This is how public transport should be - affordable, reliable, efficient (quick) and with comfort. You'd be hard pressed to travel that distance in a car for a similar price just on the fuel leaving maintenance to one side (and that's not to mention it would take twice as long). Lovely.
@@r.d.9399 With higher speeds comes exponentially higher costs and precision needed in the tracks. Plus you don't have to be at the terminal 2 hours earlier like is the case for airplanes.
What comfort? 2nd class seat pitch? seat cushion? legroom? What does he tell you: "it's red". Half the customers travel 2nd class, understand? This is a crap review, probably comped by the railway.
For a Canadian that looks like a space craft. Our trains are from the 50's I think. We are getting new trains for VIA but they go a lot slower and that makes Canada feel even bigger. Wish we could get trains like IRYO some day.
The Detroit/windsor-london-hamilton-toronto-kingston(?)-ottowa-montreal-quebec city is one of the best corridors there could be for HSR. Almost a dream corridor to build.
Ironically, though built by an Italian company, the train is an adapted version of Bombardier Zefiro. He has been to the most expensive class but the same train in Italy looks pretty much like that in all classes, seats aside of course.
Yes but you have the best freight trains. Transport of goods within Spain is more expensive because the government chose to invest in high speed trains for people rather than invest in train transport for goods. Our export competiveness is less than other eu countries because our expensive freigh trains and busy roads.
Well, don't believe the whole system goes like this. Rodalies Renfe (local trains) are pretty bad. Trains date from the 1970's are broke down every week at least, there are always delays and the network is simply not great. Now where the money has invested tons of money is on High Speed trains to the Capital City Madrid, otherwise this IRYO won't exist either here.
did the same journey pre Iryo and I must admit I can't imagine how the trip we did would be improived. - their trains are a completely different form of transport compared to what we laughingly call rail transport here in Australia.
From all the comments and regardless of how good or bad may be some of the features/services of high speed rail in Spain, I wished we had high speed rail on the US West Coast. Three weeks ago I had a chance to take the Renfe high speed rail from Madrid to Barcelona. The economy class was great, onboard food service was good and most of all it was a smooth fast ride all the way. The train left on time and arrived on time. The Estacion Madrid Atocha and Barcelona Sants stations were nice and clean.
I paid 50 euros for first class with renfe from Cordoba to Barcelona (5 hours in total) with only one stop at Madrid and it was moving at 360 km/h, service was amazing and seats were as if meant for two people, huge space, amazing experience
The liberalisation of Spanish rail was a good thing, I live in Zaragoza and train travel used to be, as you said, 70€ of more for standard class, since the liberalisation I’ve travelled for less than 15€, which is what the average (4h bus trip) from Madrid costs. By the way Requena-Utiel in the Madrid-Valencia high speed line gets 30-40 passengers a day, and Tardienta, which is on an upgraded line (Zaragoza-Huesca), but gets full service AVE service got around 2 passengers a day in 2020, with 2015 data saying 8 passengers a day.
Whilst I agree with the sentiment I am afraid from my own experience with regard UK rail. These are private operators who will suck out money from the system. National operators will be using revenue from the profitable routes to supplement the non profitable routes in a country. I am afraid that over the long term this will cause issues for the public financing on those less profitable routes. I do agree prices should be much lower than what you stated they were. Unsure how you go about doing that bar higher taxes on other forms of transport
@@Nasherrrzzz As long competition against a nationa operator is controlled then its fine. In this case its healthy competition. I wonder how many flights go from Madrid to Barcelona now.
Wow, I was mostly surprised by the 'the train arrived not late, but 8 minutes early' :-) This is why I love Spain. Manana, manana, no, ahora, ahora! Vamos, vale?!
Nice to see the Frecciarossa spreading its wings. I live in Turin and regularly see Frecciarossas, Italos and TGVs passing through Porta Susa. I have had the opportunity to ride the Frecciarossa and it's a great train. Still yet to try out the Italo, perhaps on my next trip to Milano.
wow, what fun. Here in Queensland, Australia, our "high speed" tilt train runs at a massive 100kph - if you're lucky - on the odd straight stretch. (marketing quotes 'top speed' of 160. LOL)
Spain made no investment. This new development is forced into the country by the EU rail transit liberalisation policies and is all privately owned, for-profit transportation which is disrupting the public monopoly. It is likely to drastically increase in price passed the first promo months and is diverting the money of the profitable lines away into the pockets of private institutions, along with public subventions, which leaves the state-owned operator , which is still is expected to operate less profitable/unprofitable lines as part of a public service objective, with less money to do so and increasingly reliant on even more subventions, which are scarce at a time like this. This is classic privatisation of profits, socialisation of losses bullshit. Happened in the UK => became renowned for its miserable rail service Happened in Germany => became the worst rail system of western Europe much to the shame of its people Happening in Spain and France rn
@@rgilles42 You have to be incredibly delusional to call Germany's rail system the worst in western europe, this is such an uneducated and incredibly pathetic comment.
i don’t live in italy nor france. but i hv visited both n took both frecchiarossa n tgv.. is it just me? or the frecchiarossa is a little noisier? especially going in n out of tunnels between milan n rome
10:40 A small comment on those carriages on the outskirts of Zaragoza: AFAIK they belong to the local friends of rail association (AZAFT). That means that while Renfe has indeed mistreated them, they are in line for an eventual renovation and refurbishment as museum pieces or tourist trains, if money is ever available. You won't see most Renfe coaches like this, they're either sold or scrapped!
Frecciarossa 1000, or ETR 400, the trainsets which are used on the Iryo, are amazing even in Italy (I rode on them a few times), and besides also operate the Milan Centrale-Paris high speed service, which is one hour shorter than the TGV from Porta Garibaldi
Its worth saying that the original train is a Zefiro, they only train i know of that have no true home origin. Unlike TGV and ICE that was designed for a market than exported. Zefiro was just designed as is from a cooperation then sold. While Regina that was originally designed for Sweden was renamed to Zefio (Zefiro 250), the Zefiro 300 is a completely different train with component from every here and there
Great video. Just a few more details. 1. Sants is Ok but as you said, it 's almost 50 years old so it's about to go through a huge renovation that includes additional space above (instead of the parking), adding green spaces around the station and opening path through for pedestrians. 2. Open access is not just for selected touts (it applies to all long distance lines) but the private competitors choose what they believe will be profitable But if successful I'm sure they will add more routs. Some routs are still with Iberian gauge which is problematic. Most high speed lines are standard gauge but there are a few are with Iberian gauge but there is a plan (supported by the EU) to change this and the high speed line to Galicia is about to be converted to standard gauge and will become more attractive for other operators. The new line to Basque country (AKA Basque Y) should be open in 2023 and would also be a candidate for Iryo and OuiGo. 3. This train does have an official speed of 400k ph but there are no lines that permit those speeds. The Barcelona Madrid line officially supports 350kph but the allowed speed is currently 300 kph and up to 310 kph in specific cases.
