The high speed connection between France and Spain is criminally underused, hopefully we'll get to see more competition like this especially with SNCF dragging its heels
thats because of the gap between perpignan and montpellier which isnt high speed rail only 160/kmh it increases the travel time by 1 hour and this makes flying a better and more efficient option for people travelling from barcelona to lyon or paris
That's because there's a massive gap in the high speed link as France hasn't properly completed the connection on their side. Spain built a 350kph line right up to the border. Just north of the border, coming from Spain, the high speed trains get off the high speed line and onto the regular rail network with top speeds of 150-160kph for most of the way until Montpellier, then there is a higher speed alignement up to Nîmes, which then becomes a 300kph line that links up with the Lyon-Marseille High speed line. Essentially, on the French side there is no real connection. The high(er) speed lines stop at Montpellier, so there is about 150km right in the middle of any useful cross-border journey where the trains have to slow down a lot, increasing travel times. Really, for this to be useful, as in competitive with air travel, there sorely needs to be a high speed connection between the Spanish border and the actual French high speed network. Even a higher speed connection with top speeds around 250kph would make a big difference here. France is perfectly capable of building the connection, they are building a much more complex and expensive connection to Italy through the alps, they simply don't see it as a big priority. Which is really rather silly as the Spanish line, built years ago now, isn't being used to it's full potential, and Spain and France have very good high speed rail networks which could benefit from a true high-speed connection. France is also building an East-west connection between Bordeaux and Toulouse, so they will soon have two high speed lines that stop ca. 200km short of the Spanish high speed line between Barcelona and Perpignan...
Unfortunately French politicians heavily dislike the idea of properly connecting Spain towards France with proper railway lines since they think this will open the door for greater influence of countries like Germany in the peninsula, is like they still have the idea the Iberian peninsula is under the French sphere of influence. That is why neither the connection Irun-Hendaye-Bordeaux nor the Figueras-Perpignan-Montpellier high speed lines are even consider to the near future.
And that's how you get on the wrong TER train at Lyon Part Dieu! I went up those weird stairs saw a TER at my track, thought ofc this is my TER to Lyon Perrache. I was not! It was the TER to Grenoble 🤦♂ It hadn't departed yet. Figured out at which station I should switch back. It turned out to be a nice little station I would never have visited otherwise so it turned out ok after all 😀
Glad to see this service is in place. I was planning a trip that could have made use of this line, and elected not to do it because of the lack of high-speed train connections between Spain and France. AVE is, I think, the most under-appreciated high-speed network. International travelers often talk about China, Japan, France and Germany when they discuss high-speed rail but forget about Spain's network which is very good and goes to many key places in Spain.
Yes. I once went from Madrid to Sevilla and back with my wife. I found it a pleasant trip. I think they have by now finished the transit across Madrid through those so-called 'laughter tunnels' between Chamartín and Atocha Stations, connecting the Northern and Southern railway half-grids.
AVE meets the schedules , with delay greater than 15 minutes: refund of 50%. And if delay greater than 30 minutes: 100% refund. I love travel by train in Spain 🙂👍🏻
I often talk to German people that they can forget about Germany's network (only about 400 kilometers at 300 km/h), and that France and Spain are much better (both at thousands of kilometers at 300 km/h or even 320 km/h). Besides, Germany's railway is (in)famous for their large and frequent delays.
@@goldfing5898 Yeah, Germanys high speed network is extremely underwhelming. The trains are easily among the best but the system is horrible. They try to fix that but the ministry of traffic and DB are fighting with so many regulations.
Thank you so much for your quickness Thibault. Such a great move. We talked about it at SBB today, we would love so much to see the service extended to Genève Cornavin one day. Let us dream.
It depends on whether SNCF Réseau will grant them permission. So far they are reluctant to let foreign companies all the way to Paris, which is ironic because in Spain you have a French company (Ouigo) all the way to Madrid. A bit of hypocrisy on the French side.
@@osasunaitor The Ouigo operation in Spain was used a bargaining chip when France stalled with the re-certification of the S-100 trains (they had already been running under the SNCF-Renfe joint-venture) and Brussels had to get involved on why France was sabotaging foreign competitors. Of course the French replied that there was absolutely no sabotage and after 4 weeks certification was granted... Ya que tú sabes!
You Europeans have no idea how lucky you are to be able to catch trains to amazing cities in different countries. In my state in Australia, we have trains about every 30 minutes to different cities around my state. The trains are pretty slow though. We have better PT than the USA, but it's not as good as you can find in Europe.
The fact that Australia is the size of Europe but has 25x less population certainly doesn't help... It's impossible to sustain an extensive high speed network under such conditions unfortunately.
@@Just_another_Euro_dude both Melbourne and Brisbane are around 700-800 km away from Sydney, but the problem is that there is nothing in between. With the exception of Canberra, there are no other relevant intermediate towns that would make the cut for a HS stop along the way. Rome to London makes sense because you have Milan, Torino, Paris... along the way. Madrid to Amsterdam makes sense because you have Barcelona, Brussels, Rotterdam... along the way. In Australia there is nothing to justify such a massive infrastructure other than the cities at both ends, so a flight ends up being by far more efficient. Fun fact: as of today, Sydney and Brisbane aren't even connected by a motorway, despite being the 1st and 3rd cities of Australia with a combined population of 8 M. This gives you an idea of how pointless and inefficient it is to build infrastructure through the desolate Australian countryside.
Interesting. My wife & I took the high-speed from Lyon to Barcelona back in 2018. It was fantastic. I don't really remember anything about the train itself, but I remember the ride was lovely and I managed to write a short story I was mostly happy with over the course of the 6 hour trip. It sure beats taking a plane. I'm glad the service is back. I hope I can get back to either or both cities some day soon.
