Madrid to Barcelona NONSTOP on Spain’s FASTEST Train!

Riding the S103 nonstop from Madrid to Barcelona in AVE's first class offering had been something I was looking forward to for ages, but there were certain things Renfe didn't get right that, in my opinion, really made the product fall below expectations. Regardless, the journey itself is amazing, and you'll see why in this video!
Journey details:
Date of Travel - July 2023
Operator - Renfe AVE
Train Type - S103 "Velaro E"
Origin - Madrid Puerta de Atocha
Destination - Barcelona Sants
Price - €81.45/£70.98/$88.68 (Premium ticket fare)
Duration - 2 hours, 20 minutes
Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed the video!
Music from EpidemicSound and is used under license.
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#s103 #renfe #ave #madrid #barcelona #tripreport #velaro #siemens #vlog #spain

[@flyingfeline7110]

Spain's highly sophisticated and complex high speed services are a joy to see.

[@Lacteagalaxia]

Spain is one of the countries in Europe and possibly the world with best railways and roads.

[@pizzaipinya2442]

Still plenty of work to do in commuter trains though :(

[@osasunaitor]

High speed trains? Yes, totally. The rest of trains (Regional, commuter, freight...)? Not even close, it's a huge mess.

[@loloflores123]

​@@osasunaitordon't be dramatic. At least Cercanias, alvia and media distancia works quite well.

[@osasunaitor]

@@loloflores123 Alvia, mostly yes. Media Distancia around half the times. And the least I write about Cercanías the better, it's decent in some cities and absolutely third-world standard in others.

[@DavidCanet]

no , it is not. other countries, do research

[@johnlocke5585]

That station looks stunning!

[@MikeS29]

Other than the lack of catering options and the security queues, it looked pretty nice to me! I was expecting something more disappointing. You even got in 9 minutes early 🙂- thank you so much for sharing, love your channel.

[@SG-no1hh]

In Spain many catering services are absurd because all trains are high speed, and you reach your destination quickly.

[@manuelrodriguez2637]

​@@SG-no1hh Agree 👍 1. Eat something just before you board the train 2. Use the more than sufficient cafetería cart 3. Eat nothing & work up an appetite for when you hit Madrid 😋

[@SG-no1hh]

Spanish trains are marvellous!!!

[@mckiwen]

the security controls were implemented after the yihadist attacks in Madrid of 2004, things went a bit crazy for security after that and those controls have not been removed.

[@spriggy40]

in 2019 went from atocha to alicante its was brilliant best train i have been on

[@ElaborateTiger]

Ah, I miss the days when the trains to Alicante went from Atocha. Now they depart from the grottier Chamartín station in the north of Madrid.

[@downonthestour]

Still the best looking train that Siemens has built. Great Video as per Midland!

[@osasunaitor]

I totally agree

[@joemercedeschannel196]

Great video Midland. I like how they have got a fleet same as the ICE 3 in Germany.

[@GoogleGebruiker]

Spain's landscape is amazing! Im going on Avlo soon. Have used Media Distancia and Alvia in the past. Renfe is good and the liberalization of high speed rail has brought the crazy prices down!

[@AL5520]

Great video. Just a few things: Avant is not a lower brand high speed train but a more local high speed train, the medium distance equivalent of the MD regular service. They are for short rides, usually withing the regions or to nearby ones with fixed prices while AVE is the long distance service. In Madrid it's to places like Toledo or Puertollano and in Catalunya they serve Lleida, Tarragona, Girona and Figueres. The Avlo service was not exactly created to compete with OuiGo as the Idea was formed in 2018 to emulate the OuiGo service in Spain before the liberation of 2021 (but it was created due to the intent to allow open access in Spain). The service was set to launch on March 2020, they ran ads and pre-sold tickets but than Covid happened. As for the meal problem, you should have filed a complaint to Renfe, it does help sometimes.

[@trained_4_life]

Puts the UK to shame.

