List of high-speed railway lines

Exits to Russian, Polish and Finnish high-speed railways are under planning.

French figures of LGV length count only new tracks and not total length between terminal stations (i.e.: 409 km instead of 425 km for the LGV Sud-Est)

Note: sections Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod (a former part of Moscow - Kazan project, now frozen[54]) and Moscow - Saint Petersburg were merged into the common project Saint-Petersburg - Nizhny Novgorod.[55]

The Madrid–Zamora line is the open section of the under construction Madrid–Galicia high-speed rail line connecting Madrid to Zamora via Segovia. The line shares a common section with the Madrid–Leon line for the part between Madrid and Olmedo. The Madrid–Zamora line entered revenue service on 17 December 2015 by Alvia S-730 (Patito, max speed 250 km/h (155 mph)) trains that cover the distance in 1 hour and 33 minutes.[57] Part of the line up to Medina del Campo is also used for the Alvia Madrid–Salamanca service.

The Atlantic Axis high-speed railway line is connecting the two main cities of Vigo and A Coruña (Corunna) via Santiago de Compostela in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia. The railway, 155.6 km in length, is an upgrade of the former non electrified single railway line between the town of Ferrol and the Portuguese border for the part between A Coruña and Vigo, into a double electrified high-speed line. The new rebuilt railway permits mixed use traffic with a maximum design speed of 250 km/h for passenger trains.[58] The new railway was inaugurated in April 2015 and shortened the distance between the two cities by 22 km, from 178 km to 156 km, and cut the travel time from around 3 hours on the old railway down to 1 hour and 20 minutes on the new one. 37 tunnels totalling 59 km and 34 bridges totalling 15 km form part of the rebuilt railway.[59] The line is served by Alvia S-121 or S-730 (max speed 250 km/h (155 mph)) train-sets for the routes between A Coruña and Vigo[60] and between A Coruña and Ourense and by Alvia S-730 (Patito, max speed 250 km/h (155 mph)) train-sets connecting Galicia with other Spanish regions. The line will be connected at Santiago de Compostela with the Madrid–Galicia high-speed rail line, which as of 2015 is under construction.

The Madrid–Leon high-speed rail line connects Madrid with León passing the cities of Segovia, Valladolid and Palencia. The line supports the longest railway tunnel in Spain at 28 km in length and is served by up to two S-102 (Pato, max speed 330 km/h or 205 mph) trains per day with the fastest schedule lasting 2 hours and 6 minutes. Other trainsets used on the Madrid–Leon line include S-120 (max speed 250 km/h (155 mph)) and S-130 (Patito, max speed 250 km/h (155 mph)) for the Alvia services.

Madrid–Barcelona high-speed railway line connects Madrid with Barcelona in the north east of Spain passing through the cities of Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza (Saragossa), Lleida (Lérida) and Tarragona where the future Tarragona–Valencia high-speed railway line will connect. The line has a length of 621 km and a travel time of two and a half hours for the direct trains using the route avoiding entering Zaragoza (Saragossa) and Lleida (Lérida). The line is served by S-103 (max speed 350 km/h or 217 mph) trains. Seventeen trains run now every day between 6:00 and 21:00 hrs. Direct trains Barcelona–Seville and Barcelona–Malaga that do not make a stop in Madrid are also scheduled combining the Madrid–Barcelona line with one of the southern corridor's existing lines. S-112 (Pato, max speed 330 km/h or 205 mph) trains are used for these services and cover these distances in less than 6 hours.

The international high-speed section across the border, Perpignan–Figueres (44.4 km), of the Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line opened in December 2010. Since then, French TGV trains operate from Paris. The Spanish high-speed section Barcelona–Figueres opened on 7 January 2013.[61][62] Nine Spanish services initially serviced the line, with 8 being a through service to Madrid, which also connected with two French TGV services from Paris. Previously French TGV services connected Paris and Barcelona by means of a shuttle train on the standard Barcelona–Figueres line.[63][64][65] Direct Barcelona-Paris, Madrid-Marseille, Barcelona-Lyon and Barcelona-Toulouse high-speed trains between France and Spain started on December 15, 2013.[66]

The Zaragoza–Huesca section branches off from the Madrid–Barcelona line at Zaragoza and connects with the city of Huesca and serves the connection train station for regional trains in the town of Tardienta. The line first put in operation in 2005 and is served by up to two S-102 (Pato, max speed 330 km/h or 205 mph) trains per day with the fastest train journey between the two cities lasting 2 hours and 5 minutes.