Yes Thibault, welcome back to RENFE! Now what they need to do is significantly increase the frequency of services so that people like me who live close to Perpignan can get to Barcelona and back in a day. At the moment as I live closer to the frontier I drive across to Figueres Vilafant park the car and take the AVE from there but it would be nicer to be able to get the train the whole way and back and not have to pay for a night in a Barcelona hotel. In the other direction, the completion of the missing link between Perpignan and Montpellier would be nice too. OK according to the latest plans the route will be well inland through the Corbières and largely in tunnel so you'll lose those coastal views we both love so much but so what sometimes you have to sacrifice scenery for speed!! Whatever the way things are moving at the moment I doubt I'll live to see it finished!!
@@jeanjacques9980 No idea but bearing in mind the amount of additional engineering required for an inland route then the cost will almost certainly be astronomical...which is probably why the project is constantly being pushed back!!
@@hamlet7959 No one mentions millions these days it’s billions! Wonder if EU might half fund as part of Euro rail plan, Turin eastwards from Spain. It will happen in time.
So looking forward to Zurich-Barcelona night train to come back! And why not dream, Zurich-Malaga with a car for golf bags and bikes 😅 I would never fly again ❤❤
I miss this train, too. Last year, I wanted to go from Munich to southern Spain by train, but the timetables (and prices) turned out to be such a nightmare that I gave up and stayed in Germany.
Thanks for producing another interesting UA-cam only a matter of hours since Renfe launched this service ! Looks a great product. In a promo video also produced today by Renfe it notes that it (Renfe) still plans Barcelona-Paris in future.
Greatings from small mountian vilage in central Serbia. My impressions. 0:25 entrance to the Lyion station looks very nice. 02:39 Train arriving at the stations + you are moving forvard, looks very powerful + the train itself looks very powerful when it arrive at the station. 02:45 very nicelooking trains, nive looking wagons, very powerful... I like it. 03:48 from the front trains looks ok, not bad. 04:18 inside looking, hmmmm, not so nice bat not ultra bad. 06:27 train is ultra quiet,i like that.
Thanks for the video. For my trip from Barcelona to Milan I rode AVE from Barcelona to Lyon on January 22, 2024 and then took two Regional trains between Lyon-Geneve-Brig where I caught SBB Eurocity to Milan...detour due to landslide last year, but it was an interesting adventure....then Venice and Rome. In all I rode 9 trains, including 6 high speed trains and got to experience swanky Executive Class on Trenitalia's run from Milan to Rome where I was robbed on the street.
Renfe is planning on launching further services in the near future, with "new high-speed frequencies between Barcelona and Perpignan and the extension to the city of Toulouse". "The services will connect Barcelona, Girona and Figueras with Perpignan, doubling the frequencies to this station and will also have at least one extension to Toulouse, with an intermediate stop in Carcassonne." Moreover, "On the western side, Renfe plans to connect San Sebastian with Hendaye and Bayonne, creating routes between the Basque Country and the French region of Nouvelle Aquitaine."
1.) Doesn't this train use the new Contournement high-speed line between Nimes and Montpellier? It is planned for 300 km/h, but there seems to be an old signalisation system, which is why it can currently only be used at 220 km/h, but this still would be better than the 160 km/h of the classic line. 2.) I would have expected a switch from French left side traffic to Spanish right side traffic at Port-Bou. Isn't there a bridge construction for switching the side without slowing down?
@@special5513 France wan't build the LGV París to Madrid , Spain want this line and the LGV Barcelona - París ( Spain finished its part of the route in 2010 , and It will end the LGV Madrid - Basque Country /border France in 2030)
@@tonijimenez8697 They could use the Line from Paris to Barcelona with the TGV which departs 2 times per day and like the TGV OUIGO which departs every day from Barcelona to Madrid and we have LGV for them, but we don‘t use them much, we could built also newer LGVs but there are also LGV existing there.
Happy to see you posted a new video. Love trains, but it’s been a long time since I’ve taken a trip. But nice to ride with you. I get enjoyment from that too.
Hey guys. Last weekend I travelled from Barcelona to Lyon and back. Nice trip and nice city Lyon. We we're stopped for 35 minutes in Sete station for problems on the tracks. When I arrived to Barcelona I claimed on Renfe's front desk and they gave me back the 25% of the ticket. The trip is ok, and sure I will be take it soon.
Wow, you were FAST!!! Also, kinda annoyed that they announcing this as a new service when it had been running for a long time, atlough very unreliably due to covid, strikes, shenanigans between SNCF and RENFE, etc. Awesome video as always!
Ave is a well run train service. If your train is late to the destination by more than 15 minutes you can get a partial refund. The refund increases by delay time up to a 100%. Needless to say they are serious about being on schedule.
Wow! Only 30 Euros and 4 hours? That is a killer deal, I would have definitely used it when I had to go from Madrid to lyon, instead I had to take a flixbus in the Barcelona to Lyon part
Thank you for this great video. I’m delighted RENFE have returned to Lyon, and frankly their AVE S-100 units are much better than the SNCF sidle deck TGVs ! As SNCF already run from Paris to Barcelona, I cannot understand why RENFE don’t follow suit ! As you say, the new line between Perpignan and Figueres needs much more traffic, and hopefully this will happen soon.
The homologation in France for Renfe and Italo has been a continuous nightmare, but it has been started by Lyon-Marseille because the joint plans have the Mediterranean corridor extended to Milan. (Something that would be very interesting and precious to see a Valencia/Barcelona up to Milan...). The important thing is that steps are being taken towards a real and frequent interconnection not only focused on Paris. For routes to the north of France (Paris and beyond) Renfe and Talgo are in the process of approval. Hopefully soon we will be able to see Renfe operating regular services between Paris and Barcelona, and later with routes further north. ps: I also find it horrible how slowly things are being done. But at least they are being done.