Sants station is a bit stressful and unfriendly inside, especially the noisy and hot platform area. But the worst part is by far the outside, it looks hideous. Any direction you go, you have to walk through heavy traffic, dirty and neglected urban spaces, and high chances of criminals hanging around, depending on the time of the day. As a resident of Barcelona, I'm sorry for the appalling state of our main station, it only keeps getting worse every year. I can't wait for the full renovation
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@@osasunaitor, I don’t think the Sants Estació surroundings are that bad. I’ve gone across them countless times during the day, at night and even in the early morning and never seen any criminal activity there.
@ well, you were lucky I guess. I've seen aggressive homeless people, taxi drivers doing drugs, a female coworker got harassed by a weirdo... It's a sketchy area in desperate need of a full social and urban renovation
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@@osasunaitor, “doing drugs” isn’t a crime (and neither is being homeless).
I really enjoyed this video. You took care of mentioning every necessary detail. The train looks beautiful and comfortable. I might take a journey by plane from London to Barcelona and take that train to Madrid and back (or fly to Madrid and vice-versa). Thank you!
The best trains from every manufacturer are running in the best high speed infrastructure In Europe. Well done Spain 🇪🇸 (Hitachi, Talgo, CAF, Siemens and Alstom)
I took a lot of different high speed trains in Europe and the iryo is by far my favorite. The cabin is sooo beautiful and even in the normal class, the seats are extremely spacious
This is not a frecciarossa. Iryo is not tren Italia. Food is better in iryo, service and punctuality as well. Using the best high speed railway infrastructure in Europe also helps a lot
I've traveled with Iryo from Valencia to Madrid and the ticket was 9€, incredible service and seating even for the most basic ticket. Then I've used Renfe from Madrid to Santander for 55€. Pricey knowing it's slower but Talgo trains are something else, even when it's an older car.
I traveled from Barcelona to Zaragoza on AVE a few months ago. I had a very nice experience and paid 45 euros roundtrip (but just because I had a pretty tight schedule, otherwise there would have been even cheaper options). Spain is having quite a similar trend to Italy: fares dropped, and high-speed trains are gaining momentum mostly thanks to competition on the busiest lines and both private and public carriers operating there. In Italy, competition has also made it possible for some high-speed trains to travel to Calabria or Apulia where there are no high-speed lines (it must be pretty inefficient for Frecciarossa and Italo to travel there, but I guess they can partially make up for it thanks to the revenues they get from Northern Italy's high-speed lines and from the Milan-Rome high-speed line). The Milan-Rome high-speed line even contributed to Alitalia's downfall! And Frecciarossa is faring pretty well on the Paris-Lyon/Lyon-Milan line too.
Similar to how the Mad-Bcn high speed line and now price reduction since competition is allowed has diminished Iberia's (national airline which runs flights between the cites every 30 minutes) revenue, it hasn't killed it completely like AIitalia because most of the revenue now comes from flights to Latin America on which they almost have a monopoly.
I doubt that Italo, a private operator, would care to subsidize routes that didn't make them earn something. Maybe there's enough traffic to make them substainable (jeez we're not speaking of goddamn deserts)
Nice Video as Always. At 10:42 yes its so sad to see how Renfe takes cares of the Estrella coaches not doing Sleeper service since 2015 . And what trip reports you will do in Spain Next? . You to try the Talgo VII its verry rare onlly serving the Valencia to Barcelona intercty route this train problably is Best you could get .Here a Tip on Journeys you should do Next on Spain Zaragoza to Canfranc aboard the Renfe 594 TDR a simple train but facitating history and The Canfranc Station will leave you speachless
2015. So that was under the rightwing government of Rajoy. Makes sense. Because the PSOE is only investing more and more money into train travel. Free commuter tickets since September 2022.... Who came up with that brilliant idea?!
I feel like a lot of the quality of this service is down to the Frecciarossa rolling stock which is arguably just the best trainset in europe. Outstanding stuff.
I wish something like this was possible in Germany and southeast Europe. If somebody is ready to build a railroad just for the fast passenger trains, DB would finally get its monopoly a.. Whooped. So that customer service gets better too.
The high speed tracks are build by the state. The private companies then pay for the usage. But from watching the passenger numbers in the video they either get it for basically free or they have enough venture capital to run those with a big loss, if they send trains with maybe 10 first class and 20 second class passengers. Or they have similar pricing to air fares, and the more in demand times in the morning cost twice or even three times more.
Well how ever it is done, I can guarantee you people over here would kiss the feet 🦶 of those who are ready to democracies the DB situation. They are a privatised construct on state railroad, who cancelled a lot of “unprofitable“ railroads and stations. They are both state and private at the same time! And as a costumer this is a double loose! There is no separation for transport or passengers railroads, so they did no reinvestment or something. So there is constant delay, broken trains, no stable prices….The list is long. And before you start, car is no option. Too expensive and environmentally it makes no sense. Flying is at this range for the same reason.
The EU 🇪🇺 laws say that every single country has to liberalise their markets. Germany and France are very protective with their companies and don't follow the rules
@@Psi-Storm The AVLO, AVE, IRYO etc trains are basically full. Certainly in summer. We did do a stop in Guadalajara. I didn't count how many people come in or went out of the train. I didn't pay any attention to that. What I did pay attention on was the fact that like 5 km away from Madrid Atocha main station, the AVLO was still riding at 300km/h.... It only started to slow down when the train was already going along the Parque del Manzanares & Puente de Vallecas neighbourhood that it was slowing down. I'm originally from the Netherlands. Do you know when the Thalys already stops doing 300km/h on it's way from Paris to Amsterdam?! Right across the border with Belgium :-D :-D :-D
About Sants Estació: It also has a Metro Station in building, wich means that transfering from or to the train from Metro is possible and quite easy. And you have 2 metro lines, blue line and green line which goes straight to the city center. Plus on the back of the train station there is a small bus station also if you want to go somewhere outside the city. You can do so by using Rodalies Renfe trains also. Let's say it's a small hub as you can use the train, arrive to the station head to the airport by bus/train or metro (or taxi) and fly away also.
