Green light for another high-speed low-cost Avlo train connection between Malaga and Madrid this summer

Spain's state train operator Renfe is finalising a restructure of its fleet thanks to the arrival of the new Talgo Avril trains, which will allow it to include an extra service on the Malaga-Madrid route.

It is one of two that have the low-cost Avlo version of the company's famous AVE service in Andalucía (the other is Seville).

Last week the ministry of transport announced that from May onwards, in the first phase of changes, four 112 series train units will come to the region, labelled and fitted out for this low-cost service. These will enable double the trains to be added to the single daily frequency of the Avlo which currently runs between the Costa del Sol and the Spanish capital. These reinforcements will be introduced on days and at times of peak demand, according to the public operator.

In a second phase, with the end of the works being carried out at Chamartin station in Madrid and when the new train units are received (looking ahead to this summer), at least one more Avlo service will run between Malaga and Madrid, which would mean two daily departures in each direction.

Renfe announced it will progressively relocate the 15 trains that will be released after the arrival of the first S-106 Avcril train units to improve the service on other connections. The implementation of the new trains will allow an increase of more than 24,000 seats a week on different connections between different cities in nine regions: Madrid, Andalucía, Extremadura, Catalonia, Aragon, Castile and Leon, Castile La Mancha, Valencia and La Rioja.

The service between Madrid and Cadiz will also see the number of services increased to four, thanks to the relocation of an Alvia S-130 train. Later on, three Alvia S-730 series trains will be assigned to improve the service between Madrid and Algeciras and to start two new connections: Madrid-Almería (via Granada) and Madrid Zaragoza-Teruel.

In addition, a second daily service will be added on the Madrid-Huelva line with an S-121 Intercity train. And the Alta Velocidad-Larga Distancia service, Torre del Oro, which links Barcelona with Seville and Cadiz, will replace the S-120 series trains with a more modern fleet, the S-130 series trains.