For a few months now, the high-speed trains that connect the Valencian Community with the capital have been changing their arrival stations. Since September 13, the Alicante AVE trains have gone from stopping at Madrid-Puerta de Atocha to Chamartín-Clara Campoamor, with the exception of two routes that do remain at the first station.
Now, the forecast is that, also in the coming months, this will happen with the AVE of the Valencia-Castelló line. As Adif explains, traffic to Valencia will continue to operate temporarily from Madrid-Puerta de Atocha, until Chamartín has 8 standard gauge tracks with the entry into service of two new tracks in the coming months.
It will be from that moment on when all the trains of the Valencian Community will move to Chamartín-Clara Campoamor, with the exception of eight services that will remain at Puerta de Atocha (two in each direction in the Madrid-Alicante/Murcia relationship and two in meaning in the Madrid-Valencia-Castellón relationship).
The change is observed with concern from the business sector, due to the damage it may cause. For this reason, from the CEV they assure that it would be "desirable" for Adif to provide "exact data" on the impact of the change to the Chamartín station. They argue that the change supposes an extra cost in travel time and they are concerned that this second station is prepared to multiply the traffic of people.
However, from Adif they explain that the change since last July 1 is due to the operation of two infrastructures "key and strategic for the territorial structuring of the country, the liberalization of passenger transport and sustainable mobility": the tunnel for trains that crosses Madrid and that connects the Chamartín and Atocha stations and unifies the high-speed lines into a single and transversal network, as well as the new southern access to the capital for high-speed to and from the east of the country.
The businessmen and businesswomen understand that the decision responds to technical issues and that it is a necessary change to adapt the railway connections, but they believe that there has been a lack of sensitivity when considering it. Although they understand that it is a temporary change, they maintain that it will take too long and "that is something that businessmen do not like".
From Adif they explain that the new infrastructures allow the trains between Madrid and the Valencian cities to enter and leave the capital through the new southern access and, through the new tunnel, their departure and arrival at Chamartín. Likewise, they will be able to continue north by offering railway companies the possibility of programming transversal trains to travel between cities in the northern half and the Valencian Community without changing trains in the capital.