The train looks great, with interior and design topping everything I've seen so far on a high speed train. The price was fantastic as well. It seems "too cheap" actually. I find it hard to believe that they would actually turn a profit, given the investment in rolling stock, the cost of catering and the amount of staff that seemed to be present. But I guess that is on them to calculate :D I just hope this goes well and they can establish themselves long term. Can they use the rail for free? Or do they have to pay a fee for every mile run and every station they stop at, plus win a bidding war for the "timeslots" of line occupation they want to run. (Like they have to in Germany for example, where competition for DB on long distance trains is struggling a lot).
Iryo and every company that uses the rail network (public owned Renfe included) have to pay a fee to the national rail infrastructure company, Adif. And yes, for the high speed lines which have the most demand (Madrid-Bcn, Madrid-Sevilla, Madrid-Valencia) a bidding was organized for the allocation of the slots, which were split between Renfe, Ouigo and Iryo. A new bidding is being planned for the Madrid-Galicia, Barcelona-Valencia, and in the future Madrid-Basque Country lines. However, due to the system being open access, any rail company can ask for railway slots in less congested, non highspeed lines, so theoretically competition can be brought anywhere a railway company sees potential profit.
It is because it woudn't be turning a profit IF private operators had to pay for the infrastructure. The rail is built by public works and tax money and the entry fee to "rent" the rail is dirt cheap. Argument could be made that it would be even cheaper for the taxpayers to have a single public train operators, thus giving money back to the taxpayers who built the rail line in the form of even cheaper train tickets...
@@etienne8110 It used to be like that in Italy until 2012, and Trenitalia really didn't make it seem to the average taxpayer that they were rewarding them or some shit like that. On the contrary, it was thanks to Italo and its competition that the quality of the ride improved, including customer service, and ticket prices went down. On the high speed network, competition does wonders and pushes competing companies to renovate, public ones as well (unbelievable, I know)
@@Hastdupech8509 on any high investment trade, competition works only in the beginning. (to the benefit of the customers) Once the infrastructure needs renovations, prices soars. You end up with an oligopole with super high prices and low services (UK train). This is still the honeymoon phase for italian private rail (less than 10 years). We'll talk again in 10 years and (sadly) I'll be right once again.
I’m excited to book my trip on this line as I move around Spain later the month. Hoping it also serves the southern region. This was very helpful and encouraging!
I've watched a fair few of your videos (and subscribed) and this is without any doubt the best looking and most stylish of all I've seen so far. Last time I was in Spain Franco was still in power so everything looks much better.
Frecciarossa was also to me a stunning positive experience. Prior to the pandemic we took the train Naples to Rome. Such a smooth ride, and the Italian design seems to be true to its reputation: Simply the best, function and beauty in form and shape. Every time I rode one of these trains, everything was spotless clean and worked.
Being used to the notorious delayed German Deutsche Bahn and the not so impressive speed on most German high speed railways, I am literally flashed. And jealous.
13:47 wrong, it is actually Tardienta station, on the high speed branch from Zaragoza to Huesca. It’s a big regional railway station, as it is a major junction, but only serves about 1000 passengers per year. A few other lesser used stations are Puente Genil-Herrera, A Gudiña-Porta de Galicia, Villanueva de Córdoba-Los Pedroches, Requena-Utiel and Orihuela-Miguel Hernández (which is very used now but I predict passenger figures will drop once the AVE reaches Murcia next Tuesday, about 20km away, which is also my home town)
Great & very informative video. It’s great that Europe, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, China and some of the North African and Middle Eastern countries are investing in and building high speed train lines.
It's a beautiful train (I just hope the HS2 version is as nice) and it's good to see a new operator that isn't going for the bottom of the market. But do they really need so many fare classes?
@@lordgemini2376 ETR400 standard speed would be 360 Km/h too, but there aren't many line that consent such speed. Acutal higher registered ETR400 speed is 386 Km/h
What a nice train and what a great video! By the way Superalbs, if you get annoyed by abandoned sleeper coaches, DON'T check out the Talgo high-speed capable sleeper carriages that are being converted to regular passenger coaches for Avril trainsets or simply scraped because Renfe, when everybody else is embracing night trains again, can see no use for them, as it is not even going to resume the night services to Lisboa that where cancelled with the pretext of the pandemic. They are at Talgo's base in Pancorbo, you can see them covered with graffiti on Street View as the AP 1 goes by the Fertiberia silo.
@@peldar_ I'm afraid the service to Lisbon is being permanently cancelled, even though Combois de Portugal wanted to resume it. Not sure if it's official yet, but there is little hope...
@@peldar_ I know, right? The tracks weren't the best in some of the sections, which meant the night could be a bit shaky, but the idea was great. Also, there aren't many sleeper coaches as suited to a new era of high speed night travel by rail as these were...
I live in Barcelona and I use to go to Madrid every two weeks, some times every week. Tested all companies in all classes. Iryo is my new favorite friend too. They are the best.
As person who lives in Barcelona. I have recently tested Iryo and NOT GOING BACK to renfe. So if you have any doubt tried. I am even willing to pay than renfe.
Tell me about it. You guys do a good job connecting multiple states together though (I.e. traveling between NY and Jersey feels pretty easy). Even here in Chicago, traveling to the suburbs or other parts of IL feel like a hassle, let alone neighboring states
I wish Trenitalia would retrofit their seats to Iryo colours in Italy. The Spanish version is much more elegant than the Italian one, especially in standard class.
@@leonardheidenryo is Spanish so it's made for Spanish style. They oredered6to to the Japanese Hitachi this design and food on board is Spanish so it's much more tasteful
Thanks for the great video! I suspect that prices vary a lot by day of week. Weekends usually being way more expensive. So you should always mention the day of week when quoting any prices. Since you are probably always watching out for discounts, I am sure that you never travel during or around any public holidays. It's then that tickets are most expensive and also when most people think of traveling. So this large part of the population lives under the impression that high-speed rail is way more expensive than it actually is during most of the year.
Up until 2019, I had been travelling from London to Girona and vice versa twice a year by train since 1988. Never have I got bored with the trip in either direction but for actual excitement then I suppose my first TGV experience [Rouen-Montpellier] in June 1988 was pretty much up there.
Apart from the questionable lounge at Barcelona, this train, line and service looks really impressive. This is what the UK needs if we want to draw people back to the railways and compete with domestic flights between London and Scotland. Albie, I'd be interested to know, now that you've sampled so many open access operator services, what is your opinion on them as a concept? I've heard many positives about them but also some negatives. There's a guy on TH-cam called Gareth Dennis who is a UK permanent way engineer who has said several times that he doesn't think true competition on the railways really possible and he feels like open access operators just suck profits out of the system where state owned operators could run the same service just as well and cheaper. Yet your comments here about Renfe seem to indicate the opposite. Do you think it varies by country due to local differences in policy and structure? Do you think the UK should do it more or should scrap it?
