High-speed rail in Spain

High-speed railways in Spain have been in operation since 1992 when the first line was opened connecting the cities of Madrid, Córdoba and Seville. Unlike the rest of the Iberian broad gauge network, the Spanish High-speed network mainly uses standard gauge. This permits direct connections to outside Spain through the link to the French network at the Perthus Tunnel. High-speed trains run on a network of high-speed rail track owned and managed by ADIF (Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias), where the dominant service is AVE while other high speed services such as Avant, Alvia, Avlo, Euromed, Ouigo España and Iryo, as well as mid-speed (Altaria) services also operate.

AVE trains are operated by Renfe, the national passenger high-speed rail operator in Spain, but private companies such as Ouigo España and Iryo compete on the Madrid–Barcelona and other routes in accordance with the European Union legislation. French TGV services run from the border to Barcelona under the TGV inOui brand. Some TGV-derived trains used to run on the broad-gauge network at slower speeds, branded by Renfe as Euromed, until new dual-gauge rolling stock was commissioned for these services. Alvia trains are also operated by Renfe and have the ability to use both Iberian gauge and standard gauge lines offering high-speed services across the whole Spanish network.

As of September 2024^[update], the Spanish high-speed rail network is the longest HSR network in Europe with 3,973 km (2,469 mi)^[1] and the second longest in the world, after China's.