The Madrid–Castellón line connects the city of Castellón with the city of Madrid passing through the cities of Cuenca, Requena-Utiel and Valencia. The section It is serviced by S-112 (Pato, max speed 330 km/h or 205 mph) trains, assembled by the Talgo-Bombardier consortium. Direct trains to Valencia cover the 391 km in 98 minutes while thirty trains run every day between 05:00 and 21:00, fifteen in each direction. For the service Madrid–Castellón AVE trains cover the distance in 2 hours and 25 minutes and 4 trains per day are scheduled, two in each direction. The line is part of the Madrid–Levante network (see below). Direct trains Valencia–Seville that do not make a stop in Madrid are also scheduled combining the existing lines of Madrid–Castellón and Madrid-Seville. S-102 (Pato, max speed 330 km/h or 205 mph) trains are used for this service and cover the whole distance in 3 hours and 50 minutes.

A 350 km/h line branches off from the Madrid–Castellón Line and connects the city of Alicante with the city of Madrid passing through the cities of Cuenca, Albacete and Villena.[67] It is part of the Madrid–Levante HSR network and is serviced by S-112 (Pato, max speed 330 km/h or 205 mph) trains that cover the distance in up to 2 hours and 12 minutes. Direct trains Toledo–Albacete were also scheduled in the past, combining four of the existing lines, but this service was eventually terminated due to low demand.

The Madrid–Seville high-speed railway line connects Madrid with Seville in the south of Spain, passing through the cities of Ciudad Real, Puertollano and Córdoba, where the Madrid–Málaga high-speed rail line branches off towards Málaga just outside Los Mochos near Almodóvar del Río. The route travels across the plains of Castile, travelling through the Sierra Morena mountains just before reaching Córdoba, before going onward towards Seville through the largely flat land surrounding the Guadalquivir river. The Madrid–Seville line was the first dedicated passenger high-speed rail line to be built in Spain and was completed in time for Seville's Expo 92. With a length of 472 km, the fastest train journey between the two cities takes 2 hours and 20 minutes. The line is served by S-100 (max speed 300 km/h or 186 mph) trains. The extension section of the Madrid-Seville high-speed rail line to Cádiz is served by Alvia trains that connect the city of Cádiz to Madrid and reach speeds up to 200 km/h in this section.[68]

The Madrid–Málaga high-speed rail line connects the city of Málaga with the city of Madrid. The line shares a common section with the Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line up to the city of Córdoba and then includes a 155 km long spur line up to the city of Málaga. It is served by S-102 (Pato, max speed 330 km/h or 205 mph) and S-103 (max speed 350 km/h or 217 mph) trains and the fastest train journey between the two cities takes 2 hours and 20 minutes. Apart from the traffic to and from the city of Málaga, the line also handles the traffic to the cities of Granada and Algeciras. In the future, the line will also support the traffic between Madrid and the Costa del Sol high-speed rail line.

The Madrid–Toledo high-speed rail line branches off from the Seville and Málaga routes around the depot at La Sagra. The Avant service between the two cities offers journey times of half an hour on trains with a maximum speed of 250 km/h.

Map of the planned high-speed rail network (newly built and upgraded lines).

A new interconnecting tunnel is planned between Madrid Atocha and Madrid Chamartín stations. Currently, trains going to Valladolid leave from Chamartín and trains going to Seville, Málaga and Barcelona leave from Atocha station. Also, there is a single daily service in each direction running along the Barcelona–Seville and Barcelona–Málaga routes, which uses the high-speed bypass around Madrid to avoid reversing the direction of train in Atocha station. The tunnel will allow services serving northern cities to travel non-stop or with a stop through Madrid and onward to southern cities (or vice versa), without the driver having to change ends or bypass Madrid, a valuable source of passengers: currently, someone wanting to travel from Valladolid to Málaga, for instance, must travel from Valladolid Campo Grande station to Madrid Chamartín station before taking a Cercanías service to Atocha; then finally taking an onward train to Málaga.