Good to see AVE S-100 is coming back in my country 👍🙂 I think you were stuck before Valence TGV due to a delayed train just before yours, stopping at the same place and only one track here 🤷♂️😂 10:53 Oh I have taken my vidéo just after here ! 😅 Are you interesting to get it for you ? 😉 And so the "retro" interior makes well the job, and I love the dining car, way better than ours So good luck for RENFE and AVE to keep this travel (this time 😅😉)
Every South Korean person on holiday in France will recognize the AVE S-100 stock since South Korea bought those AVE S-100 train from France for their high speed railways. The South Korean version is a modified version of the AVE S-100. This train was also seen in the zombie movie Train To Busan.
Je viens de voir ça sur TV5 monde USA (france2). Quelle bonne nouvelle!! Je vais voyager de Barcelone à Perpignan. Ça ne peut être que mieux que la désastreuse SNCF!!! Super vidéo comme d’ab. Merci Thibaut!
Any thoughts on which service to take as there is RENFE AVE as shown in the video operating the older S-100 trains from the 90's (which look comfortable) or the new TGV inOui sets (likely the duplex). Assuming ticket prices are similar (which in my case they are for Barcelona Lyon), what service do folks believe to be the better choice?
Great to see this service back, less great to see that there is less working together now. And funny to see how we both compare it, I would rather say, the train looks like a KTX train instead of the TGV (however the KTX is based on the TGV haha).
And while Spain and France do the bff thing here in Italy we have lost a lot of useful connections trough the years like Rome-Paris via Florence,Milan-Nice-Marseille,Venice-Budapest and also a tren hotel Milan-Barcelona and more. A bit jealous but at least our company is doing competition
Je l'ai essayé entre Lyon et Nîmes en classe Elige Confort et c'est clairement mieux qu'une 1ère en TGV Inouï pour ma part. Le cuir et les plaquages en (faux?) bois donnent une impression de qualité supérieur. La place est bonne pour les jambes et les sièges sont confortable. Niveau bruit on est au même niveau qu'un TGV réseau ou duplex. Par contre la clim étant plus puissant et l'ayant essayé en pleine canicule il fait clairement plus frais que dans un TGV bondé. Pour 54e c'est vraiment une alternative au TGV et en classe supérieur je le trouve supérieur au TGV, reste à voir si ils vont augmenter les rotations pour vraiment concurrencer la SNCF et surtout voir si les prix ne vont pas trop monter quand les prix de lancement seront arrêté ou lorsque que la Renfe n'aura plus 37%, 16% ou 8% sur le prix du sillon. Mais même en étant cheminot je conseil les AVE Renfe.
Question: are the sections in Spain being transformed into mixed gauge (broad and standard) through the interposition of a third rail, also covered by these catafalques? Thanks a lot for the answer
Great work as always👌 The problem is that the S-100 series is too old, even with the modernisation they did in early 2010's. However, this is a big step forward, as France has done its utmost to delay Renfe's entry. If it had not been for the European Union's warnings, we would still not have these services.
In what respect do you think the S-100 is too old? I mean... I don't find it lacking in any way compared to any of the newer trainsets (102, 103, etc.).
All those stops add a lot of time to a slow journey (average 105kmh only). Even without the high speed connector Montpellier-Perpignan if Renfe were to operate non stop Barcelone-Paris they could cut the time to 6h, a big improvement over SNCF. But is there sufficient demand end to end?
@@Just_another_Euro_dude However, when I used it in June SNCF only use a 7 carriage train set between Languedoc and Barcelone, and even then it was only half full in Spain. The Paris-Montpellier/Perpignan section was busier and there was also an additional 7 carriage set attached. I think the cheap flights and lengthy train journey of at least 6h 30 puts off many people.
I took this train in November 2022, between Valence and Barcelona Sants, it was a Renfe train but didn’t noticed that they were co-staffed by SNCF. I hope they manage to continue and increase the frequency!
Nice video! Thank god it was airline style seating and not two across two, which is the usual lame way of sitting on many trains in Europe. Also, the single level TGV is so much nicer than the cheap feeling bi-level version that everything is going towards. Spain has so much great food, too.
I'm trying to book this train for November 2nd Nimes - Barcelona and on the Renfe website it says "The requested train is not available at the moment. We apologise for any inconvenience. Please try again later.". Does anyone have any idea when this will be on sale? I've been checking everyday for over a week and of course no one at Renfe is returning my enquiries. Thank you hive mind!
It's a shame that the tracks between Nîmes and Perpignan aren't still prepared to high speed :( I think you could save almost 1h if they were. About the toilet with no water...oh well this is renfe right? ;) (Spaniard here ^^)
Hi its great vidéo congratulations, now in the futur u think its possible to make a video about the Line of CAUSSES with thé intercite CLERMONT FERRAND -> BEZIERS ?
Espero que en un futuro cercano esté servicio lo amplíen por el sur hasta Valencia. Conectar la 2° y 3° ciudad de España con la 3° ciudad de Francia no estaría nada mal.
Are there no trains that use the new high-speed bypass between Manduel (Nîmes) and Lattes (Montpellier)? They won't have built that for freight traffic only
So technicaly there's a chance we'd see a high speed Train line from Paris to Marakech in our life time, they were already talking about linking the lines between Morocco and Spain when and "If" the tunnel is built(we never know with the far right spanish parties against this project). shit why isn't there already high speed train lines between all European countries ffs, Bucharest-Paris would be so freaking cool
Nice to see it back in service. Can you still go from Paris to Madrid and to Portugal including Lisbon by train. Rather than flying from one city to the other.
For water supply to train dependant on whether Sncf allow access to Sncf to water roads or sidings that have water replinsh pipes fill tanks on coaches. Most water tanks are actually above your heads in top of the coaches, gravity fed downwards. On ECML in uk London Kings x to Edinburgh 393miles route only York 189miles from London has water tanking facilities fill trains tanks. As Renef going alone which is nice to see gives proper competition to incumbent Sncf. I'd loved see Renef succeed in getting to Lille Europe & eventually London St Pancras International Via HS lines this really open up travel opportunity to Spain.
