Euromed is a high-speed rail service operated by

Renfe Renfe (, ), officially Renfe-Operadora, is Spain's national state-owned railway company. It was created in 2005 upon the split of the former Spanish National Railway Network (RENFE) into the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias ( ...

along 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coast.

Service

Euromed entered commercial service on June 16, 1997, along a Mediterranean corridor, between the cities of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 ...

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

Castellón de la Plana Castellón de la Plana (in ), or simply Castellón (), is the capital city of the province of Castellón, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is located in the east of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Costa del Azahar by the Mediterranean Sea. Th ...

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

and

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

. Since January 2020 the Euromed service connects the city of Barcelona to the city of Valencia in 2 hours and 35 minutes and Barcelona to Alicante in 4 hours and 20 minutes while some services are extended to

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

and

Figueres Figueres (; ) is the capital city of Alt Empordà county, in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Dalí Theatre and Museum, a large museum designed by Dalí himself which att ...

Figueres–Vilafant railway station Figueres–Vilafant is a railway station serving the city of Figueres in Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the municipality of Vilafant, at about west from its urban center and from Figueres city centre. The station is on the Perpignan–Ba ...

Girona railway station Girona (Catalan: ''Estació de Girona'') is a railway station serving the city of Girona in Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the northern part of the municipality, lying at approximately southwest of the city's historical centre. The station ...

Barcelona Sants railway station Barcelona Sants is the main railway station in Barcelona, owned by Adif, the railway infrastructure agency of Spain. It has become the most important transport hub of the city - being the centre of Rodalies de Catalunya including Barcelona su ...

Camp de Tarragona railway station Camp de Tarragona is a railway station, opened on 19 December 2006, on the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line between Madrid and Barcelona. Located between the municipalities of La Secuita and Perafort,

Castellón de la Plana railway station Castellón () may refer to: Places * Castellón de la Plana, the capital city of the province of Castellón, in Valencian Community, Spain * Province of Castellón, a province in Valencian Community, Spain * Castelló (Valencia), Castelló, forme ...

Valencia-Joaquín Sorolla railway station Valencia-Joaquín Sorolla railway station is a railway station in Valencia, Spain, opened in 2010. Along with Estació del Nord, it is a city centre terminus station, primarily serving AVE high-speed rail services, with Estació del Nord serving ...

Alicante railway station Alicante Terminal () is the central railway station of Alicante, Spain. Commonly referred locally as the RENFE station, the station is part of Adif system, and is a terminal station. The station accommodates RENFE long-distance and medium-distance ...

Euromed currently offers the following services: * Barcelona–Valencia via Tarragona and Castellón. * Barcelona–Alicante via Tarragona, Castellón and Valencia. * Figueres–Valencia via Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona and Castellón. * Figueres–Alicante via Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Castellón and Valencia.

Line

The line consists of Iberian-gauge track sections and

standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

high-speed track sections. The section between Vandellòs and Castellón is an upgraded line of the old Iberian-gauge

Valencia−Sant Vicenç de Calders railway The Valencia–Sant Vicenç de Calders railway, also known as the Valencia–Tarragona railway is a railway line in Spain, beginning at Valencia Nord and ending at Sant Vicenç de Calders. Route The line links Valencia to Tarragona and onward t ...

for speeds up to 220 km/h. The section between

Camp de Tarragona Camp de Tarragona () is a Natural region, natural and historical region, as well as one of the nine Vegueries of Catalonia, regions (''vegueries'') of Catalonia. It is the third most populated region, with 536,453 inhabitants as of 2022. The re ...

and Vandellòs is since 2020 a new built Iberian-gauge track. The section Camp de Tarragona–Barcelona–Girona–Figueres is a standard-gauge high-speed track formed by parts of the

Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line The Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line is a standard-gauge railway line inaugurated on 20 February 2008. Designed for speeds of and compatibility with neighbouring countries' rail systems, it connects the cities of Madrid and Barcelona in ...

and the

Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line The Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed line is an international high-speed rail line between Perpignan in Roussillon, France and Barcelona, Spain. The line consists of a railway, of which are in France and are in Spain. The line is sometimes re ...

. Other sections are parts of the

Madrid–Levante high-speed rail network The Madrid–Levante high-speed network is a network of high-speed rail lines that connects Madrid with the Mediterranean coast of the Levante Region, specifically with Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencian Community and the Murcia Region autonomou ...

. Further construction works between Valencia and Alicante for the increase of speed and connectivity are ongoing as of 2025 as not all sections are capable for 200 km/h and above.

Rolling stock

The service started using series 101

EMU The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...

rolling stock with

bogies A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more wheelsets (two wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally ...

adapted for use on the

Iberian gauge Iberian gauge (, ) is a track gauge of , most extensively used by the railways of Spain and Portugal. A broad gauge, it is the second-widest gauge in regular use anywhere in the world, with only Indian gauge railways, , being wider (by ). As ...

track.

Traction current Railway electrification is the use of electric power for the propulsion of rail transport. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling passengers or freight in separate cars), electric multiple units (passenger cars with their own ...

is supplied by

overhead lines An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...

, at either 3,000 volts

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional electric current, flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor (material), conductor such as a wire, but can also flow throug ...

, or 25,000 volts

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in w ...

at 50 Hz. In normal commercial service these trains traveled at and had a top speed of , although was reached during testing. The fleet of six units was built by the French multinational

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

. In 2020 all the TGV based rolling stock was converted to standard gauge in order to be used in other routes, and since January 2020 are replaced by the new dual-gauge RENFE Class 130 trainsets, capable of reaching speeds up to when running on standard gauge high-speed lines and on the Iberian gauge lines.Talgo 250
''www.talgo.de''

Accidents and incidents

On 30 March 2002 a Euromed train traveling across

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

at collided with a local train in

that had just left

Torredembarra Torredembarra (), normally called La Torre by its inhabitants, is a town in the ''comarca'' of the Tarragonès, in the province of Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the Costa Daurada, it faces Altafulla to the west, La Pobla de Monto ...

station. The impact caused both trains to derail, two fatalities, and 90 injured.

References

External links

Euromed at official RENFE website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Euromed (Train) Renfe high-speed trains High-speed rail in Spain