Great question. I'm wondering the same. So far it seems to work in Italy. Let's hope it will work the same way elsewhere (but we don't have much choice, open access is here to stay unless dramatic reversal).
2 train journeys I was really excited/looking forward to: Detroit, Michigan to Raton, NM to get to Philmont Boy Scout Ranch. 2nd: My first shinkansen ride from Tokyo to Hachinohe (change trains to get an express to Misawa)
With the liberalisation of the railways, you are no longer free to choose your level of comfort. I booked a train trip from Brussels to Nice with SNCF. The only option at a decent hour of the day included an Ouigo between CDG and Marseille, with minimal comfort. No meals on board, limited luggage or you have to pay extra, cycles had to be packed,... The return trip turned out to be an Inoui. So, you book a round trip, and you discover that the return trip is 50% more expensive than the outbound journey, just because they use different trains.
I did a few train rides during my travels in Spain. Iryo was definitely an awesome trip. Beautiful comfortable seats. I rode Madrid to Valencia with zero stops for 39 euros. We were MOVING! It was a nice smooth ride and we were arrived a little early. I did have another trip on Renfe from Cadiz to Valencia that was pretty awful. It was 8 hours of bumping side to side. Not sure why. I don't get motion sick. But I felt scrambled afterward.
I frequently travel between Madrid and Barcelona and I must admit it is the best highspeed train service in Spain. By far better than the OuiGo one offered by SNCF
Looks like a nice journey. I watched it in the departures lounge at Heathrow T5; train travel is so much more enjoyable than flying, but sadly Eurostar and the TGV would have been prohibitively expensive.
My wife and I did the same run using Renfe in 2019. I don't remember the exact cost (we took the standard class, which was all you need for a few hours' trip), but it was more than the airfare - maybe close if airport-city taxi fares were included. But the city centre-to-city centre convenience made it the only way to go. It's great to see some competition puling down the cost and pulling up the quality.
I really enjoyed my second high speed train trip from Naples to Ancona in the FrecciaRossa service, my first one was in the Eurostar(i believe) from London to Paris but did not enjoy it as much basically because i was a child and didn’t appreciated it yet.
Keep driving your trucks - - we in Europe within few hours can enter & exit 3 to 4 and 5 countries - from riviera to lakes and mountains - - best place on earth--you're to BIG
This is how public transport should be - affordable, reliable, efficient (quick) and with comfort. You'd be hard pressed to travel that distance in a car for a similar price just on the fuel leaving maintenance to one side (and that's not to mention it would take twice as long). Lovely.
300mph or faster trains are needed.
@@r.d.9399 With higher speeds comes exponentially higher costs and precision needed in the tracks. Plus you don't have to be at the terminal 2 hours earlier like is the case for airplanes.
@@r.d.9399 300 mph is close to the highest speed every achieved by a passenger train, doing normal operations at this speed is absurd
How much does the taxpayer subsidize the wealthy users of this thing?
What comfort? 2nd class seat pitch? seat cushion? legroom? What does he tell you: "it's red". Half the customers travel 2nd class, understand? This is a crap review, probably comped by the railway.
Really liking the Frecciarossa - its a fine design and high tech
As a frecciarossa passenger i agree with you
The Ducati of trains
I remember Freccia rossa used to be Eurostar Italia back in the early 2000s.
It shakes like crazy tho. Articulated trains are better
It's more noisy than other hs trains but the design is nicer. It's also more shaky
For a Canadian that looks like a space craft. Our trains are from the 50's I think. We are getting new trains for VIA but they go a lot slower and that makes Canada feel even bigger. Wish we could get trains like IRYO some day.
The Detroit/windsor-london-hamilton-toronto-kingston(?)-ottowa-montreal-quebec city is one of the best corridors there could be for HSR. Almost a dream corridor to build.
Ironically, though built by an Italian company, the train is an adapted version of Bombardier Zefiro. He has been to the most expensive class but the same train in Italy looks pretty much like that in all classes, seats aside of course.
Yes but you have the best freight trains. Transport of goods within Spain is more expensive because the government chose to invest in high speed trains for people rather than invest in train transport for goods.
Our export competiveness is less than other eu countries because our expensive freigh trains and busy roads.
Well, don't believe the whole system goes like this. Rodalies Renfe (local trains) are pretty bad. Trains date from the 1970's are broke down every week at least, there are always delays and the network is simply not great. Now where the money has invested tons of money is on High Speed trains to the Capital City Madrid, otherwise this IRYO won't exist either here.
Well said, but never going to happen 🥲 our population just not dense enough to pay for high speed train 😅 and zero political will
did the same journey pre Iryo and I must admit I can't imagine how the trip we did would be improived. - their trains are a completely different form of transport compared to what we laughingly call rail transport here in Australia.
From all the comments and regardless of how good or bad may be some of the features/services of high speed rail in Spain, I wished we had high speed rail on the US West Coast. Three weeks ago I had a chance to take the Renfe high speed rail from Madrid to Barcelona. The economy class was great, onboard food service was good and most of all it was a smooth fast ride all the way. The train left on time and arrived on time. The Estacion Madrid Atocha and Barcelona Sants stations were nice and clean.
So sad that the High Speed Rail project in California was sabotaged so bad
I paid 50 euros for first class with renfe from Cordoba to Barcelona (5 hours in total) with only one stop at Madrid and it was moving at 360 km/h, service was amazing and seats were as if meant for two people, huge space, amazing experience
€59 for 600km is less than 10 cents per km. And that for a first class product. I have to try this some day!
The liberalisation of Spanish rail was a good thing, I live in Zaragoza and train travel used to be, as you said, 70€ of more for standard class, since the liberalisation I’ve travelled for less than 15€, which is what the average (4h bus trip) from Madrid costs. By the way Requena-Utiel in the Madrid-Valencia high speed line gets 30-40 passengers a day, and Tardienta, which is on an upgraded line (Zaragoza-Huesca), but gets full service AVE service got around 2 passengers a day in 2020, with 2015 data saying 8 passengers a day.
Whilst I agree with the sentiment I am afraid from my own experience with regard UK rail. These are private operators who will suck out money from the system. National operators will be using revenue from the profitable routes to supplement the non profitable routes in a country. I am afraid that over the long term this will cause issues for the public financing on those less profitable routes.
I do agree prices should be much lower than what you stated they were. Unsure how you go about doing that bar higher taxes on other forms of transport
@@Nasherrrzzz As long competition against a nationa operator is controlled then its fine. In this case its healthy competition. I wonder how many flights go from Madrid to Barcelona now.
In the first few years these private companies always impress. Wait.
@@krollpeter Venture capital to get word of mouth marketing by positive experiences running, I suppose
@@krollpeter, it's been almost 11 years since Italo started their service. How much more to wait?
