Can someone please tell me the status of this? It's now been 13 years since the Madrid - Seville AVE opened, and at the time they were saying that the next link would be to Barcelona. Whatever happened? Thanks.

We just took the AVE train from Sevilla to Madrid, it was wonderful!!!

There have been lots of delays and problems with the Madrid-Barcelona AVE line. About a year and a half ago they opened it up as far as Lérida (Lleida), but it's also had its fair share of problems including sinkholes along the line. It also doesn't go as fast as it was supposed to and I've heard people here refer to it as "the world's slowest high speed train!" Last I heard it would be open to Barcelona in 2007.

The Madrid - Lleida link only goes 200 Km/h now. The new trains, capable of reaching speeds of 350 Km/h are working since a month ago, but problems with the signals system have caused a serious delay to it. Before the end of the year the trains will travel at 300 Km/h all the way to Lleida. The connection with Barcelona won't be open till 2007 or even later. Cataluña's government and the central government don't reach an agreement on how the tracks should enter the city. Cataluña's former government wanted AVE to stop at El Prat airport. Anyway, lot's of problems and a lot of money invested with no benefits yet.