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Low-cost Ouigo to expand train services in Spain’s Andalusia and Murcia

High-speed rail operator Ouigo is adding more Spanish destinations to its low-cost network, connecting cities in Andalusia and Murcia with the capital for as little as €9 one way.

Published: 25 March 2024 10:26 CET
Low-cost Ouigo to expand train services in Spain’s Andalusia and Murcia
SNCF's low-cost Ouigo TGV trains are pictured at the Madrid Puerta de Atocha train station. Photo: PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP.

The French operator rail operator has announced further route expansions in Spain later this year.

In the second half of 2024 Ouigo plans to expand into the huge southern region of Andalusia, with routes covering Seville, Málaga and Córdoba, as well as increasing its presence on the Mediterranean coast with stops in Elche and Murcia on a line that will link to Valladolid, passing through Madrid.

The expansion will provide six daily connections between Seville and Madrid, and twelve between Córdoba and the capital.

As with previous expansions, the company has confirmed that ticket prices will start from €9 for a one way ticket, with a flat rate of €5 for children under 14 years old.

Ouigo’s general director Hélène Valenzuela presented the company’s expansion plans in Madrid last week.

This new announcement follows news earlier in the year that Ouigo would begin stopping in cities such as Valladolid and Segovia.

The new Valladolid and Segovia routes, which are set to have two daily services, one of them with connections to Albacete and Alicante, forms part of the company’s broader expansion plans for high-speed rail in Spain in 2024. These new lines are expected to open sometime in April.

READ ALSO: Low-cost Ouigo trains to reach Spain’s Valladolid and Segovia in April

From June, Ouigo will also stop in Cuenca (in the Castilla-La Mancha region) as part of the Madrid-Valencia line.

Together with state-owned rail company Renfe and Italian operator Iryo, Ouigo is one three companies that operate high speed rail in Spain after railway liberalisation opened up the market in 2019.

READ ALSO: Which cities in Spain will get Avlo low-cost rail services in 2024?

However, the Spanish government has recently criticised French company’s low-pricing policy as ‘price dumping’, as well as its alleged obstruction of Renfe’s expansion in France.

Addressing the Andalusian expansion, Valenzuela explained that although there is still no confirmed launch date (Spanish media reports suggest it will be after the summer) Ouigo’s expansion into the southern region will bring an end to high price tickets to reach cities like Seville or Málaga during peak travel periods such as Easter and Christmas.

“There is going to be a real drop in prices for Andalusia and an increase in capacity so that there’s room on the trains during those periods when we see that prices are rising… For Easter 2025, the scenario will be very different from this year,” Valenzuela said.

The new destinations will join the list of Spanish cities already covered by Ouigo, including Madrid, Zaragoza, Tarragona, Barcelona, Valencia, Albacete and Alicante.

Spain has the most high-speed rail in Europe in terms of total kilometre coverage, and the second most in the world. However, critics argue that the massive expansion of high-speed rail services in Spain is not evenly distributed and has been overly focused on urban centres, leaving many parts of the country disconnected from the rest or with the need to take connections via Madrid.

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DROUGHT

Will drought restrictions affect summer holidays in Spain?

Whether it be limits on swimming pools, street cleaning or even daily water consumptions limits, several parts of Spain are considering their drought restrictions ahead of the summer season.

Published: 8 May 2024 12:27 CEST
Will drought restrictions affect summer holidays in Spain?

Many parts of Spain have been suffering from ongoing droughts for the better part of the last three years. The situation has been particularly bad in Catalonia and Andalusia, as well as parts of the Canary Island of Tenerife.

This past winter, reservoir levels in Barcelona fell to just 16 percent and the region declared a drought emergency in February 2024. This was the lowest level that had ever been recorded. Water restrictions were put in place, affecting Barcelona and 201 other municipalities in the region in total, over 6 million people and almost 80 percent of the Catalan population.

In Andalusia, at the start of the year, reservoir levels had plunged to an average of just 20 percent capacity and restrictions were put in place there too.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What and where are the drought water restrictions in Catalonia?

As well as agriculture and industry, water restrictions also have the potential to affect holidaymakers in Spain this summer because the rules mainly affected those with private swimming pools and gardens, although in many areas, particularly in and around Barcelona, personal usage was limited to 200 litres per day.