[@angelgames9351]

Not so quick, if you don’t live in the largest 10 or so cities you can’t get anywhere by train, we have awful service, I’m talking 4 trains a day is called good service, with many rural stations on many important mainlines having 2 departures or fewer. Uk is plagued by delays and cancellations but often the next train comes 2 hours or even quicker, here we don’t have that luxury, not an actually quite underrated regional bus network

[@AL5520]

@@angelgames9351 The UK (and in reality mostly England) does have a deans network but that's because it's much smaller and far more dense than Spain so it's impossible to provide small places with frequent rail service. That said I think you're exaggerating as rail service is much better, under the circumstances, than what you claim and, unlike the UK, it's still expending with many new line and improved ones under constructions and others in advance planning. In the UK once you leave the central area things are not as you describe and they invest very little in improvements Spain has a bit larger network but since it's spread over a large area it serves less people but it is mostly electrified (which is not the case in the UK where only about a third of the network is electrified) and, as i said, getting better. At the end of this month Asturias will get a high speed connection, The Mediterranean is, slowly but constantly, nearing completion and the long awaited high speed connection to Basque country and Extremadura is also advancing. There are also improvements on the regular network, although I agree that there should be more. To sum it up, Spain has an excellent networks and, unlike the one in the UK, it's getting better every day and I don't know how old are you but 30 years ago, when the first high speed line opened, it was in a horrible state of a third country so it has a huge advancement that continues today.

[@buzzukfiftythree]

True although, in fairness, the UK has a much greater population density, so constructing high speed lines is more difficult and, in general, train frequency to most stations is much better than France and Spain. In France the use of buses between rural stations rather than trains outside of peak travel hours is routine.

[@budapestkeletistationvoices]

​@@angelgames9351if you aren't going to the few largest big cities in England you get nowhere. In addition, you pay an arm and leg. Congratulations to Princess Leonor to her juramento

[@budapestkeletistationvoices]

​@@buzzukfiftythreeand how about Germany. It is slightly bigger than the remainder of the British Empire and with a bigger population, with similar density. Or Italy?

[@ajs41]

I travelled from Madrid to Seville in February this year, and was disappointed by the rather chaotic boarding process. The journey itself was good. (I then travelled by train from Seville to Barcelona about 5 days later. No problems).

[@jondavies9347]

Unlike the uk you should never need to fly within Spain.We have been left behind by virtually the whole of Europe.

[@470danadidas]

Great video. Would have been interesting if you had returned to the UK by train. Barcelona to Paris then, Eurostar to London. For a future video perhaps?

[@s11salemhassan]

Thank you for the post ❤ Will subscribe right away

[@fatwalletboy2]

600kms in 2.5 hours? Wow thats fast.

[@casiopea-_-]

620!

[@Marchanthof]

@@casiopea-_- And in 2,3333 hours, since it only took 2:20h in the end. That is more than 265 km/h on average 😉

[@majy1735]

Well, it's a high speed train, in case you did not notice.

[@Travel-by-Train]

Spain train looks very fast and confortable. I wish soon I can ride one of them 🍒🍒🍒

[@paultidd9332]

I have travelled that journey standard class and the trains, as you say, are very smart and comfortable and you can see how easy it was for them to build a high speed network over miles of barren open space.

[@osasunaitor]

It's true that it's simpler to build through the unpopulated areas of central Spain than in a packed country like England, but you have to take into account that Spain has a very harsh terrain with lots of mountains and plateaus. This line goes from sea level in Barcelona to over 1000m of altitude between Calatayud and Guadalajara, which is the highest high speed section in Europe if I remember correctly. Such an infrastructure is not easy to design and build, with many sections needing to be built through viaducts and tunnels.

[@aoilpe]

I had an overnight stay in Madrid on a car trip to Portugal and had a beautiful breakfast at the Atocha botanical garden in the early ‘90’s… The color scheme of the Velaro resembles the DB scheme…

[@javiermartingonzalez4759]

Since 1992 Madrid ÷Sevilla and then Barcelona, Valencia, Málaga, Córdoba, Granada, Murcia, Galicia and more

[@JuanGarcia-wy9ij]

EL REDESCUBRIMIENTO EN VIAJES PLACENTEROS AVE.TRENES.

[@Malte_OJ]

Spain's high speed train service is quite impressive, but I'm surprised it doesn't seem to be possible to book connections.

[@osasunaitor]

Renfe has just announced it's going to revamp the whole online booking system, let's hope they'll address issues like this one

[@andrejsalobir1366]

Now it seems to be possible. Traveled from Madrid to Ronda with a connection (to an MD train from AVE) in Antequera Santa Ana (and then from Ronda to Málaga) last month on one ticket booked on RENFE’s website.