Merci pour cette information en vidéo. Enfin un moyen efficace pour éviter l'avion ou les péages en voiture. Espérons que Barcelone va de nouveau supporter les touristes et que les touristes auront un comportement compatible. Le prix va t-il rester raisonnable?
Happy Bastille Day to you! Also, what's happening in France? I just heard, that during parade there would be a risk of refugee attack (including usage of fireworks, burning (and damage at the same moment) of cars, etc). LET'S SAY: "JE SUIS CHARLIE" AND PREVENT FROM TERRORIST ATTACKS!!!
Have you reviewed the new battery-electric passenger train that was recently demonstrated? Is that train capable of running both: under catenary electric power, and then able to switch to battery power on non-electrified lines? Thanks for any info that you can share about battery-electric, hydrogen powered or other types of multi-power-source passenger trains (other than: dual-voltage or multi-voltage catenary powered engines).
I am aware of the high track access charges. Beyond that, it is hard to say for sure why many of the French trains don't bother going beyond Perpignan. Probably the journey from Paris is so long that many people have had enough of being on the train by this point? Perhaps you should nag the French to hurry up with the Montpellier-Perpignan line: they were talking about it being finished in 2020 during the golden age of high-speed rail in France under Nicolas Sarkozy. Regarding Spanish trains, there is an obvious reason: voltage differences. Most of the RENFE trains aren't able to go beyond the edge of the high-speed line at Perpignan because of 1.5kV compatibility. To my mind, it would make sense to have lots of 1.5kV trains on the Madrid-Barcelona route and terminate them in Perpignan, rather than Figueres.
Both Renfe and SNCF have been co-operating until last year when RENFE was pisses about SNCF operating in Spain with their Low-cost OuIgo high speed traind (which meant that RENFE will lose passangers due to OuIgo being cheaper than them).
@@dragoner3211 This might as well be, but then ones that withdrew from the SNCF/RENFE joint-venture were SNCF, unilaterally (citing operative losses, but d'uh, pandemic, darlig!). So RENFE might have been pissed off all you want with Ouigo biting into their domestic HSL market share, but it wasn't them who spat out the proverbial dummy. My theory is much more that there is a European mandate that long-distance rail needs to be liberalised and some incumbent national operators are not taking it too well. And when Renfe was eyeing the French market Cersey... sorry, SNCF chose violence. Let's not go into the hippocrisy of being against market liberalization on your own turf but gladly going into other markets to do the same.
I know it's a low-speed line, but the route from Perpinyà to Montpellier is literally the most beautiful train journey I've ever done, and it'll be a shame to see it go.
The high speed connection between France and Spain is criminally underused, hopefully we'll get to see more competition like this especially with SNCF dragging its heels
thats because of the gap between perpignan and montpellier which isnt high speed rail only 160/kmh it increases the travel time by 1 hour and this makes flying a better and more efficient option for people travelling from barcelona to lyon or paris
The trains I was on were fully booked
Blame the French for not investing on the their side of the border to improve the connection
That's because there's a massive gap in the high speed link as France hasn't properly completed the connection on their side. Spain built a 350kph line right up to the border. Just north of the border, coming from Spain, the high speed trains get off the high speed line and onto the regular rail network with top speeds of 150-160kph for most of the way until Montpellier, then there is a higher speed alignement up to Nîmes, which then becomes a 300kph line that links up with the Lyon-Marseille High speed line.
Essentially, on the French side there is no real connection. The high(er) speed lines stop at Montpellier, so there is about 150km right in the middle of any useful cross-border journey where the trains have to slow down a lot, increasing travel times. Really, for this to be useful, as in competitive with air travel, there sorely needs to be a high speed connection between the Spanish border and the actual French high speed network. Even a higher speed connection with top speeds around 250kph would make a big difference here.
France is perfectly capable of building the connection, they are building a much more complex and expensive connection to Italy through the alps, they simply don't see it as a big priority. Which is really rather silly as the Spanish line, built years ago now, isn't being used to it's full potential, and Spain and France have very good high speed rail networks which could benefit from a true high-speed connection. France is also building an East-west connection between Bordeaux and Toulouse, so they will soon have two high speed lines that stop ca. 200km short of the Spanish high speed line between Barcelona and Perpignan...
Unfortunately French politicians heavily dislike the idea of properly connecting Spain towards France with proper railway lines since they think this will open the door for greater influence of countries like Germany in the peninsula, is like they still have the idea the Iberian peninsula is under the French sphere of influence. That is why neither the connection Irun-Hendaye-Bordeaux nor the Figueras-Perpignan-Montpellier high speed lines are even consider to the near future.
2:40 the train rolling in just as you get to the top of the stairs is pure gold!
as an american used to diesel trains its amazing how quiet that scene can be
And that's how you get on the wrong TER train at Lyon Part Dieu!
I went up those weird stairs saw a TER at my track, thought ofc this is my TER to Lyon Perrache. I was not!
It was the TER to Grenoble 🤦♂ It hadn't departed yet. Figured out at which station I should switch back.
It turned out to be a nice little station I would never have visited otherwise so it turned out ok after all 😀
I think he intentionally waits for the train to come so that he can get these types of shots, which I honestly think are beautiful and elegant
@@theexcaliburone5933electric trains are the best trains
@@theexcaliburone5933not always, electric trains can also be pretty loud ua-cam.com/video/XeagSS6Ey3E/v-deo.html
Glad to see this service is in place. I was planning a trip that could have made use of this line, and elected not to do it because of the lack of high-speed train connections between Spain and France. AVE is, I think, the most under-appreciated high-speed network. International travelers often talk about China, Japan, France and Germany when they discuss high-speed rail but forget about Spain's network which is very good and goes to many key places in Spain.
