The highest year-on-year growth in rail passenger transport in the third quarter of 2023, of 96%, was recorded in the Madrid-València corridor, with 1.4 million passengers, and the following was Madrid-Alicante, with almost one million travelers and a year-on-year increase of 66%.
Commercial high-speed rail services in Spain once again set a record for travelers with more than 8.4 million between June and September, 32% more than a year before, due to competition in the Levante and Andalusia corridors, according to the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC).
From its report on Passenger Transport by Rail for the third quarter of 2023, it appears that the highest year-on-year growth, of 96%, was recorded in the Madrid-València corridor, with 1.4 million passengers.
The next was Madrid-Alicante, where for the first time there was competition throughout the quarter (between three operators and four commercial brands: Ave, Avlo, Ouigo and Iryo), with almost a million travelers and a year-on-year increase of 66%. .
The runners to Andalusia also had a growth of 30%, although Madrid-Seville lost 8% of travelers, the only one that decreased along with Madrid-Barcelona, which did so by 10%, due to the summer period, but the Declines were lower than those of other third quarters.
However, productivity indicators (occupancy and utilization) decreased year-on-year in all corridors "due to the strong growth in the places offered," the regulator explained.
Renfe Viajeros continued to be the main operator in all corridors, accounting for between 50 and 74% of total passengers, while Iryo gained more than 7 percentage points in those to Andalusia, reaching a share of 32% in Madrid. -Seville and 26%, in Madrid-Málaga/Granada.
Between Madrid and Barcelona, the new entrants and Renfe's Avlo presented average prices around 40 euros; in Madrid-València, around 22 euros, and in Madrid-Alicante, between 25 and 30 euros.
On the routes where the entry of competition occurred earlier, the income per passenger/km is lower, being 6.61 and 7.3 euro cents on the Madrid-Barcelona and Madrid-València routes, respectively, when before of liberalization were between 0.11 and 0.13 euros. Those for Madrid-Alicante are below 0.8 euros, around 30% less after the entry of competition.