Wow, I was mostly surprised by the 'the train arrived not late, but 8 minutes early' :-) This is why I love Spain. Manana, manana, no, ahora, ahora! Vamos, vale?!
Nice to see the Frecciarossa spreading its wings. I live in Turin and regularly see Frecciarossas, Italos and TGVs passing through Porta Susa. I have had the opportunity to ride the Frecciarossa and it's a great train. Still yet to try out the Italo, perhaps on my next trip to Milano.
Frecciarossa is fantastic, but I am a fan of Italo too! Hope you can try them soon. :)
Imagine having a ride in the best high speed railway infrastructure in Europe. Only in Spain 🇪🇸
@@abey4003those trains are italian🇮🇹
@@SuperalbsTravelsboth are designed by Alstom funnily enough
wow, what fun. Here in Queensland, Australia, our "high speed" tilt train runs at a massive 100kph - if you're lucky - on the odd straight stretch. (marketing quotes 'top speed' of 160. LOL)
I’m in Sydney. We are lucky we don’t get a red rattler showing up 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Here in italy the regional trains (medium distace up to 200km reach max speed of 180kmh).
Fantastic train ride! Congratulations to Spain for making such a great investment!!
👋👋👋👍
Best of the journey is the tasty Spanish food
Spain made no investment. This new development is forced into the country by the EU rail transit liberalisation policies and is all privately owned, for-profit transportation which is disrupting the public monopoly.
It is likely to drastically increase in price passed the first promo months and is diverting the money of the profitable lines away into the pockets of private institutions, along with public subventions, which leaves the state-owned operator , which is still is expected to operate less profitable/unprofitable lines as part of a public service objective, with less money to do so and increasingly reliant on even more subventions, which are scarce at a time like this.
This is classic privatisation of profits, socialisation of losses bullshit.
Happened in the UK => became renowned for its miserable rail service
Happened in Germany => became the worst rail system of western Europe much to the shame of its people
Happening in Spain and France rn
@@rgilles42 You have to be incredibly delusional to call Germany's rail system the worst in western europe, this is such an uneducated and incredibly pathetic comment.
@@rgilles42 the Spanish hst network is the best in Europe and paid by Spanish taxpayers. Jealous?
Please try the Executive class in a Frecciarossa 1000 in Italy one day, trust me, you will be amazed😉😉
Agree
i don’t live in italy nor france. but i hv visited both n took both frecchiarossa n tgv..
is it just me? or the frecchiarossa is a little noisier? especially going in n out of tunnels between milan n rome
@@jangguttok7437 if you mean the tunnel at Bologna AV is true but is smooth
Aa long as the regional trains' toilets are a hole in the floor in Italy, it doesn't matter how good the top tier train is
@@borstenpinsel They are no longer a hole in the floor on the new trains. There are only few of the old ones still running.
10:40 A small comment on those carriages on the outskirts of Zaragoza: AFAIK they belong to the local friends of rail association (AZAFT). That means that while Renfe has indeed mistreated them, they are in line for an eventual renovation and refurbishment as museum pieces or tourist trains, if money is ever available. You won't see most Renfe coaches like this, they're either sold or scrapped!
I love your videos, i love your voice. Nothing calms me down and helps me unwind like your videos. It also helps that I adore trains
Frecciarossa 1000, or ETR 400, the trainsets which are used on the Iryo, are amazing even in Italy (I rode on them a few times), and besides also operate the Milan Centrale-Paris high speed service, which is one hour shorter than the TGV from Porta Garibaldi
Also, In Italy they carry Trenitalia's famous Executive class (sadly, I couldn't afford it, had to settle for buissnes) Which is frankly insane.
@@mancubwwa i was able to get the executive class in July through a promotion, but I'd also recommend the silence area
Saw a frecciarossa in Gare de Lyon in Paris recently. Beautiful. I will be looking into taking a trip to bella Italia presto!
È immatricolato come etr1000. Solo la carenatura riporta 400 sui vari elementi per motivi di formato delle matricole.
Its worth saying that the original train is a Zefiro, they only train i know of that have no true home origin. Unlike TGV and ICE that was designed for a market than exported. Zefiro was just designed as is from a cooperation then sold.
While Regina that was originally designed for Sweden was renamed to Zefio (Zefiro 250), the Zefiro 300 is a completely different train with component from every here and there
Thank you for a great video. I will have to try this service ! The trains look stunning, and the whole ambience looks really up to date and modern.
Fantastic value on such a quality service, open access has brought about a monumental change in high speed travel in spain.
Amazing and red is just beautiful. Nice video. Keep up the good work.
I rode these trains last month from Madrid to Seville and back. Fantastic. Comfortable. Smooth. On time. Couldn't ask for more.
Great video.
Just a few more details.
1. Sants is Ok but as you said, it 's almost 50 years old so it's about to go through a huge renovation that includes additional space above (instead of the parking), adding green spaces around the station and opening path through for pedestrians.
2. Open access is not just for selected touts (it applies to all long distance lines) but the private competitors choose what they believe will be profitable But if successful I'm sure they will add more routs. Some routs are still with Iberian gauge which is problematic. Most high speed lines are standard gauge but there are a few are with Iberian gauge but there is a plan (supported by the EU) to change this and the high speed line to Galicia is about to be converted to standard gauge and will become more attractive for other operators. The new line to Basque country (AKA Basque Y) should be open in 2023 and would also be a candidate for Iryo and OuiGo.
3. This train does have an official speed of 400k ph but there are no lines that permit those speeds. The Barcelona Madrid line officially supports 350kph but the allowed speed is currently 300 kph and up to 310 kph in specific cases.
Hate using Sants, try and use PdG even if staying in Poble Sec as the metro change is so much easier.
Sants station is a bit stressful and unfriendly inside, especially the noisy and hot platform area.
But the worst part is by far the outside, it looks hideous. Any direction you go, you have to walk through heavy traffic, dirty and neglected urban spaces, and high chances of criminals hanging around, depending on the time of the day.
As a resident of Barcelona, I'm sorry for the appalling state of our main station, it only keeps getting worse every year. I can't wait for the full renovation
@@osasunaitor, I don’t think the Sants Estació surroundings are that bad. I’ve gone across them countless times during the day, at night and even in the early morning and never seen any criminal activity there.
@ well, you were lucky I guess. I've seen aggressive homeless people, taxi drivers doing drugs, a female coworker got harassed by a weirdo... It's a sketchy area in desperate need of a full social and urban renovation
@@osasunaitor, “doing drugs” isn’t a crime (and neither is being homeless).
