Which are the points of the national prestige and even the international one of AVE?
The quality. All the actions that make the Unity of Bussiness go after the total quality and the satisfaction of the client, like the only ways to get the economic rentability.
The international success is rewarded by the premium EFQM, given by the European Foundation for Quality Management in 1998, and for the first tine it is got by a public company and of transport of travells public or private in Europe.
The future of the train comes, witout any doubt, through the high-speed. Which will the place of Renfe in the just mention sector will be?
The future train, in distances of 600 km, include the services of high advantages, The rising of these distances will be directly linked in the future to the rising of the velocity of the trains. With high velocities, the train of high-speed will be more competitive in longer distances to the just mentioned. The board that marks the competivity of the train of high-speed with other ways of transport are placed around 3 of 3,5 hours of travell maxivelly.
OF Renfe do not depend nor the studies no the ejecution of the new railway infraestructures, but it depends of the Manager of Infraestructures (GIF) that, at the same time, depends on the Substructure Minister, that is the one which have the capacity of decission in the themes of infraestructure at statal level.
It is better for Renfe the mnost possible existence of railway lines that link the principal spanish cities because the volumes of bussiness would rise and futhermore the nowaday existing infraestructures will be rentabilized. The lines of high-speed are, according to what has been demonstrated in all the countries where they exist, the most rentable. There, where they have been constructed, new business and new commercial, cultural and touristic activities have been created.
Is it known if Renfe is going to administrate the line Madrid-Barcelona?
Nowadays, and although the contract-programme Renfe-State is not signed (the anterior ended the 31th of december in 1998), all seem to indicate that will be Renfe who manage the line Madrid-Barcelona.
Some declarations of different managers related to the air transport suggest a kind of fear in front of the push if the high-speed trains. How does it affect to the train?
The trains of high-speed are a direct competence with the air transport in those distances of 600/700 km, like I just mentioned. The experience says that the client, for this type of travel prefer the trains of high-speed. In the special case of the line Madrid-Sevilla, nowadays the share of the possibilities is 80/20. That is to say, out of 100 persons that travel from Madrid to Sevilla or vieceversa, 80 choose the AVEand 20 the plane.
However, I would like to mention that before the commercialitation of AVE, between Madrid and Sevilla existed around eigh planes to go and come back, and nowadays that number has been reduced the 50%. However, AVE has been able on his own of generating a demand included by his own existence (travellers that would not travel if they not do it by train), that originally it was the34% of the toal travellers, and today they are the same kind of travellers.
On the other hand, the trains of high-speed are also complementary to the planes, specially in relation to the intercontinentals planes that afterthat do not have conection with other cities of the country where they arrive, or in international traffic of the same continent, where this situation is also planned.
What are the perspectives for the corridor madrid-Barcelona? Is it planned the construction of a future station AVE in the Barajas Aeroport?
In the specific case of the corridor Madrid-Barcelona, it is difficult to predict which will vbe the final sharing of the market, but the experience of AVE Madrid-Sevilla and of other lines of high-speed in France, Germany and Japan indicate that the situation can be reproduced. The decission of constructing a terminal of train of high-speed in Barajas Aeroport is competence of the Substructure Ministery.
Without leaving behind the high-speed, which will be the railway map of Spain?
The Substructure Minister have planned opening the traffic of the stretch Madrid-Zaragoza-Lérica in the year 2002. It is expected that the high-speed arrives to Barcelona in the year 2004. These are the dates officially considered.
Futhermore, the Substructure Ministery is making different studies to link Madrid and Valladolid through Sierra de Guadarrama with the lines of high-speed (this would allow to reduce the travell between these two cities and of Madrid with the Cantabric zone), of Madrid to Valencia and Alicante, fromCórdoba to Málaga, together with the other corridors.
It is not easy to imagine the map of the spaniwsh railway in the 2050, for example, but I am sure that it will be a map dominated by railway lines of high advantages that will be created according to the demands and of movility that is necessary in our country.
Where is the advanceof the high-speed railway in the XXIth c. directed to from the technic point of view ?
From the technic point of view, everything seems to indicate that in the next years the trains of high-speed will rise more and more velocity. Nowadays, some fabricants of railway material are already developing trains with their highest velocity of 350km/h. We prefer name them trains of high advantages and the same can be a railway of these characteristics that circulate, for example, at 200 or 220 km/h, that to 300 km/h.
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