On April 24, 2010, tunnelling started on the 7.3 km route connecting Atocha and Chamartin.[72] The tunnel itself is now complete, and the tracks are in place. The electric line is currently being installed, with these works expected to be completed in early 2018, and service started within the same year.[73]

The Madrid–Galicia high-speed rail line will connect the city of Madrid with the region of Galicia and the Atlantic Axis high-speed rail line in the North West of Spain via Santiago de Compostela. The line will include a new 424 km long high-speed railway section that starts at Olmedo 130 km to the north of Madrid on the Madrid–Leon high-speed rail line and ends at Santiago de Compostela. Construction on the northernmost part of this section between the cities of Ourense and Santiago de Compostela began late 2004 and this part was inaugurated in December 2011. The southern part between Olmedo and Zamora entered revenue service on 17 December 2015.[57] Constructions on the central part, which crosses some of Spain's most remote and fragile nature areas, are expected be completed in 2019. The line is currently served by Alvia trains.[74]

• León–Oviedo–Gijón

Madrid–Asturias high-speed railway is the line connecting Madrid to the region of Asturias in the north of Spain. The new under construction section branches off the Valladolid–Vitoria high-speed section at Venta de Baños: 205 km north of Madrid and then reaches the cities of Oviedo and Gijón via Palencia and León.[75] This section includes the 24,7 km long Pajares Base Tunnel (Variante de Pajares) which runs under a very mountainous area between the Province of León and the Principality of Asturias.[76] Construction started in 2009 (except variante de pajares which started 2003) and reached León in September 2015 and expected to reach Oviedo and Gijón after 2020.[77]

• Valladolid–Burgos–Vitoria-Gasteiz[78]

The extension of the Madrid–Valladolid section towards the Basque Country began construction in 2009. This 223.4 kilometres (138.8 mi) railway line will run parallel to the 244.8 kilometres (152.1 mi) long existing railway line. Originally it was to be used as a mixed-use high-speed railway line, but it has since been changed to a passenger-dedicated railway line, leaving the existing railway line for freight trains. The line was forecast to open the Valladolid–Burgos part around 2013 and the Burgos–Vitoria-Gasteiz part in 2014 or 2015. However, due to delays the line is not expected to open before 2023, although the Valladolid–Burgos section is expected to enter full revenue service in 2019. At Vitoria it will be connected to the Basque high-speed railway line (Basque Y), thus reaching the French border. Once opened, the travel time between Valladolid and Vitoria will be around an hour.

• Bilbao–Vitoria-Gasteiz–San Sebastian–French border[79]

The Basque high-speed railway line (Basque Y) will connect the three Basque capitals, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Bilbao and San Sebastián. Construction began in October 2006 and the line was forecast to open in 2016. However, due to delays in construction, the line is expected to put in service in 2023 according to the new estimations. The three Basque capitals will be further connected with Madrid via Valladolid, and with the French border via Irun and Bayonne.

The Sants–La Sagrera tunnel links the Sants station in Barcelona through the Eixample with the future La Sagrera station. The tunnel passes under the streets of Provença and Mallorca, using a short part of the Diagonal to link between these streets. In the Carrer de Mallorca, the tunnel passes directly in front of Gaudí's masterpiece, the basilica of the Sagrada Família, and in the Carrer de Provença, another Gaudí work, the Casa Milà. In a long campaign against this route, the Board of the Sagrada Família and other parties argued that the tunnel would damage the church, whose construction is still in progress. In this discussion about different routes, the one now built is also called the Provença tunnel because part of its route passes under this street.

The tunnel boring machine Barcino passed the Sagrada Família in October 2010, and reached its final destination a few months later. Rail traffic is planned to start in 2012, initially without stops at the La Sagrera station, which is expected to be completed in 2016.

In March 2012, railway equipment was installed, with a special elastic isolation of the rails in order to dampen vibrations at the sections passing close to Gaudí's architectural works, using the Edilon system.[80][81]

• Alicante–Murcia–Cartagena

This is an under construction section, part of the Madrid–Levante network of high-speed railways connecting the capital with the Mediterranean coast. Consisting of 955 kilometres (593 mi) of railways with an estimated cost of 12.5 billion euros, it is the most expensive high-speed railway project in Spain. The network will consist of both dedicated passenger high-speed railways designed for trains running above 300 kilometres per hour (190 mph) and high-speed railways shared with freight trains.[82] The network is to be opened in stages, starting with the Madrid–Valencia/Albacete section, which was opened in December 2010,[83][84] followed by Albacete–Alicante in June 2013,[85] Valencia–Castellón in January 2018,[86] while Valencia–Alicante is expected to follow in 2019 and finally reaching the city of Murcia by 2020 with a branch line to Cartagena.

• Transversal Rail Axis (Eje Ferroviario transversal de Andalucía),[87] the Andalusian high-speed rail line connecting Huelva, Seville, Granada and Almería. Part of the line is financed and built by the Andalusian government.