I really enjoyed this video. You took care of mentioning every necessary detail. The train looks beautiful and comfortable. I might take a journey by plane from London to Barcelona and take that train to Madrid and back (or fly to Madrid and vice-versa). Thank you!
The best trains from every manufacturer are running in the best high speed infrastructure In Europe. Well done Spain 🇪🇸 (Hitachi, Talgo, CAF, Siemens and Alstom)
I took a lot of different high speed trains in Europe and the iryo is by far my favorite. The cabin is sooo beautiful and even in the normal class, the seats are extremely spacious
2:45h for 626km is crazy fast wow
The Spanish high speed infrastructure is the best in Europe.
Used the Frecciarossa from Milan to Naples in 2019, fantastic journey, loved it, beats a uk cl153 hands down 🤣
This is not a frecciarossa. Iryo is not tren Italia. Food is better in iryo, service and punctuality as well. Using the best high speed railway infrastructure in Europe also helps a lot
@@abey4003 iryo e' freccia rossa di Trenitalia.
I will ride this train in December! Super excited!
Really nice video about a really nice train! And the price is awesome as well.
Great video!
Only a tiny thing: Zaragoza is the 5th city in Spain, not the 10th.
It has 750.000 people.
I guess he meant the 10th biggest metropolitan area: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_in_Spain
I've traveled with Iryo from Valencia to Madrid and the ticket was 9€, incredible service and seating even for the most basic ticket. Then I've used Renfe from Madrid to Santander for 55€. Pricey knowing it's slower but Talgo trains are something else, even when it's an older car.
Wow! That's a true bargain! 🥰
thanks for this, now i know what i will use any time i am in spain. public transport and high speed rail is the way.
I traveled from Barcelona to Zaragoza on AVE a few months ago. I had a very nice experience and paid 45 euros roundtrip (but just because I had a pretty tight schedule, otherwise there would have been even cheaper options). Spain is having quite a similar trend to Italy: fares dropped, and high-speed trains are gaining momentum mostly thanks to competition on the busiest lines and both private and public carriers operating there. In Italy, competition has also made it possible for some high-speed trains to travel to Calabria or Apulia where there are no high-speed lines (it must be pretty inefficient for Frecciarossa and Italo to travel there, but I guess they can partially make up for it thanks to the revenues they get from Northern Italy's high-speed lines and from the Milan-Rome high-speed line). The Milan-Rome high-speed line even contributed to Alitalia's downfall! And Frecciarossa is faring pretty well on the Paris-Lyon/Lyon-Milan line too.
Similar to how the Mad-Bcn high speed line and now price reduction since competition is allowed has diminished Iberia's (national airline which runs flights between the cites every 30 minutes) revenue, it hasn't killed it completely like AIitalia because most of the revenue now comes from flights to Latin America on which they almost have a monopoly.
I doubt that Italo, a private operator, would care to subsidize routes that didn't make them earn something. Maybe there's enough traffic to make them substainable (jeez we're not speaking of goddamn deserts)
Splendid! 👏😊
Thank u for sharing😍 Another useful content besides European rail offer video😌 Hope everyone enjoy their travel to Europe 🚂
Nice Video as Always. At 10:42 yes its so sad to see how Renfe takes cares of the Estrella coaches not doing Sleeper service since 2015 . And what trip reports you will do in Spain Next? . You to try the Talgo VII its verry rare onlly serving the Valencia to Barcelona intercty route this train problably is Best you could get .Here a Tip on Journeys you should do Next on Spain
Zaragoza to Canfranc aboard the Renfe 594 TDR a simple train but facitating history and The Canfranc Station will leave you speachless
2015. So that was under the rightwing government of Rajoy. Makes sense. Because the PSOE is only investing more and more money into train travel. Free commuter tickets since September 2022.... Who came up with that brilliant idea?!
My God that looks amazing!
I feel like a lot of the quality of this service is down to the Frecciarossa rolling stock which is arguably just the best trainset in europe. Outstanding stuff.
The interior design and colors palette is nicer in this train. I think the Spanish touch makes the difference along with the delicious food
Yes, Canada definitely needs high speed rail!
A fantastic video! Thanks a lot!
I wish something like this was possible in Germany and southeast Europe. If somebody is ready to build a railroad just for the fast passenger trains, DB would finally get its monopoly a.. Whooped. So that customer service gets better too.
The high speed tracks are build by the state. The private companies then pay for the usage. But from watching the passenger numbers in the video they either get it for basically free or they have enough venture capital to run those with a big loss, if they send trains with maybe 10 first class and 20 second class passengers. Or they have similar pricing to air fares, and the more in demand times in the morning cost twice or even three times more.
Well how ever it is done, I can guarantee you people over here would kiss the feet 🦶 of those who are ready to democracies the DB situation. They are a privatised construct on state railroad, who cancelled a lot of “unprofitable“ railroads and stations. They are both state and private at the same time! And as a costumer this is a double loose! There is no separation for transport or passengers railroads, so they did no reinvestment or something. So there is constant delay, broken trains, no stable prices….The list is long. And before you start, car is no option. Too expensive and environmentally it makes no sense. Flying is at this range for the same reason.
The EU 🇪🇺 laws say that every single country has to liberalise their markets. Germany and France are very protective with their companies and don't follow the rules
@@Psi-Storm The AVLO, AVE, IRYO etc trains are basically full. Certainly in summer. We did do a stop in Guadalajara. I didn't count how many people come in or went out of the train. I didn't pay any attention to that. What I did pay attention on was the fact that like 5 km away from Madrid Atocha main station, the AVLO was still riding at 300km/h.... It only started to slow down when the train was already going along the Parque del Manzanares & Puente de Vallecas neighbourhood that it was slowing down. I'm originally from the Netherlands. Do you know when the Thalys already stops doing 300km/h on it's way from Paris to Amsterdam?! Right across the border with Belgium :-D :-D :-D
About Sants Estació: It also has a Metro Station in building, wich means that transfering from or to the train from Metro is possible and quite easy. And you have 2 metro lines, blue line and green line which goes straight to the city center. Plus on the back of the train station there is a small bus station also if you want to go somewhere outside the city. You can do so by using Rodalies Renfe trains also. Let's say it's a small hub as you can use the train, arrive to the station head to the airport by bus/train or metro (or taxi) and fly away also.
The train looks great, with interior and design topping everything I've seen so far on a high speed train. The price was fantastic as well. It seems "too cheap" actually. I find it hard to believe that they would actually turn a profit, given the investment in rolling stock, the cost of catering and the amount of staff that seemed to be present. But I guess that is on them to calculate :D I just hope this goes well and they can establish themselves long term.