Yes. I once went from Madrid to Sevilla and back with my wife. I found it a pleasant trip.
I think they have by now finished the transit across Madrid through those so-called 'laughter tunnels' between Chamartín and Atocha Stations, connecting the Northern and Southern railway half-grids.
AVE meets the schedules , with delay greater than 15 minutes: refund of 50%. And if delay greater than 30 minutes: 100% refund. I love travel by train in Spain 🙂👍🏻
I often talk to German people that they can forget about Germany's network (only about 400 kilometers at 300 km/h), and that France and Spain are much better (both at thousands of kilometers at 300 km/h or even 320 km/h). Besides, Germany's railway is (in)famous for their large and frequent delays.
Le système à grande vitesse. L'Espagne est de loin la meilleure d'Europe et n'a rien à envier aux Japonais et aux Chinois
@@goldfing5898 Yeah, Germanys high speed network is extremely underwhelming. The trains are easily among the best but the system is horrible. They try to fix that but the ministry of traffic and DB are fighting with so many regulations.
Finally! The Spain-France connection was necessary. Cross-border services are necessary. As you say, people need them to avoid flying!
Great video. 😊
There was a train from Paris to barcelona via Lyon before.
Flying is such a pain in the arse...
That feeling when 30 year old TGV seats are better than the new ones...
i love the rail system in spain and france, it's always such a pleasure to take it! fast, well priced and comfortable. can't wait to go back someday!
Thank you so much for your quickness Thibault. Such a great move. We talked about it at SBB today, we would love so much to see the service extended to Genève Cornavin one day. Let us dream.
Basel makes more sense cause there's a high speed line almost until Mulhouse.
The best news possible! Now I hope RENFE is able to get more routes in France. Madrid - BCN - Paris? Awesome video.
Marseille Madrid is coming back too 👍 Just waiting one or two weeks 😅😉
It depends on whether SNCF Réseau will grant them permission. So far they are reluctant to let foreign companies all the way to Paris, which is ironic because in Spain you have a French company (Ouigo) all the way to Madrid. A bit of hypocrisy on the French side.
@@osasunaitor The Ouigo operation in Spain was used a bargaining chip when France stalled with the re-certification of the S-100 trains (they had already been running under the SNCF-Renfe joint-venture) and Brussels had to get involved on why France was sabotaging foreign competitors. Of course the French replied that there was absolutely no sabotage and after 4 weeks certification was granted... Ya que tú sabes!
@@ThisWontFly exactly... French are sus
You Europeans have no idea how lucky you are to be able to catch trains to amazing cities in different countries. In my state in Australia, we have trains about every 30 minutes to different cities around my state. The trains are pretty slow though. We have better PT than the USA, but it's not as good as you can find in Europe.
The fact that Australia is the size of Europe but has 25x less population certainly doesn't help... It's impossible to sustain an extensive high speed network under such conditions unfortunately.
and you lost the Ashes.@@osasunaitor
@@samuelgrau-x5x what?
Lucky all of you in South Africa we have nothing left. Only suburban
@@Just_another_Euro_dude both Melbourne and Brisbane are around 700-800 km away from Sydney, but the problem is that there is nothing in between. With the exception of Canberra, there are no other relevant intermediate towns that would make the cut for a HS stop along the way.
Rome to London makes sense because you have Milan, Torino, Paris... along the way. Madrid to Amsterdam makes sense because you have Barcelona, Brussels, Rotterdam... along the way. In Australia there is nothing to justify such a massive infrastructure other than the cities at both ends, so a flight ends up being by far more efficient.
Fun fact: as of today, Sydney and Brisbane aren't even connected by a motorway, despite being the 1st and 3rd cities of Australia with a combined population of 8 M. This gives you an idea of how pointless and inefficient it is to build infrastructure through the desolate Australian countryside.
Interesting. My wife & I took the high-speed from Lyon to Barcelona back in 2018. It was fantastic. I don't really remember anything about the train itself, but I remember the ride was lovely and I managed to write a short story I was mostly happy with over the course of the 6 hour trip. It sure beats taking a plane.
I'm glad the service is back. I hope I can get back to either or both cities some day soon.
Come back friend also try the rest of the Spanish trains 🚂❤️
“The Heat is on”. In more senses than one given the heatwave. Also a good classic song!.👍🏻🏴🇫🇷
Awesome to see this service back and soon the Marseille-Barcelona-Madrid service as well.
Yes Thibault, welcome back to RENFE! Now what they need to do is significantly increase the frequency of services so that people like me who live close to Perpignan can get to Barcelona and back in a day. At the moment as I live closer to the frontier I drive across to Figueres Vilafant park the car and take the AVE from there but it would be nicer to be able to get the train the whole way and back and not have to pay for a night in a Barcelona hotel. In the other direction, the completion of the missing link between Perpignan and Montpellier would be nice too. OK according to the latest plans the route will be well inland through the Corbières and largely in tunnel so you'll lose those coastal views we both love so much but so what sometimes you have to sacrifice scenery for speed!! Whatever the way things are moving at the moment I doubt I'll live to see it finished!!
I wonder how much the high speed link will cost?
@@jeanjacques9980 No idea but bearing in mind the amount of additional engineering required for an inland route then the cost will almost certainly be astronomical...which is probably why the project is constantly being pushed back!!
@@hamlet7959 No one mentions millions these days it’s billions! Wonder if EU might half fund as part of Euro rail plan, Turin eastwards from Spain. It will happen in time.
Wow the interior looks so nice. I love the colour so much. I am so tired of bland trains with the same colour scheme. Love it!
Thanks Thibault for posting this so quickly! For the price, it seems fairly well suited. Having choices of operators & competition is not a bad thing!
Quel beau trajet !
