MADRID, 19 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Renfe will commemorate this Monday the fifteenth anniversary of the entry into service of the AVE from Madrid to Barcelona, ​​which made it possible to connect both cities in a travel time of 2 hours and 38 minutes. Throughout this time, more than 140 million travelers have used Renfe's high-speed services to and from Barcelona.

The arrival of the AVE to Barcelona completed a railway relationship that had begun between Madrid, Calatayud, Zaragoza and Lleida, and later to Camp de Tarragona.

The initial AVE offer was 17 frequencies in each direction between Madrid and Barcelona, ​​an offer that progressively increased as a result of demand until it reached 54 daily circulations. Travel times have also been reduced, which currently amount to 2 hours 30 minutes for direct trains.

In parallel, the circulation of AVE trains has increased by 51.7%, which in the Madrid-Barcelona relationship has gone from 18,400 in 2008, to 27,900 in 2022. The trains of the set of services provided by Renfe in the corridor, AVE, Avlo, Avant and Alvia add up to 407,000 throughout the 15 years of Service.

In 2008, the first year, 5.70 million travelers used Renfe's different high-speed services to and from Barcelona, ​​while in 2022, more than 12.1 million travelers have trusted the company's services Spanish, which represents a growth of 112.2 percent.

During this time, according to Renfe, the more than 140 million trips have moved without causing CO2 emissions, and if they had made the journey by car, the emissions would have been 4,705,573 tons of CO2, emissions equivalent to the CO2 absorbed by 47,055 ,732 holm oaks over 40 years.