Graziano Carli’s Post

Talgo has delivered its first Avril trains to Renfe following the completion of on-track #testing. The new #rollingstock has accumulated almost 300,000 kilometres in the last year to ensure its full compatibility with all types of #railway lines in #Spain. This includes routes connecting Galicia, Asturias, Catalonia and Valencia. Avril is Talgo’s most advanced #train, aiming to set a new benchmark in the very high-speed #rail market. Each 12-coach, 200-metre-long, single-deck train has a capacity for up to 581 passengers. The units are also 100 percent low-floor at the same height as the platform to allow passengers to easily access the train and move throughout its interior. What’s more, the model has been designed with a reduced weight to lower #energyconsumption and optimise #efficiency. Talgo Avril is part of a highly flexible technological platform. It can automatically change track gauges between Iberian and International and can be equipped with #technology to operate north of the Pyrenees. This enables the model to be used on almost the entire #electrified rail network, paving the way for Renfe to serve more destinations with new high-speed rail #infrastructure. In the future, this will include #international connections between Spain and #France.

🚝 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱: 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 🚝 Spain is really an awesome case example for high-speed rail. Fast trains compete with air and competition makes for low prices and soaring passenger numbers as 2023 data shows. Last year, 37% more high speed train tickets were sold in total. Let's take out two routes that stand out: Ⓞ Madrid-Barcelona: 35% more passengers now amounting to 13.8 million per year. This route has existed for years and is considered a mature market. Yet, there was still massive growth. Ⓞ Madrid-Valencia traffic exploded. This route was opened late 2022 for other operators and now both Ouigo and Iryo run trains on these tracks in addition to Renfe. The effects of this competition are amazing: passenger numbers rose by 74% compared to 2022. On the main routes rail now takes a market share (compared to air) of over 80%: Ⓞ Madrid - Alicante 86% Ⓞ Madrid - Barcelona 82% Ⓞ Madrid - Seville 87% Ⓞ Madrid - Valencia 93%. And the good news is: Spain keeps on building new tracks! 🇪🇸🚝 #HighSpeedRail #SustainableTravel #Spain #Transportation #RailIndustry #Innovation #ouigo #avlo #renfe #iryo #highspeed #highspeedtrains #publictransport #competition Source: International Railway Journal (link in first comment)

If you have just arrived in Austria or planning on coming soon, you might be wondering you the public transport system works and what is the best way to get around. The ÖBB (Österreichische Bundesbahnen, or Austrian Federal Railways) Vorteilscard is a card that offers discounts for train travel in Austria. In this video, Simon explains how you can get yours. Check it out! #AustriaTravel #PublicTransportation #ÖBBVorteilscard #TravelTips #GettingAroundAustria

High-speed train between Porto and Lisbon airports The future connection of a high-speed train between Porto and Lisbon airports is expected to ease access between the two cities – the travel time will be almost cut in half! Rosário Partidário, the coordinator of the technical committee for Lisbon's new airport, sees this as a development opportunity, especially with an estimated travel time of just an hour and a half. She also emphasizes the need to extend high-speed train connections to other regions in Portugal to support regional development. The new airport, "Luís de Camões," will be connected to the high-speed train line, with completion expected between 2030 and 2032. This is a move that will impact all of Portugal and create significant growth potential in the cities and regions along the rail line. If you're looking to invest in property in Portugal, we see this as another great opportunity for investment. Now is the time to consider areas connected to the new rail lines, offering easy access to major cities. ✨Contact us to find out more how we can help! contacto@maveninvest.pt #Portugal #realestate #relocation #investments #maven #maveninvest #InvestmentInProperties #RealEstateInPortugal

A big missing link in UK transport modal shift is the integration of multimodal transportation. Italy seems to be making some good progress with these new trains. Plenty of easy access bike spaces, with charging for e-bikes (this was mirrored on both sides of the carriage).

A report found that people in Austria travel an average of 2,160 kilometers per year on trains, trams, and U-Bahn services – more than double the EU average. France is second with 1,750 kilometers traveled per person, followed by Sweden with 1,440 kilometers, and Germany ranks fifth with 1,280 kilometers. Learn more below.

Awesome news coming from Deutsche Bahn! Long distance, cross-border travel has surpassed pre-2019 levels by a fifth! Most striking to see that the routes with the biggest increase in passenger numbers are: 🚅 Amsterdam-Berlin 🚅 Berlin-Warsaw 🚅 Munich-Verona 🚅 Munich-Vienna 🚅 Munich-Zurich. It's exactly these routes where the average speed doesn't really come above 100km/h. Except for Munich-Verona a proper high speed connection should cut travel by at least a third. This shows that people are willing to take trains - they even do so if the connection is not great. To me this means tho things: 🔮 There's so much potential; and 🛤️ We (the EU) should invest way more in (cross-border) rail. In fact, we should look at cities and city pairs while ignoring (former) borders between them. Travellers show that investments in rail infra are sound and will be returned!

Location for Lisbon’s new airport finally selected

France's €49 Rail Pass: A Step Forward with Challenges Following Germany’s Deutschlandticket, this July, France 🇫🇷 introduces its €49 rail pass, allowing around 700,000 young people under 27 unlimited travel on mainly regional trains for two months. 🤩 Is this a positive move? Absolutely! But will this scheme be easy to implement? Definitely not! And to be honest I am quite surprised that France did not really learn from the German example (see my previous post back in 2023). The plan promised by President Emmanuel Macron has been significantly scaled back from its original promise, especially because the heavily populated Ile-de-France region has been excluded from the scheme (just like high-speed trains for instance). This exclusion affects affordability and convenience, especially for travelers from regions like Hauts-de-France who will need extra tickets to pass through Ile-de-France. Despite these hurdles, this initiative could revolutionize travel for young people in France. We at Rail Europe watch closely to see its impact! #MakingTrainTravelEasy #Future #Sustainability

A holiday post/love letter to the railroads of #oureurope 🚈🇪🇺❤️ I have regretted not having done an #interrail trip in my youth. But it is never too late. We just spent 11 memorable days on a train trip on the route Krakow-Prague-Vienna-Budapest-Ostrava-Krakow with my wife and our four 3 to 16 years old children. (If you are never too old for Interrail trip, you are never too young, either. Our 3-year-old made the most of it and had the exactly right attitude for such city hopping. "I have money for every country and will by rullapulla [=trdelnin/kürtőskalács]". Four wonderful countries 🇵🇱🇨🇿🇦🇹🇭🇺of which three I visited now for the first time. Beautiful landscapes and awesome cities. The trains were mostly punctually on schedule, seats were comfortable and air conditioning tolerable, even though some days the outside temperature reached the level which we would call "poorly heated sauna" in Finland 😅. So if you have hesitated that train option like I did, you should not. And for a Finn the distances in Central Europe are actually pretty short: a train from Prague to Budapest takes less than the drive to our grandparents in the Northern Finland. From my Finnish perspective it is impressive that you can onboard a train in Czech Republic and end up in Hungary via Austria or Slovakia. We used to have that St. Petersburg connection but also that is now gone, for obvious reasons. In her statement this week Ursula von der Leyen promised new funding for the European railroads. I hope that it could entail some progress for connecting Finland better with the rest of the EU. If not yet that 100 km tunnel from Helsinki to Tallinn then at least constructing fast Rail Baltica through the Baltic countries 🤗.