Alta Velocidad Española (AVE)^{[lower-alpha 1]} is a high-speed rail service operated by Renfe, the Spanish State railway company.

The first AVE service was inaugurated in 1992, with the introduction of the first Spanish high-speed railway connecting the cities of Madrid, Córdoba and Seville.

In addition to Renfe's use of the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias-managed rail infrastructure in Spain, Renfe offers two AVE services partially in France, connecting respectively Barcelona-Lyon and Madrid-Marseille.^[2]

Alta Velocidad Española translates to "Spanish High Speed", but the initials are also a play on the word ave, meaning "bird". AVE trains operate at speeds of up to 300 km/h (186 mph).^[3][4]

As of 2024^[update] Renfe offers the following AVE services:^[5]

• Alicante–León via Albacete, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín, Valladolid and Palencia.
• Alicante–Ourense via Albacete, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín and Zamora.
• Barcelona–Granada via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba and Antequera.
• Barcelona–Málaga via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, and Antequera.
• Barcelona–Seville via Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Puertollano and Córdoba (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
• Burgos–Murcia via Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Elche and Orihuela.
• Gijón–Castellón via Oviedo, Mieres Del Camín, La Pola, León, Palencia, Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Cuenca, Valencia and Sagunto.
• Gijón–Vinaros, via Oviedo, Mieres Del Camín, La Pola, León, Palencia, Valladolid, Segovia, Madrid-Chamartín, Cuenca, Valencia, Sagunto, Castellón, Benicàssim, Oropesa del Mar and Benicarló (only in summertime).
• Huesca–Seville via Tardienta, Zaragoza, Calatayud, Guadalajara, Madrid-Puerta de Atocha and Córdoba
• Madrid–A Coruña via Zamora, Ourense and Santiago De Compostela.
• Madrid–Alicante via Cuenca, Albacete, and Villena (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
• Madrid–Barcelona via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, and Tarragona (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
• Madrid–Castellón via Cuenca, Requena-Utiel and Valencia.
• Madrid–Figueres via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona (trains are scheduled with selective stops).
• Madrid–Gijón via Valladolid, Palencia, León and Oviedo.
• Madrid–Granada via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, Antequera and Loja (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
• Madrid–Huesca via Guadalajara, Calatayud, Zaragoza, and Tardienta.
• Madrid–León via Segovia, Valladolid and Palencia.
• Madrid–Málaga via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Córdoba, Puente Genil-Herrera, and Antequera (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
• Madrid–Murcia via Elche and Orihuela (some trains are arriving to Alicante and then reversing towards Murcia).
• Madrid–Ourense via Zamora.
• Madrid–Seville via Ciudad Real, Puertollano, and Córdoba (non stop trains and trains with selective stops are also scheduled).
• Madrid–Valencia via Cuenca and Requena-Utiel (non stop trains are also scheduled).
• Madrid–Vigo via Zamora, Sanabria, A Gudiña, Ourense, Santiago De Compostela and Pontevedra.
• Valencia–Seville via Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Puertollano, and Córdoba.
• Valencia–Burgos via Requena-Utiel, Cuenca, Madrid Chamartín and Valladolid (trains with selective stops are also scheduled).

• International:^[6]
  • Barcelona–Lyon via Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Montpellier, Nîmes, and Valence.
  • Madrid–Marseille via Guadalajara, Zaragoza, Tarragona, Barcelona, Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Béziers, Montpellier, Nîmes, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.

The central hub of the AVE system is Madrid's Puerta de Atocha, except for the Madrid–León, Madrid–Burgos, Madrid–Galicia, Madrid–Alicante and Madrid-Murcia lines, that terminate at Chamartín station.^[7][8]

Currently, there are several series of high-speed trains that run the AVE service:

• S/100, manufactured by Alstom
• S/102, manufactured by Talgo and Bombardier
• S/103, manufactured by Siemens, marketed globally under the brand Siemens Velaro
• S/112, manufactured by Talgo and Bombardier

• A Talgo 350 train (Renfe Class 102) at Madrid Atocha station.
• AVE train Talgo 350 (Renfe Class 102)
• Talgo 350 train (Renfe Class 102) at Lleida Pirineus station
• AVE "Alstom" (Renfe Class 100) trainset at Córdoba.
• A RENFE AVE S/103 (Siemens Velaro E) at Figueres Vilafant railway station in 2013.

The still-growing network transported a record 21.3 million passengers in 2018.^[9] Though the network length is extensive, it lags in ridership behind comparable high-speed rail systems in Japan, France, Germany, China, Taiwan, and Korea.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.