6.1% respectively.
