Alicante railway station
Alicante Terminal (Valencian: Alacant Terminal) is the central railway station of Alicante, Spain. Commonly referred locally as the RENFE station, the station is part of Adif system, and is a terminal station.
Alacant Terminal | |
|---|---|
 Two AVE Class 100 trains at the Alicante terminal. | |
| Location | Avenida de Salamanca, Alicante Spain |
| Coordinates | 38°20′40″N 0°29′41.9″W |
| Owned by | adif |
| Line(s) | Alaris, Altaria, Alvia, Euromed, Talgo L-1, L-2 (Valencia, Cartagena, Ciudad Real)   |
| History | |
| Opened | 1858 |
| Electrified | Yes |
| Traffic | |
| Passengers (2018) | 3,817,535[1] |
The station accommodates RENFE long-distance and medium-distance trains, and it is the origin of lines C-1 and C-3 of Cercanías Murcia/Alicante (suburban trains). The station is not related to the narrow gauge railway Alicante-Dénia managed by FGV and part of the city's tram network.
By the end of 2013, AVE (high-speed) railway is expected to reach Alicante. While a new intermodal station is to be constructed in place of the current terminal, a temporal terminal is to be utilized by the high speed trains.[2][3]
History
The first train to Alicante arrived from Madrid on 4 January 1858. It took almost 10 years to construct a railway from Madrid to Alicante, which was carried out by Compañía de los Ferrocarriles de Madrid a Zaragoza y Alicante, a predecessor of RENFE. Passenger services began on 1 March 1858, but the official opening awaited the arrival of Queen Isabella II on 25 May 1858.[4]
The initial design of the stations along the Almansa-Alicante part of the railway was approved in 1853. Additional extensions to the projects were made in 1857. It was one of the largest terminals built in Spain in those years.[4]
Between 1967 and 1968 the original facade of the Alicante station was completely rebuilt.[4]
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Services
- The station services Alicante and Murcia suburban areas with a frequency of 1 or 2 trains per hour on line C-1 and with eight trains per day on line C-3. The station is the origin for both lines and is located in tariff area 6 of the Cercanías Murcia/Alicante network.
- The station is used by medium-distance RENFE trains such as Regional Express or Regional with services to Valencia, Murcia, Cartagena, Albacete, Villarrobledo, and Ciudad Real as lines L-1 and L-2.
- Barcelona and Madrid are the primary destinations of long-distance trains operated by Renfe. With the completion of high-speed railway (AVE), a trip from Madrid to Alicante now takes between 2h20 mins and 2h40 mins.
| Preceding station | Renfe Operadora | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
toward Madrid Puerta de Atocha | AVE | Terminus | ||
toward A Coruña | Alvia | Terminus | ||
toward Gijón | Alvia | |||
toward Pontevedra | Alvia | |||
toward Santander | Alvia | |||
toward Barcelona Sants | Euromed | Terminus | ||
| Valencia Nord toward Barcelona Sants |
Talgo | Terminus | ||
| Elda-Petrel toward Barcelona Sants |
Talgo | Elche-Parque toward Murcia del Carmen | ||
| Elda-Petrel toward Barcelona Sants |
Talgo "Mare Nostrum" | Elche-Parque toward Cartagena or Lorca-Sutullena | ||
| Novelda toward Miraflores |
Intercity | Sant Gabriel toward Cartagena | ||
| Terminus | Media Distancia 43 | Sant Gabriel toward Lorca-Sutullena |
||
Novelda-Aspe toward Valencia Nord | Media Distancia 44 | Sant Gabriel toward Cartagena |
||
Elda-Petrer toward Ciudad Real | Media Distancia 45 | Terminus | ||
Elda-Petrer toward Jaén | Media Distancia 61 | Terminus | ||
| Preceding station | Cercanías Murcia/Alicante | Following station | ||
| San Gabriel toward Murcia del Carmen |
C-1 | Terminus | ||
| Terminus | C-3 | Universidad de Alicante toward San Vicente Centro |
References
- "Adif - Información de estaciones - Alicante". ADIF. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
- La estación provisional del AVE podría mantenerse diez años., laverdad.es, 04.05.2010 (in Spanish)
- El AVE a Alicante se retrasa hasta finales de 2013, elpais.es, 12.06.2012 (in Spanish)
- 150 Year Anniversary of Madrid-Alicante Railroad Generalitat Valenciana (in Spanish)