Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 2:48 p.m.
Orihuela adds three new destinations to its AVE stop. Starting next June 1, Renfe will begin operating three direct lines between the capital of Vega Baja and the Andalusian cities of Seville, Córdoba and Málaga. The journey will be through Madrid. The convoy will stop at one of the capital's two large stations, but passengers, for the first time, will not have to get off to transfer.
The mayor of Orihuela, Pepe Vegara, held a telematic meeting this Wednesday with the heads of Renfe and AVE, Fernando Gómez, Juan Manuel Yerves and Juan Carlos Santamaría, where this new offer was announced. These three destinations in the south of the peninsula are added to those already announced towards Castilla y León, specifically Segovia, Valladolid and Burgos. To go to these three cities on the northern plateau, Oriolanos no longer have to transfer in Madrid.
“This is excellent news that confirms Orihuela as one of the main tourist destinations and that improves our connections with the rest of Spain,” explained Vegara, who insisted that “the main potential factors of our High Speed station are “That the station is located in the heart of the city and that the bus station is next to it, which increases its attractiveness when choosing a trip.”
For the Oriolano mayor “our stop is one of the best connected and one of the most requested, Renfe and AVE know this and value it, that is why they increase the connections of our stop.” The new offer that Orihuela now wins began to take shape last January during a meeting that Vegara held with Renfe officials in Madrid within the framework of the celebration of the International Tourism Fair (Fitur).
The mayor of Orihuela, Pepe Vegara (on the left), during his meeting with Renfe officials during the last edition of Fitur.
L.V.
Likewise, the Oriolano mayor is in talks with the low-cost operator Ouigo, which has already announced that it plans to land in Murcia this year. In this sense, Orihuela wants the French company's trains to also stop at its intermodal station, just as Renfe convoys already do.
Shuttle to the coast
During the telematic meeting, Renfe, as reported by the Oriola City Council in a press release, has confirmed that a bus shuttle service will be established to connect Orihuela with its coast through a combined ticket, so that AVE users can reach the city and, from there, immediately travel to the coast with discounted rates thanks to the collaboration of the General Directorate of Transport.
Other topics discussed have been the duplication of capacity of the Renfe and Ave wagons on the routes that affect Orihuela. Vegara has positively valued the meeting held and has thanked Renfe and AVE for continuing to take Orihuela into account when expanding connections and offers for travelers.
The radial problem
The radial execution of the AVE lines throughout the country means that, when traveling by train from the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia to Andalusia, the stop in Madrid is inevitable. The journey from Orihuela to the capital of Spain by AVE lasts between 2 hours and 25 minutes, if there is only one stop in Elche, and 3 hours and 30 minutes if it stops in Elche, Villena, Albacete and Cuenca.
The AVE between Madrid and Andalusia vary from an average of one hour and 50 minutes to get to Córdoba to 2 hours and 40 minutes to get to Seville or more than three hours to get off in Malaga. Therefore, a journey between Orihuela and Malaga could easily exceed six hours when the same journey is covered by car in 4 hours and 40 minutes. Train and car times are more similar in the cases of Córdoba (5 hours by car) and Seville (5 hours and 40 minutes by car).
#Orihuela #direct #AVE #Andalusia #Madrid #transfer #truth
