Since opening on 19 December 2010, the high speed line linking Madrid and Valencia has carried 960,000 passengers in the first six months of operation.
The demand for these new high speed services that connect both cities in just over an hour and a half has grown steadily.
This positive response in demand in just six months has led to a reversal of market shares.
According to the latest estimates, the AVE service has replaced 55% of journeys made by air as well as 25% and 5% of journeys made by car and bus respectively.
Since the beginning of the service a total of 4,938 high speed trains have operated between the two cities with a punctuality rate of 98%.
Spain has recently had to close one high speed service after the ‘ghost train’ that operated on it only carried 9 passengers per day.