Alaris was the brand name of the

regional rail Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster serv ...

network run by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

national rail company Renfe Operadora that connected the major cities of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and the main cities of the

Valencian community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wi ...

, between 1999 and 2013. Alaris services used ETR 490 trainsets, as well as S-120 and S-130 units. It was replaced by the renewed Renfe Intercity system.

History

Midway through the 1990s, RENFE realised that needed to replace its old Talgo III trains which had run on the line for over thirty years. As a replacement, RENFE looked for new railcars that could run at high speeds on electric lines. After searching throughout the ideas of multiple companies, RENFE chose a conglomeration of

GEC Alsthom GEC or Gec may refer to: Education * Gedo Education Committee, in Somalia * Glen Eira College, in Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia * Goa Engineering College, India * Government Engineering College (disambiguation) * Guild for Exceptional Ch ...

and

FIAT Ferroviaria Alstom Ferroviaria S.p.A., former Fiat Ferroviaria S.p.A., is the Italian division of Alstom. Fiat Ferroviaria S.p.A. was the rail division of automobile manufacturer Fiat. It was founded in 1880 as Società Nazionale Officine di Savigliano.

as the winners of a bid to develop new trains for the network titled ETR 490, similar to the

ETR 470 ETR 470 (''ElettroTreno 470'') is a high-speed tilting electric multiple unit, which is now only operated by the Greek-Italian private company, Hellenic Train. Introduced in September 1996, nine units were built for the Italo-Swiss firm Cisa ...

trains used on the Italian

Cisalpino Cisalpino AG () was a railway company, referred to as CIS in timetables, operating international trains between Switzerland and Italy connecting Basel, Schaffhausen, Zürich, Geneva, Milan, Venice, Trieste, Livorno, and Florence. The ...

network. The new units were put into service on a new line between Madrid and Valencia via

Albacete Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, t ...

with emphasis on high speed, quality, and comfort. Although originally known as InterCity 2000, RENFE did not believe that the name was representative of the service, RENFE decided to rename the service "Alaris." RENFE then rebranded and repainted its trainsets and other publicity to show the new logo. Starting in 2013, Alaris was gradually replaced by the renewed Renfe Intercity system.

Service quality

Alaris was a medium/high profile rail service, very similar to aeroplanes business class, with stewardess, restaurant/snack bar, press service, personal multimedia stations, free automobile parking and baby sitter services. Alaris locomotives were manufactured by Fiat Ferroviaria and then by

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the A ...

, and was able to maintain a moderate continuous speed of .

Criticism

Despite its new and modern trains, higher focus on quality and speed, and modernity, Alaris was criticised. Most critics pointed to a few main details where Alaris did not meet expectations: * Alaris only had a thirteen-minute improvement over the previous train (InterCity UT-448) that used the system. * There were only 160 seats on the new Alaris trains, while the InterCity UT-448 trains had 206 seats available in each car. This meant that it took less time for trains to be full and passengers had to make reservations beforehand to ensure that there was a seat available for them. * Prices for Alaris were more expensive than those of the original rail service and features such as the BonoCity (four trips between Madrid and Valencia) had ceased to exist, therefore increasing the price to use the service.

External links

{{Higher-speed rail Renfe ca:Línies de Llarga Distància a Catalunya#Alaris