Can they use the rail for free? Or do they have to pay a fee for every mile run and every station they stop at, plus win a bidding war for the "timeslots" of line occupation they want to run. (Like they have to in Germany for example, where competition for DB on long distance trains is struggling a lot).
Iryo and every company that uses the rail network (public owned Renfe included) have to pay a fee to the national rail infrastructure company, Adif.
And yes, for the high speed lines which have the most demand (Madrid-Bcn, Madrid-Sevilla, Madrid-Valencia) a bidding was organized for the allocation of the slots, which were split between Renfe, Ouigo and Iryo. A new bidding is being planned for the Madrid-Galicia, Barcelona-Valencia, and in the future Madrid-Basque Country lines.
However, due to the system being open access, any rail company can ask for railway slots in less congested, non highspeed lines, so theoretically competition can be brought anywhere a railway company sees potential profit.
It is because it woudn't be turning a profit IF private operators had to pay for the infrastructure.
The rail is built by public works and tax money and the entry fee to "rent" the rail is dirt cheap.
Argument could be made that it would be even cheaper for the taxpayers to have a single public train operators, thus giving money back to the taxpayers who built the rail line in the form of even cheaper train tickets...
@@etienne8110 It used to be like that in Italy until 2012, and Trenitalia really didn't make it seem to the average taxpayer that they were rewarding them or some shit like that. On the contrary, it was thanks to Italo and its competition that the quality of the ride improved, including customer service, and ticket prices went down. On the high speed network, competition does wonders and pushes competing companies to renovate, public ones as well (unbelievable, I know)
@@Hastdupech8509 on any high investment trade, competition works only in the beginning. (to the benefit of the customers)
Once the infrastructure needs renovations, prices soars. You end up with an oligopole with super high prices and low services (UK train).
This is still the honeymoon phase for italian private rail (less than 10 years).
We'll talk again in 10 years and (sadly) I'll be right once again.
Magnificant ride inside the train from Barcelona to Madrid, i liked it 5 stars, keep up the great work, my friend, Greetings from Portugal to the UK.
I’m excited to book my trip on this line as I move around Spain later the month. Hoping it also serves the southern region. This was very helpful and encouraging!
Loved this video 🫶🏻. I really want to travel on this train 🚂 from Madrid to Malaga 👏🏻. Thanks for posting.
Very, very excited for my first IRYO ride, Malaga to Cordoba, on 3rd July.
I've watched a fair few of your videos (and subscribed) and this is without any doubt the best looking and most stylish of all I've seen so far. Last time I was in Spain Franco was still in power so everything looks much better.
They're really smart trains, I like them a lot.
Frecciarossa was also to me a stunning positive experience. Prior to the pandemic we took the train Naples to Rome. Such a smooth ride, and the Italian design seems to be true to its reputation: Simply the best, function and beauty in form and shape. Every time I rode one of these trains, everything was spotless clean and worked.
They're amazing in Italy too, especially the ultra luxurious Executive Class!
Fod is better I iryo.
Frecciarossa seats can't be reclined. It's uncomfortable
Being used to the notorious delayed German Deutsche Bahn and the not so impressive speed on most German high speed railways, I am literally flashed. And jealous.
13:47 wrong, it is actually Tardienta station, on the high speed branch from Zaragoza to Huesca. It’s a big regional railway station, as it is a major junction, but only serves about 1000 passengers per year. A few other lesser used stations are Puente Genil-Herrera, A Gudiña-Porta de Galicia, Villanueva de Córdoba-Los Pedroches, Requena-Utiel and Orihuela-Miguel Hernández (which is very used now but I predict passenger figures will drop once the AVE reaches Murcia next Tuesday, about 20km away, which is also my home town)
Great & very informative video. It’s great that Europe, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, China and some of the North African and Middle Eastern countries are investing in and building high speed train lines.
That is an amazing deal! I imagine that would beat prices for flying. Not to mention it’s always nice to see the countryside. Cheers
Other than budget airlines, I'm sure it often is cheaper! You definitely won't get Business Class for this price on a plane. :)
That looks not bad at all. I will add it to my must-do list whenever I go to Spain.
Highly recommended!
It's a beautiful train (I just hope the HS2 version is as nice) and it's good to see a new operator that isn't going for the bottom of the market. But do they really need so many fare classes?
As currently planned, HS2 will be running at 360km/h so if it's almost as nice internally as this then it'll be very impressive!
@@lordgemini2376 ETR400 standard speed would be 360 Km/h too, but there aren't many line that consent such speed. Acutal higher registered ETR400 speed is 386 Km/h
What a nice train and what a great video! By the way Superalbs, if you get annoyed by abandoned sleeper coaches, DON'T check out the Talgo high-speed capable sleeper carriages that are being converted to regular passenger coaches for Avril trainsets or simply scraped because Renfe, when everybody else is embracing night trains again, can see no use for them, as it is not even going to resume the night services to Lisboa that where cancelled with the pretext of the pandemic. They are at Talgo's base in Pancorbo, you can see them covered with graffiti on Street View as the AP 1 goes by the Fertiberia silo.
Oh no they are scrapping them? I was really hoping for the hendaye-lisboa service to return:(
@@peldar_ I'm afraid the service to Lisbon is being permanently cancelled, even though Combois de Portugal wanted to resume it. Not sure if it's official yet, but there is little hope...
@@franciscobermejo1779 let's hope so! The journey was always delightful and it made portugal reachable by train from central europe..
@@peldar_ I know, right? The tracks weren't the best in some of the sections, which meant the night could be a bit shaky, but the idea was great. Also, there aren't many sleeper coaches as suited to a new era of high speed night travel by rail as these were...
I'm sorry guys, it's pretty much 100% confirmed that the service won't come back. Renfe is a disgrace and an embarrasment.
I live in Barcelona and I use to go to Madrid every two weeks, some times every week.
Tested all companies in all classes. Iryo is my new favorite friend too. They are the best.
As person who lives in Barcelona. I have recently tested Iryo and NOT GOING BACK to renfe. So if you have any doubt tried. I am even willing to pay than renfe.
Looking forward to taking the train with Iryo next week.
Frecciarossa is soooo good, traveled with it in Italy in first class. My best train experience in Europe.
It's shaky and noisy but it's beautifully designed
There is a noise inside I've never heard anywhere else
This appears to be rather nice and comfortable. Not as pricey as I thought it might be..... ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Definitely! :)
The northeast United States needs high speed trains that hold speeds higher than 300mph. I can't believe how far behind the world we are.
Tell me about it. You guys do a good job connecting multiple states together though (I.e. traveling between NY and Jersey feels pretty easy). Even here in Chicago, traveling to the suburbs or other parts of IL feel like a hassle, let alone neighboring states
US has been spending $$$$$$$$$$$$ on military industrial complex instead.