So looking forward to Zurich-Barcelona night train to come back! And why not dream, Zurich-Malaga with a car for golf bags and bikes 😅 I would never fly again ❤❤
I miss this train, too. Last year, I wanted to go from Munich to southern Spain by train, but the timetables (and prices) turned out to be such a nightmare that I gave up and stayed in Germany.
So good! - we have nothing like it here in Australia! - We're so far behind the times for rail travel! /sigh
US has only one Amtrak yuck!
I would definitely take this trip. Thanks.
Vivement la fin des travaux à Part Dieu ! C'est une bonne nouvelle de voir des compagnies supplémentaires !
Thanks for producing another interesting UA-cam only a matter of hours since Renfe launched this service ! Looks a great product. In a promo video also produced today by Renfe it notes that it (Renfe) still plans Barcelona-Paris in future.
Greatings from small mountian vilage in central Serbia. My impressions. 0:25 entrance to the Lyion station looks very nice. 02:39 Train arriving at the stations + you are moving forvard, looks very powerful + the train itself looks very powerful when it arrive at the station. 02:45 very nicelooking trains, nive looking wagons, very powerful... I like it. 03:48 from the front trains looks ok, not bad. 04:18 inside looking, hmmmm, not so nice bat not ultra bad. 06:27 train is ultra quiet,i like that.
Thanks for the video. For my trip from Barcelona to Milan I rode AVE from Barcelona to Lyon on January 22, 2024 and then took two Regional trains between Lyon-Geneve-Brig where I caught SBB Eurocity to Milan...detour due to landslide last year, but it was an interesting adventure....then Venice and Rome. In all I rode 9 trains, including 6 high speed trains and got to experience swanky Executive Class on Trenitalia's run from Milan to Rome where I was robbed on the street.
Renfe is planning on launching further services in the near future, with "new high-speed frequencies between Barcelona and Perpignan and the extension to the city of Toulouse". "The services will connect Barcelona, Girona and Figueras with Perpignan, doubling the frequencies to this station and will also have at least one extension to Toulouse, with an intermediate stop in Carcassonne."
Moreover, "On the western side, Renfe plans to connect San Sebastian with Hendaye and Bayonne, creating routes between the Basque Country and the French region of Nouvelle Aquitaine."
I love the TGV, I sometimes draw inspiration from it when making my model trains 😅😊
I am looking to buy a model train. Is there a good website reference to buy them?
1.) Doesn't this train use the new Contournement high-speed line between Nimes and Montpellier? It is planned for 300 km/h, but there seems to be an old signalisation system, which is why it can currently only be used at 220 km/h, but this still would be better than the 160 km/h of the classic line. 2.) I would have expected a switch from French left side traffic to Spanish right side traffic at Port-Bou. Isn't there a bridge construction for switching the side without slowing down?
I will go from Barcelona to Lyon the next 28th July and back the 30th July. I will enjoy and let my own impression. Thank you for the vid.
I wish there is a Renfe or SNCF train from Paris to Madrid. That would be great. 👍 🚄
The LGV Madrid - Basque Country (France border/ will be in 2030. The LGV Bourdeaux - Spain border ¿ 2040? or never
@@tonijimenez8697 they should do faster, because of climate change.
@@special5513 France wan't build the LGV París to Madrid , Spain want this line and the LGV Barcelona - París ( Spain finished its part of the route in 2010 , and It will end the LGV Madrid - Basque Country /border France in 2030)
@@tonijimenez8697 They could use the Line from Paris to Barcelona with the TGV which departs 2 times per day and like the TGV OUIGO which departs every day from Barcelona to Madrid and we have LGV for them, but we don‘t use them much, we could built also newer LGVs but there are also LGV existing there.
Nice review. Nothing fancy but 2nd class looked comfy. Glad there was a dining car where could enjoy food and a vlew
Thanks Thibault💚👌😀
Whaouuu on UA-cam for the first day of this trains ! Contrats Thib 😁
Happy to see you posted a new video. Love trains, but it’s been a long time since I’ve taken a trip. But nice to ride with you. I get enjoyment from that too.
Hey guys. Last weekend I travelled from Barcelona to Lyon and back. Nice trip and nice city Lyon. We we're stopped for 35 minutes in Sete station for problems on the tracks. When I arrived to Barcelona I claimed on Renfe's front desk and they gave me back the 25% of the ticket. The trip is ok, and sure I will be take it soon.
Amazing! Hopefully this helps bring prices down
Great trip. And yeah, welcome back Renfe at French soils with fully Renfe Rolling Stock and Staff.
Wow, you were FAST!!! Also, kinda annoyed that they announcing this as a new service when it had been running for a long time, atlough very unreliably due to covid, strikes, shenanigans between SNCF and RENFE, etc. Awesome video as always!
Great to see and I love Girona! Such a pretty city!
Ave is a well run train service. If your train is late to the destination by more than 15 minutes you can get a partial refund. The refund increases by delay time up to a 100%. Needless to say they are serious about being on schedule.
Wow! Only 30 Euros and 4 hours? That is a killer deal, I would have definitely used it when I had to go from Madrid to lyon, instead I had to take a flixbus in the Barcelona to Lyon part
Thank you for this great video. I’m delighted RENFE have returned to Lyon, and frankly their AVE S-100 units are much better than the SNCF sidle deck TGVs ! As SNCF already run from Paris to Barcelona, I cannot understand why RENFE don’t follow suit ! As you say, the new line between Perpignan and Figueres needs much more traffic, and hopefully this will happen soon.
The homologation in France for Renfe and Italo has been a continuous nightmare, but it has been started by Lyon-Marseille because the joint plans have the Mediterranean corridor extended to Milan. (Something that would be very interesting and precious to see a Valencia/Barcelona up to Milan...). The important thing is that steps are being taken towards a real and frequent interconnection not only focused on Paris.
