French high speed
rail operator OuiGo has undertaken its maiden voyage on services between Madrid
and Barcelona using double-decker trains.
The company will now run
ten daily services offering 5,000 seats between the two cities, taking 2 hours
30 minutes, with stops in Zaragoza and Tarragona. Fares start at €9.
OuiGo, part of SNCF Voyageurs, has been
operating in France for eight years but has now expanded into Spain thanks to
rail liberalisation measures.
Spain's Renfe runs high-speed AVE services on the route in a similar time as well as consideably slower Regional Express services which are largely used as commuter services since the opening of the high-speed line in 2008.
"It is a great
pride for SNCF Voyageurs to be present at this important moment for Spain, and
to be the first operator to make the opening of the high-speed market a reality,”
said Christophe Fanichet, CEO of the parent company.
The operator also
plans to continue its development in Spain and offer up to 30,000 seats per day
and journeys in less than 2 hours 30 minutes on future lines to Valencia,
Alicante, Cordoba, Seville and Malaga, it said.