The Irish Times: Travel trend in Spain is mainly to the train

[marmar]

Travel trend in Spain is mainly to the train

GILES TREMLETT in Madrid


SPAIN’S SLEEK new high-speed trains have stolen hundreds of thousands of passengers from airlines over the past year, slashing carbon emissions and marking a radical change in the way Spaniards travel.

Passenger numbers on domestic flights fell 20 per cent in the year to November as commuters and tourists swapped cramped airline seats for the space and convenience of the train, according to figures released yesterday.

High-speed rail travel – boosted by the opening of a line that slashed the journey time from Madrid to Barcelona to two hours 35 minutes in February – grew 28 per cent over the same period, with about 400,000 travellers switching from air travel to the 340km/h (220mph) AVE trains.

Last year’s fall in the numbers travelling by air, which was also helped by new high-speed lines from Madrid to Valladolid, Segovia and Malaga, marks the beginning of what experts say is a revolution in Spanish travel habits. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0113/1231738220635.html

[globalvillage]

1. That's what we need.

Damn, that's fast.

[StreetKnowledge]

2. California is getting such trains.

They really should be built across the nation......but we'll get there. :)

[marmar]

3. California's high-speed rail status is rather tentaive right now. Check this out:

Cash crunch slows high-speed rail project
Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, January 9, 2009



Sacramento -- Just months after Californians voted to invest nearly $10 billion in a statewide high-speed rail system, the agency charged with getting it built is running out of money.

The California High Speed Rail Authority's budget for the current fiscal year, which ends in June, included $29 million from the sales of high-speed rail bonds authorized by voters in November. But because of the state budget crisis, the credit crisis and the poor market for bonds, the state treasurer has not sold any of the rail bonds.

That's left the rail authority without cash at a time when Californians are eager to see the 800-mile fast train system built. At an authority meeting Thursday, officials said they had halted payments on engineering and design contracts in progress and are holding off on awarding new contracts.

"Unfortunately, I have quite a backlog of bills that need to be paid, but no money to pay them," said Carrie Pourvahidi, deputy director for the authority. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/08/BA6J1565UM.DTL

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Why...I know the intiative was approved but it does not seem to make sense

How many people are going from LA to the Bay Area everyday vs Las Vegas or something more local.

I think effective mass transit is critical, but the LA-Oakland high speed train does not seem to have the market

[XOKCowboy]

4. 2 hrs 35 mins Madrid to Barcelona - That's great

Some friends and I went to Barcelona for the weekend after working in Madrid. Our flight out was at 7AM so we were out of our hotel about 4:30AM to leave for the long drive to the airport, spent the usual 1.5 hrs waiting to board and the flight was a little over an hour long the took about an hour to get our bags and get to the hotel.

The commute to the train station would have taken about half the time each way (perhaps even walking distance in both cases), you don't have to be at the train station till right before your train departs and you don't have to wait on your bags, just walk out and flag a taxi. All told I figure a time savings of at least an hour and MUCH less stress.

I loved the trains in Europe. A great way to travel.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. So now Spain joins the list of countries

(including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Germany, France) that have better rail systems than the U.S.

Pretty sad.

[marmar]

6. Pretty much all of Western Europe and the Pac Rim has a much better rail network.

n/t

[Mind_your_head]

8. Yep - a MUCH better rail network....by a factor of ten (at least) n/t

[Captain Hilts]

7. We just need Amtrak to own its own track with more under/over passes. nt

[ogneopasno]

10. That Irish Times subeditor just had to get cute, didn't it? Yuck.