For routes to the north of France (Paris and beyond) Renfe and Talgo are in the process of approval. Hopefully soon we will be able to see Renfe operating regular services between Paris and Barcelona, and later with routes further north.
ps: I also find it horrible how slowly things are being done. But at least they are being done.
Good to see AVE S-100 is coming back in my country 👍🙂
I think you were stuck before Valence TGV due to a delayed train just before yours, stopping at the same place and only one track here 🤷♂️😂
10:53 Oh I have taken my vidéo just after here ! 😅 Are you interesting to get it for you ? 😉
And so the "retro" interior makes well the job, and I love the dining car, way better than ours
So good luck for RENFE and AVE to keep this travel (this time 😅😉)
Next video hopefully we will see the new Talgo Avril on the same route.
Nice!
Yes it's planned for Paris Barcelone route 👍😉
Every South Korean person on holiday in France will recognize the AVE S-100 stock since South Korea bought those AVE S-100 train from France for their high speed railways. The South Korean version is a modified version of the AVE S-100. This train was also seen in the zombie movie Train To Busan.
Ooh so that's why that RENFE train was in lyon last monday, I was wondering about that!
Thx man really very useful content 👍
Je viens de voir ça sur TV5 monde USA (france2). Quelle bonne nouvelle!! Je vais voyager de Barcelone à Perpignan.
Ça ne peut être que mieux que la désastreuse SNCF!!!
Super vidéo comme d’ab.
Merci Thibaut!
Vary nice Video and right to the point
❤❤❤ Such an amazing price for a direct fast travel to Barcelona 🎉
Any thoughts on which service to take as there is RENFE AVE as shown in the video operating the older S-100 trains from the 90's (which look comfortable) or the new TGV inOui sets (likely the duplex).
Assuming ticket prices are similar (which in my case they are for Barcelona Lyon), what service do folks believe to be the better choice?
J'ai adoré cette vidéo beau trains renfe ave merci simpli railways
Great to see this service back, less great to see that there is less working together now.
And funny to see how we both compare it, I would rather say, the train looks like a KTX train instead of the TGV (however the KTX is based on the TGV haha).
And while Spain and France do the bff thing here in Italy we have lost a lot of useful connections trough the years like Rome-Paris via Florence,Milan-Nice-Marseille,Venice-Budapest and also a tren hotel Milan-Barcelona and more.
A bit jealous but at least our company is doing competition
It's the same in Spain. We have also lost international connections like Madrid-Hendaye-Paris, Barcelona-Zurich, Madrid-Lisbon...
@@osasunaitor Estoy a tu lado amigo😔🖖🏻
🇪🇸🤝🏻🇮🇹
4:30 I find the color choice quite nice! The yellow is something different, and the contrast to the dark red is interesting.
great news! I will be using one of this when going to Barcelona instead of the plane.
I love the dining car. Wish we had one on Metro North!
Hey, video is amazing man. Really nice train with good ambience.
By the way, may I know which pixel device did you use to film this video?
Been on that train last summer, with a 3 hour 30 minute delay and a broken airconditioning with 40 degrees weather we made it to Barcelona.
Now I need a Trenitalia Frecciarossa direct to Madrid that use the Paris Milan route and that at Lyon heads South instead of North
The new talgo train 😇
Je l'ai essayé entre Lyon et Nîmes en classe Elige Confort et c'est clairement mieux qu'une 1ère en TGV Inouï pour ma part. Le cuir et les plaquages en (faux?) bois donnent une impression de qualité supérieur. La place est bonne pour les jambes et les sièges sont confortable. Niveau bruit on est au même niveau qu'un TGV réseau ou duplex. Par contre la clim étant plus puissant et l'ayant essayé en pleine canicule il fait clairement plus frais que dans un TGV bondé. Pour 54e c'est vraiment une alternative au TGV et en classe supérieur je le trouve supérieur au TGV, reste à voir si ils vont augmenter les rotations pour vraiment concurrencer la SNCF et surtout voir si les prix ne vont pas trop monter quand les prix de lancement seront arrêté ou lorsque que la Renfe n'aura plus 37%, 16% ou 8% sur le prix du sillon. Mais même en étant cheminot je conseil les AVE Renfe.
Question: are the sections in Spain being transformed into mixed gauge (broad and standard) through the interposition of a third rail, also covered by these catafalques? Thanks a lot for the answer
Great work as always👌
The problem is that the S-100 series is too old, even with the modernisation they did in early 2010's. However, this is a big step forward, as France has done its utmost to delay Renfe's entry. If it had not been for the European Union's warnings, we would still not have these services.
In what respect do you think the S-100 is too old? I mean... I don't find it lacking in any way compared to any of the newer trainsets (102, 103, etc.).
Muito lindo trem simpys
Great video!
All those stops add a lot of time to a slow journey (average 105kmh only). Even without the high speed connector Montpellier-Perpignan if Renfe were to operate non stop Barcelone-Paris they could cut the time to 6h, a big improvement over SNCF. But is there sufficient demand end to end?
@@Just_another_Euro_dude However, when I used it in June SNCF only use a 7 carriage train set between Languedoc and Barcelone, and even then it was only half full in Spain. The Paris-Montpellier/Perpignan section was busier and there was also an additional 7 carriage set attached. I think the cheap flights and lengthy train journey of at least 6h 30 puts off many people.
nice to see so many pictures of procycling in the train. Must have been because of the Tour de France
I took this train in November 2022, between Valence and Barcelona Sants, it was a Renfe train but didn’t noticed that they were co-staffed by SNCF. I hope they manage to continue and increase the frequency!
I actually quite like the colour scheme, and particularly the chrome strips for the seat indicators!
Nice video! Thank god it was airline style seating and not two across two, which is the usual lame way of sitting on many trains in Europe. Also, the single level TGV is so much nicer than the cheap feeling bi-level version that everything is going towards. Spain has so much great food, too.
