Renfe is a hit in France: more than 120,000 tickets sold, Madrid and Barcelona at €19 until October 31

Les AVE passent actuellement quatre fois par jour, quatre jours par semaine en gare de Montpellier Saint-Roch. MIDI LIBRE – Ollivier Le Ny

The Spanish carrier is extending its launch prices this fall and making its services to Barcelona and Madrid daily. From Friday for the premiere.

One month after the commissioning of its Marseille – Madrid line, six weeks after the opening of the Lyon – Barcelona connection, the Spanish railway company Renfe is showing positive results , she congratulates herself. This while traffic will become daily from September between the capitals of Rhône and Catalonia.

80% occupancy rate on average

Renfe sold more than 120,000 ticketssince the marketing, on June 21, of its first two France – Spain routes. Its AVE, TGV cousins ​​of the French Atlantic, transported 68,000 passengers, with a occupancy rate of 80%. It "reaches one hundred percent on dates of high mobility", indicates the Iberian company.

"Between Nîmes and Barcelona, ​​route shared by the two lines", observes Renfe, from Thursday to Sunday, it already offers  four frequencies which allow a combination schedules and travel times which attracts the public to AVE trains, on both sides of the border."

🇫🇷🚄 Renfe ha vendido más de 120.000 billetes para viajar en AVE a Francia, con una ocupación media superior al 80%, con puntas del cien por cien.https://t.co/7CWAU1VWBR@renfe_fr @renfe_int

— Renfe (@Renfe) August 28, 2023

9 or 19 euros per trip for travelers in the region

From this Friday September 1st, the trains will increase in frequency, becoming daily, from Monday to Sunday, from Lyon to Barcelona. A five-hour journey via Girona, Figueres Vilafant, Perpignan, Narbonne, Béziers, Montpellier Saint-Roch, Nîmes, Valence TGV, departure at 8:22 a.m. from Barcelona Sants in the morning and at 2:30 p.m. from Lyon Part-Dieu in the afternoon. The switch to one train per day between Marseille and Madrid will take place on October 1st and still at introductory prices.

This is the good news of the start of the school year, since it will notably cover the first days of the All Saints' Day holidays. Rather vague regarding its post-launch pricing policy, Renfe confirms the extension of its very low rates until at least October 31. The good deal for travelers from Occitanie, who only pay 9€ for a journey between two French stations and 19€ from a French station to a Spanish station, round trip. Including Madrid.

28 daily services this fall

The timetables for the Marseille – Madrid and Lyon – Barcelona lines. Renfe

For example, Barcelona-Nîmes is done in 3 hours, Figueras-Montpellier in 2 hours, Barcelona-Béziers in 2h18, Madrid-Perpignan in 4h30, Montpellier- Tarragona in 3h51 or Zaragoza-Nîmes in 5h25 minutes.

For travelers from Languedoc and Roussillon, there will be 28 proposals per week this fall, fourteen in each direction of traffic. Renfe now has its ambition "to operate the Paris – Lyon – Marseille corridor in 2024″.