Typically, spring is the rainiest time in Spain and everyone was hoping for a return to normal conditions. Luckily there has been rainfall over the past few months and reservoir levels have risen slightly. 

The Ter-Llobregat Reservoir, which serves nearly six million people in the metropolitan area of Barcelona and part of Girona, is now up to 25 percent and heavy rains in Andalusia meant the levels there have risen to an average of 30 percent capacity.

Because of this, on Tuesday May 7th Catalonia announced that it would loosen restrictions and lift the state of emergency. The personal limits have risen to 230 litres per person per day and the agriculture, livestock and industry sectors will have a little more water for their needs.

Patrícia Plaja, spokesperson for the Government of Catalonia said: “The increase in reserves allows the restrictions of the last three months to be lifted and for us to exit the emergency phase,” however she also warned that “the drought is not over.”

The levels are still very low and although Spain’s regions are no longer at the highest level of drought emergency, they are still experiencing drought and some restrictions are still in place and likely will in some form over the summer.

Various measures have been put in place over the last few months to try and help rectify the situation. Barcelona announced it would fight the drought with a floating desalination plant and dictated that hotel swimming pools should be open to the general public. 12 desalination plants are also slated to be installed on the Costa Brava.

Though the situation has definitely improved ahead of the long dry summer months, tourists still need to be aware of the situation.

People spend the day at the WaterWorld aquatic park, in Lloret de Mar, Catalonia. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)

Will drought restrictions affect summer holidays in Spain?

Though the signs are cautiously optimistic following the rainy Easter period, drought restrictions in some parts of the country could still affect summer holidays in Spain.

Public and private community pools can now be topped up once again in Catalonia, but cannot be completely refilled if they were completely empty. Single use private pools are prohibited from both being refilled completely and topped up.

This means that if you’ve rented a private villa in the region that advertises a pool, you may want to check if it will be filled or not as chances are if it has to be re-filled, it may not be possible.

Cleaning streets and watering grass in public and private gardens with drinking water remains prohibited. This may mean that parks and gardens will appear browner and dryer than usual and streets may be dirtier (and slightly smellier than usual). Cars can only be washed at specialised establishments, you cannot wash them yourself.

Local government in Tenerife recently declared a state of emergency due to the critical water situation on the island. There are restrictions in place in several areas of the island, though it seems the brunt of water restrictions are focused on irrigation systems used in the agricultural sector for now.

Water authorities in the Valencia region, however, have indicated that no urban water restrictions are expected to be necessary this summer nor at any point this year, except in small municipalities in inland Castellón.

Andalusia’s Minister of Sustainability and Environment, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, announced on Tuesday that “the filling of swimming pools will be allowed” in Málaga province this summer, something that was until recently unclear due to the ongoing restrictions.

Owing to the Easter rains and subsequent refilling of the region’s reservoirs, the Junta gave the green light to the filling of pools throughout Málaga province, including the Axarquia area, one of the hardest hit by drought conditions. Until now, the filling of community pools was allowed, but has now been extended to pools in neighbouring urbanisations and private homes, something many tourists will be thankful for this summer.

However, there are still some municipalities in which water consumption per person per day is still restricted to 180, 200 or 225 litres depending on the area and the local rules.

“The amount of water is being maintained… it would be another matter if we had a May in which it rained a lot, but at the moment it doesn’t look like that is going to happen,” said Fernández-Pacheco.

In Cádiz and Almería, locals are still waiting to see if the restrictions will also be eased further ahead of summer. Regarding swimming pools, Fernández-Pacheco pointed out that this latest decision concerns the rules in Málaga only. “The Junta will study area by area,” he said.

This means that summer rules remain up in the air until the region’s drought committees meet again. The next meeting is scheduled for sometime in May.

However, if developments in Catalonia and Málaga are anything to go by, some restrictions, particularly on pools, could be lifted following the recent rains but daily per person consumption limits could remain in place.

Though it seems likely that some restrictions could be eased ahead of the busy summer season, the affected regions, which are also often popular tourist destinations, are still at risk of drought regardless of short-term rainfall.

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