@vitiman ¡andá! lo mismo que se tarda de Almería a Madrid en el tren más rápido disponible (si es que la via única funciona ese día). Que es que ni el Madrid-centrismo de Renfe funciona para todos. #Almería#Madrid#Renfe#Talgo
There is a train connection from Lisbon to Badajoz (border station in Spain) that arrives at 17:26. Guess when the train to Madrid leaves Badajoz? Four minutes earlier of course. Because reasons. Would be reasonable to expect state owned railway companies in neighbouring countries to coordinate their timetables, right? #CrossBorderRail#Renfe#CP
Passports have had machine-readable text for ages. Still, whoever designed #Renfe’s over-the-counter ticket sales IT system didn’t think of including a suitable reader. (Don’t know about the self-service ticket machines.) Even if Renfe, like all long distance travel companies in Spain, requires the passport or ID card number of each passenger. (Which then is, I assume, extremely rarely checked, but hey, SECURITY!!!)
More #Renfe rant: This display showing who is next in line to be served at the counter uses most of the area to display ad videos. Instead of for instance using a larger font for the numbers so that they could actually be seen by people standing far away. Oh, and some of the queue numbers use both capital O and digit zero. And there are benches to sit on in the corner, from which the display is not visible.
What the actual duck? Buying train tickets Madrid–Cordoba from #Renfe on the web, one gets put on a bloody waiting list (page) for five minutes, before one even sees what connections there are? (To check how full trains might be, and to potentially buy a normal ticket.) Spain seems to be really weird and backwards for train travel in many senses, not just #Interrail. How can other as large train companies (DB etc) handle these things so much better?
And when you think you have made a purchase (plain ticket for the wife, to save on #Interrail travel days), did the things correctly with your bank identification app to approve the card purchase, return to the #Renfe site, this useful message.
Some person on Tripadvisor wrote seven years ago (!): “The #Renfe website is woefully underpowered because it does not have the capacity to handle the number of people who want to use it.” Oh well then, can’t expect things like that to be fixable in just a few years.
In a #Renfe AVE (built by Siemens) to Madrid. The train is nice, but the boarding procedure with its security theatre and queueing is such a joke. #Interrail
A #RENFE 🇪🇸 class 448 trainset (if I remember well) is seen here, in “reformado regionales” livery, under the impressive station roof of #PortBou. It is ready to work a regional service to #Barcelona. Photo taken in August 2006 while on a cycling tour in the area. #PastTrainTrips
Relatively recent hotel on wheels of the Spanish railway operator #trenhotel#renfe#train rotting away west of Miranda de Ebro, while the rest of Europe is desperately searching for #nighttrain rolling stock @backontrack
High-speed trains from #Ouigo, #Renfe, and Renfe #Avlo waiting at Valencia Joaquin Sorolla station. Not pictured: the #Iryo train that whisked me off to Madrid at just under 300kph in under two hours.
These trains were so cheap and so convenient, it makes me mad that the U.S. doesn't have them already running up and down the Eastern Seaboard and California.
Trying to explain #Renfe service classes to a non-Spanish acquaintance, and I now have several doubts.
An AVE is a high speed service that only travels on high speed lines.
Avlo is a low-cost high speed service.
An Avant is a service that is partially on high speed lines, partially on conventional lines, designed to be faster than a MD for the high speed section.
A Media Distancia is fully on conventional lines
I gather an "Intercity" counts as a Media Distancia as far as ticketing is concerned.
But, what about the Euromed? Is that an Avant (and thus you can get a 50% reduction on the season pass) or an AVE (so no discount available)?
#Renfe's new rules for Renfe AM (aka FEVE) make intermodality unfeasible:
-During rush hours no bicycles: intermodality not to commute.
-Out of rush hours: Only 1bicycle. As no booking is possible you depend on being lucky. You may have to get rid of the bicycle in your way back :sadness:
There are also problems in the other lines: https://mastodon.social/@antoniovr/111385247262547596
Las nuevas reglas de #renfe para el FEVE (ahora Renfe AM) hacen inviable la intermodalidad:
-En horas punta ninguna bici:intermodalidad para trabajar no.
-Fuera solo 1bici por tren, y como no se puede reservar dependerás de la suerte. Igual a la ida sí y a la vuelta tienes que deshacerte de ella...
En otras líneas tampoco: https://mastodon.social/@antoniovr/111385247262547596
El gobierno debe actuar pues mientras Renfe habla de mejorar intermodalidad su praxis es la contraria #MovilidadSostenible#intermodalidad
Esto, que es obvio, se engloba en un problema más amplio, que es cuándo va a entrar la competencia en la red de ancho ibérico. #Renfe no parece tener ninguna prisa, y con razón: al contrario que en la red de alta velocidad, donde se pueden traer trenes de Francia o Italia (que es lo que han hecho Ouigo e Iryo) en la convencional el material o lo tiene Renfe o hay que comprarlo nuevo y a medida.
Today I'm attempting #Heidelberg-#Madrid by #rail in one day. 6 trains from #tram to #TGV. Made train no 1 at 6:39. ETA in Madrid is 23:45.
Biggest challenge might be the regional train to Mannheim. Due to illness of personnel at least 1 of the 3 trains I could take simply isn't running, which means that one of the others will be crowded and hence delayed ...
As night trains are the superior art of traveling, I never understood why in the last decade most train companies dismantled them.
I always suspected a mixture of pseudo-modernism ("high-speed trains are more modern"), lack of cooperation among rail operators of different countries (the European rail system has more of a patchwork than a network) and the conspiracy theory of car and air travel industries lobbying against the most convenient way to travel long distances.
Luckily, follks in Eastern European countries weren't as shortsighted as their counterparts in the other parts of Europe, and maintained their night trains. ÖBB is most active in bringing back night train connections in Europe. Turkyie and Ukraine are good on track, too!
If you want to find night train connections, check this web:
#Renfe have announced they are investing 164M€ in improving ticketing and passenger services.
This is divided into two sections:
A Joint Venture between Accenture and Evolutio Cloud Enable will get 78.6M for a ground-up redesign of the entire ticketing system, including website, apps, ticket machines, and ticket counter machinery.
Sqills Products BV will get 85.5M for implementing a new Passenger Services System (PSS)
Back in 2005 or so, I was travelling with the night Talgo train from Zurich to Barcelona. When I woke up and noticed the time, I realized we'd be arriving soon so started getting ready. Then I stepped out of the cabin and saw Narbonne's wetlands ... and knew we were late.
An American passenger asked me whether we'd be arriving soon, as he had a connection to catch. Before I could answer, the car supervisor, who had overheard us, said we were over 3 hours delayed. Seeing our puzzlement he contributed, in my 20 years of service in this train we have never arrived on time.
A couple of weeks ago I tried to go from Madrid to Montpellier and back with #RENFE since they announced that they had new line since July. It was impossible to get a ticket because their website could not find any train.
In the end I had to set up a combination of #Iriyo, #SNCF and #Ouigo for the trip.