The Minister of Development, Magdalena Alvarez, has announced that the AVE high-speed link between Madrid and Barcelona is due to start on Wednesday February 20th.
Following her arrival at Sants station on a commercial AVE and a subsequent meeting with the President of the Generalitat, José Alvarez, the Minister announced that the scheduled start of the long-awaited, and often troubled, Madrid-Barcelona link will be February 20th. (2008, in case you’re wondering).
Tomorrow, Wednesday 13th February, RENFE will hold a press conference to announce various details, including ticket prices. The tickets themselves will be on sale as from Thursday February 14th. A nice Valentine’s gift for your loved one?
The start is almost two months later than originally scheduled due to various problems on the 5.3 kilometre section between L’Hospitalet de Llobregat and Sants Station in Barcelona. The problems nearly cost the Minister her job and she only just survived a motion of ‘no confidence’.
The will be 18 trains per day running between these two major cities.