Bienvenido "A" España
I'm trying to book this train for November 2nd Nimes - Barcelona and on the Renfe website it says "The requested train is not available at the moment. We apologise for any inconvenience. Please try again later.". Does anyone have any idea when this will be on sale? I've been checking everyday for over a week and of course no one at Renfe is returning my enquiries. Thank you hive mind!
15:49 Man Renfe has to do repainting to the new livery compare to the old one?
It's a shame that the tracks between Nîmes and Perpignan aren't still prepared to high speed :( I think you could save almost 1h if they were. About the toilet with no water...oh well this is renfe right? ;) (Spaniard here ^^)
Hi its great vidéo congratulations, now in the futur u think its possible to make a video about the Line of CAUSSES with thé intercite CLERMONT FERRAND -> BEZIERS ?
Happy Bastille Day, Thibault!
Good news! Competion is always good for users… but 450km in 4h20min is not the exact definition of high speed rail…
Impresionante 👏🏼 gracias por compartir ❤
Damn....300kph from an Intercity Train.
(Millions of Australians sigh in ENVY!) 😅😅😅😅😅
I love barcelona very good news
Are there plans to finish the high speed connection?
Espero que en un futuro cercano esté servicio lo amplíen por el sur hasta Valencia. Conectar la 2° y 3° ciudad de España con la 3° ciudad de Francia no estaría nada mal.
Nice video nice spainish train.
Are there no trains that use the new high-speed bypass between Manduel (Nîmes) and Lattes (Montpellier)? They won't have built that for freight traffic only
So technicaly there's a chance we'd see a high speed Train line from Paris to Marakech in our life time, they were already talking about linking the lines between Morocco and Spain when and "If" the tunnel is built(we never know with the far right spanish parties against this project).
shit why isn't there already high speed train lines between all European countries ffs, Bucharest-Paris would be so freaking cool
Nice to see it back in service. Can you still go from Paris to Madrid and to Portugal including Lisbon by train. Rather than flying from one city to the other.
Excellent.
For water supply to train dependant on whether Sncf allow access to Sncf to water roads or sidings that have water replinsh pipes fill tanks on coaches. Most water tanks are actually above your heads in top of the coaches, gravity fed downwards.
On ECML in uk London Kings x to Edinburgh 393miles route only York 189miles from London has water tanking facilities fill trains tanks.
As Renef going alone which is nice to see gives proper competition to incumbent Sncf.
I'd loved see Renef succeed in getting to Lille Europe & eventually London St Pancras International Via HS lines this really open up travel opportunity to Spain.
A tgv réseau ? I was told in the 90's, AVE Is a Tgv Atlantic, made with a whole voiture bar
Merci pour cette information en vidéo. Enfin un moyen efficace pour éviter l'avion ou les péages en voiture. Espérons que Barcelone va de nouveau supporter les touristes et que les touristes auront un comportement compatible. Le prix va t-il rester raisonnable?
Happy Bastille Day to you! Also, what's happening in France? I just heard, that during parade there would be a risk of refugee attack (including usage of fireworks, burning (and damage at the same moment) of cars, etc). LET'S SAY: "JE SUIS CHARLIE" AND PREVENT FROM TERRORIST ATTACKS!!!
Have you reviewed the new battery-electric passenger train that was recently demonstrated? Is that train capable of running both: under catenary electric power, and then able to switch to battery power on non-electrified lines? Thanks for any info that you can share about battery-electric, hydrogen powered or other types of multi-power-source passenger trains (other than: dual-voltage or multi-voltage catenary powered engines).
Very good
Like ice-3 in Germany, but dining cabin is different with breathing space
Nice train
Does it go from Part Dieu? Hope so I'm a 10 minute walk away and I love Barcelona!
I am aware of the high track access charges.
Beyond that, it is hard to say for sure why many of the French trains don't bother going beyond Perpignan. Probably the journey from Paris is so long that many people have had enough of being on the train by this point? Perhaps you should nag the French to hurry up with the Montpellier-Perpignan line: they were talking about it being finished in 2020 during the golden age of high-speed rail in France under Nicolas Sarkozy.
Regarding Spanish trains, there is an obvious reason: voltage differences. Most of the RENFE trains aren't able to go beyond the edge of the high-speed line at Perpignan because of 1.5kV compatibility. To my mind, it would make sense to have lots of 1.5kV trains on the Madrid-Barcelona route and terminate them in Perpignan, rather than Figueres.
So was the suspension of the France-Spain route because some infighting, disagreement, or economics?
The JV was axed. But I believe SNCF continued to operate the above route. SNCF continued with Paris-Barcelona.
Both Renfe and SNCF have been co-operating until last year when RENFE was pisses about SNCF operating in Spain with their Low-cost OuIgo high speed traind (which meant that RENFE will lose passangers due to OuIgo being cheaper than them).
@@dragoner3211 This might as well be, but then ones that withdrew from the SNCF/RENFE joint-venture were SNCF, unilaterally (citing operative losses, but d'uh, pandemic, darlig!). So RENFE might have been pissed off all you want with Ouigo biting into their domestic HSL market share, but it wasn't them who spat out the proverbial dummy.
My theory is much more that there is a European mandate that long-distance rail needs to be liberalised and some incumbent national operators are not taking it too well. And when Renfe was eyeing the French market Cersey... sorry, SNCF chose violence.
Let's not go into the hippocrisy of being against market liberalization on your own turf but gladly going into other markets to do the same.
I know it's a low-speed line, but the route from Perpinyà to Montpellier is literally the most beautiful train journey I've ever done, and it'll be a shame to see it go.
how can we buy the ticket in 29 euro???? omio says it's 61
50/60fps takes video to the next level... 🙃
Hopr they extend it to Geneva!