[@GrahamGeorge1]

When you see the investment all over Europe in High Speed Trains and infrastructure why have the UK got it so wrong and so over budget. Is it another benefit of Brexit?🤣😂

[@northbankgooner6126]

Having experienced Spanish trains first hand, only the other week I concur. You couldn't do a distance from London to Edinburgh in 3 hours, in Spain its a doddle.

[@samtrak1204]

When are you going from Barcelona to Milan by rail?

[@baseballfan99]

I travelled this week from Córdoba to Madrid having earlier taken the Inter City service from Seville which was interesting for the gauge change on route. I thought the train felt dated in its interior but the seat was comfy and the ride quality was excellent. I avoided the premium ticket as the food offering looked poor but the upgrade to comfort was worth it to have the single seat. Overall much better than UK trains and better value. Next time I may try one of the other providers. The Inter City train was going to take 12 hours to reach Barcelona as it manly takes the classic route 😮

[@Oriol535]

If it's a Talgo 250 (Serie 130), their interiors re getting refurbished right now so it will no longer feel dated ;)

[@jamesgoodman1733]

The train looks like ICE 3 in spain

[@pablofernandez3284]

You can choose between Ouigo, Avlo, Ave and Iryo and several kinds of trains. So..... But in United Kingdom or Eeuu.... what about the high speed trains?

[@cocojones1036]

Did you feel the speed?

[@evancheng8384]

Is there alcohol included ?

[@diarmaiddillon1568]

Does this train actually go at 310kmh

[@jmsta.romana4660]

I noticed that Spain just used the ICE3 model from Germany.

[@mr8I7]

Do you need to go through passport control on every sort of Renfe train in Spain or just the high speed AVE trains?

[@pizzaipinya2442]

Nop, it's only at high speed services that they scan your bag (that's actually the only thing, it's not really airport security level at all). Imagine having to pass controls every time you commute to work xd

[@DavidCanet]

average speed ???

[@samtrak1204]

Why is IC3 better than AVE?

[@nettcologne9186]

Because = Made in Germany

[@nettcologne9186]

4:43 So Siemens trains, developed and produced in Germany

[@pizzaipinya2442]

Yep, but that's actually the exception, most high speed Renfe trains are from Talgo, while regional and commuter trains are usually from CAF, with Alstom being also a close competitor due to its Spanish factory in Barcelona (and maybe other factories, I don't remember now).

[@Oriol535]

@@pizzaipinya2442 Actually there's a lot of diversity, Talgo only has the Series 102/112 and 130/730 in service, 106 and 107 (both to be delivered), while Alstom built the Series 100, 104, and 114 and CAF the Series 120 and 121 (they're basically the same, used for different services and one has a restaurant car while the other doesn't)

[@martin-bs4gf]

Siemens Velaro E

[@northbankgooner6126]

I travelled RENFE from Madrid to Sevilla and IRYO on the way back both legs first class. Given the pricing of the RENFE journey was approximately 80% more than IRYO (granted IRYO wasn't at a peak time) the train was of an older class the seats where dated, and the waiters didn't seem interested in offering an at seat service. The IRYO train however, was plush modern had a much nicer feel about it and the staff were more attentive. I will definitely be using IRYO again in future.

[@budapestkeletistationvoices]

I like pork

[@mrvwbug4423]

That's an ICE3 down to even the signaling system. Spain uses LZB on its high speed lines like Germany, Austria and Italy. I also just paid a lot more money for a comparable ticket on a much slower train in the UK

[@marw08]

LZB is only used in the first HSL Madrid-Sevilla. Rest of the lines use ERTMS, the standard european system.

[@uxiorabade2968]

​@@marw08And right now, all the Madrid Seville HSL LZB system are under refurbishing works of homologation with the rest of EMTRS network.

[@hermenegildoc3933]

You jewish or muslim?

[@samuelgrau-x5x]

I am most disappointed having to listen to the dialogue, let alone to the video of the trip. Try again, please. if not please learn.

[@OMtheRails]

Thank you so much for what has to be the most pointless piece of constructive criticism I have ever had the displeasure of reading - here's some for next time, try and be more specific instead of throwing out general rubbish in the comments just for the sake of a few likes. Good day sir