The southern Andalusian transverse high-speed railway line is a 503.7-kilometre railway running between the cities of Huelva and Almería, passing the cities of Seville and Granada. The line is designed for speeds up to 250 kilometres per hour, except for the 130-kilometre Antequera–Granada and the 103-kilometre Seville–Huelva parts of the line, which are designed for speeds in excess of 300 kilometres per hour. A connection between Huelva and the Portuguese border is being studied. When finished the journey between Huelva and Almería in the new line is estimated to last 3 hours and 35 minutes.[88] The first section of the line between Antequera and Granada is expected to put in service by summer 2019 connecting the city of Granada to the rest of the high speed network via the Madrid–Málaga high-speed rail line. The section between Seville and Antequera is expected to be completed in 2020.

• Madrid–Alcázar de San Juan–Jaén

This high-speed railway line will be part passenger-dedicated high-speed railway (Madrid–Alcázar de San Juan) and part shared with freight trains (Alcázar de San Juan–Jaén). The first 99 km of the line will use the already existing Madrid-Seville high-speed railway line. From there, a 67.5 km branch line will be constructed towards Alcázar de San Juan.

From Alcázar de San Juan the existing railway line will be upgraded to allow passenger trains to run up to 250 km/h; a new double-tracked route through the Despeñaperros mountain range will be built to replace the existing single-tracked route. This part of the high-speed railway also forms part of the Madrid–Algeciras freight corridor. An extension of the line to Granada is being investigated; however, the complicated terrain between Jaén and Granada might make it uneconomical.

• Tarragona–Valencian Community–Murcia Region–Almería

The high-speed Barcelona-Figueres section (from Barcelona to the French border) was inaugurated in January 2013.[89] The journey from the centre of Barcelona to the centre of Girona takes now 37 minutes (compared to the hour and a half it took), and to Figueres in 53 minutes (instead of two hours). Girona and Figueres will be 14 minutes from each other. The Perpignan (France)-Figueres section opened in 2010. One lacking high-speed section on the French side, between Montpellier and Nîmes, is scheduled to open in July 2018, allowing almost continuous high-speed travel from the French high-speed network to the Spanish one.[90] The French government, on the other hand, recently announced indefinite delays to the Montpellier-Perpignan high speed section that was originally planned for 2020. The section linking Tarragona to Almería via Valencia and Murcia is expected to be completed by 2023. The final section between Almería and Algeciras, passing through Málaga, will be built at a later point of time and an alternative and longer route looks likely.[91]

• Madrid–Talavera de la Reina–Cáceres–Mérida–Badajoz–Evora–Lisbon

This line was initially planned as Lisbon–Madrid high-speed rail line in order to connect the two peninsular capitals, Madrid and Lisbon in 2 hours and 45 minutes.[92][93] This line had been a key issue in bilateral summits in recent years and was about to link Spain's high-speed rail network with the planned High-speed rail in Portugal, a project announced by the Portuguese government in February 2009. Construction on the Spanish side began in late 2008 on a segment between the cities of Badajoz and Mérida. Both Spanish and Portuguese track were to be completed around 2013, later the Portuguese government brought forward its plans from 2015 but the Portuguese froze works in June 2011 and eventually cancelled the project in March 2012.[94][95][96] In 2016 the European Union's European Regional Development Fund, gave Spain €205.1m towards the €312.1m needed for the track between Navalmoral de la Mata and Mérida, Spain. [97] The section on the Spanish side between Madrid and Badajoz is expected to be completed in 2023.

With a length of 439 km on the Spanish side, of which 48 km are part of the already built Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line, it will connect cities like Talavera de la Reina, Navalmoral de la Mata, Plasencia, Cáceres, Mérida and Badajoz.[92] The Almonte River Viaduct was completed in May 2016 to carry this line. It is a concrete arch bridge with a span of 384 meters (1,260 feet), ranking among the longest in the world of this type of bridge.[98][99]

With a length of 200km on the Portuguese side, of which 100km are in service (Intercity trains run at 200km/h in the upgraded single track), work is underway to close the missing gap between Evora-Badajoz.

• The lines marked with * were to a large part given a new alignment when upgrading from single track, essentially making them new lines. The other ones were straight enough for 200 km/h already.

There are plans to upgrade some lines to 250 km/h when the ERTMS signalling system is introduced in 2025–2030.

The United States has no dedicated high speed rail lines