I wish Trenitalia would retrofit their seats to Iryo colours in Italy. The Spanish version is much more elegant than the Italian one, especially in standard class.
Because iryo is an Spanish company
@@axwleurope9519 so...?
@@leonardheidenryo is Spanish so it's made for Spanish style. They oredered6to to the Japanese Hitachi this design and food on board is Spanish so it's much more tasteful
Agree. The spanish touch is there for good
Arriving 8 min earlier ! wow that is great
I've travelled the first class standard some few years back from Barcelona to Madrid. An excellent service and quaily of train.
Marvelous train ride. I can only wish.
Yes! 🙏
Thanks for the great video! I suspect that prices vary a lot by day of week. Weekends usually being way more expensive. So you should always mention the day of week when quoting any prices. Since you are probably always watching out for discounts, I am sure that you never travel during or around any public holidays. It's then that tickets are most expensive and also when most people think of traveling. So this large part of the population lives under the impression that high-speed rail is way more expensive than it actually is during most of the year.
Up until 2019, I had been travelling from London to Girona and vice versa twice a year by train since 1988. Never have I got bored with the trip in either direction but for actual excitement then I suppose my first TGV experience [Rouen-Montpellier] in June 1988 was pretty much up there.
Wow! This is really on Shinkansen level!
Apart from the questionable lounge at Barcelona, this train, line and service looks really impressive. This is what the UK needs if we want to draw people back to the railways and compete with domestic flights between London and Scotland. Albie, I'd be interested to know, now that you've sampled so many open access operator services, what is your opinion on them as a concept? I've heard many positives about them but also some negatives. There's a guy on TH-cam called Gareth Dennis who is a UK permanent way engineer who has said several times that he doesn't think true competition on the railways really possible and he feels like open access operators just suck profits out of the system where state owned operators could run the same service just as well and cheaper. Yet your comments here about Renfe seem to indicate the opposite. Do you think it varies by country due to local differences in policy and structure? Do you think the UK should do it more or should scrap it?
Great question. I'm wondering the same. So far it seems to work in Italy. Let's hope it will work the same way elsewhere (but we don't have much choice, open access is here to stay unless dramatic reversal).
Do we have any train routes in Britain that are run by more than one operator?
The problem is the railway line. Thouse trains can't go fast in Britain due the railroad truck and the security they need to work.
Awesome 😎😎😎
All train rides are exciting sir.
Try the S103 Velaro from Renfe in Preferente class before declaring Iryo the winner. IMHO they are even better than DB's ICE3
They are better, faster and better furnished
Awesome review of an absolutely beautiful train! Thanks for sharing.
2 train journeys I was really excited/looking forward to: Detroit, Michigan to Raton, NM to get to Philmont Boy Scout Ranch. 2nd: My first shinkansen ride from Tokyo to Hachinohe (change trains to get an express to Misawa)
Awesome! Shinkansen is amazing!
With the liberalisation of the railways, you are no longer free to choose your level of comfort. I booked a train trip from Brussels to Nice with SNCF. The only option at a decent hour of the day included an Ouigo between CDG and Marseille, with minimal comfort. No meals on board, limited luggage or you have to pay extra, cycles had to be packed,... The return trip turned out to be an Inoui. So, you book a round trip, and you discover that the return trip is 50% more expensive than the outbound journey, just because they use different trains.
Same trains. Same company. Different interior.
🤷♂️
I did a few train rides during my travels in Spain. Iryo was definitely an awesome trip. Beautiful comfortable seats. I rode Madrid to Valencia with zero stops for 39 euros. We were MOVING! It was a nice smooth ride and we were arrived a little early. I did have another trip on Renfe from Cadiz to Valencia that was pretty awful. It was 8 hours of bumping side to side. Not sure why. I don't get motion sick. But I felt scrambled afterward.
That sounds like a Talgo train, which are known for a harsh ride! 😵💫
Can't wait to try it soon.
Hope you enjoy
That’s impressive.
I frequently travel between Madrid and Barcelona and I must admit it is the best highspeed train service in Spain. By far better than the OuiGo one offered by SNCF
It's better than ouigo and the delicious Spanish food makes the journey delightful
Can you tell me anything about the level of noise in the train? Thanks in advance!
Looks like a nice journey. I watched it in the departures lounge at Heathrow T5; train travel is so much more enjoyable than flying, but sadly Eurostar and the TGV would have been prohibitively expensive.
Hey I hope you feel good when you come to Spain 🙋♂
Thank you! :)
My wife and I did the same run using Renfe in 2019. I don't remember the exact cost (we took the standard class, which was all you need for a few hours' trip), but it was more than the airfare - maybe close if airport-city taxi fares were included. But the city centre-to-city centre convenience made it the only way to go. It's great to see some competition puling down the cost and pulling up the quality.
Exactly! The price used to be so much higher before the new operators came in.
How strict are they with luggage? I know they have required sizes but what if you are a little over the required suitcase size?
I have no idea what happens to be honest, I always travel very light.
Wow, this is great value for money. Awesome train! I take it an earlier ride on a more frequented connection would have been more expensive?
Trent Italia Executive class has most leg room. We made it from Venice to Naples and it was beyond comfortable
hello, do I need to print the ticket (on paper) if purchased online? or just show the mobile ticket from email without printing it? thanks
You can show it on your phone! :)
looks great
I really enjoyed my second high speed train trip from Naples to Ancona in the FrecciaRossa service, my first one was in the Eurostar(i believe) from London to Paris but did not enjoy it as much basically because i was a child and didn’t appreciated it yet.
I always feel so excited everytime that I go from my city Penafiel to Pocinho by the Douro Line
Great trip, Great lounge, and Great food. Looks like Iryo becoming most favourite High Speed Train in Europe by Trip Reporter.
Marginal advantage for travelers from Italy, Chile and Uruguay: L-type sockets.
That looks like amazing value for money!
Damn, send some to Chicago and the rest of the USA please!!!
Honestly, Zaragota Delicias station is the prettiest I've ever seen. 😍
Italian Red Arrow 👌🏻💪
Booked Malaga to Madrid for next May on Iryo
Yummy Ginger & Lemon Tea. Thank you for your review.
Asia and Europe have beautiful modern high speed trains. We in the US have - uh, Amtrak. :(
Don't worry in the next years you will have a high speed train from Houston to Dallas. The italian company WeBuild is doing that.
Keep driving your trucks - - we in Europe within few hours can enter & exit 3 to 4 and 5 countries - from riviera to lakes and mountains - - best place on earth--you're to BIG
I thought you got the HyperLoop? 😜
They are the best.