Madrid - Toledo's high speed train will start running from November 15th. More info here (in Spanish).

HOLY $^&*, BATMAN!! WOWEEE!! That's just WONDERFUL news of one of the long-term (what, 2 years?) "works" which seem neverending in the midst of all the other long-term "improvement" projects going on in Madrid City (M-30, Río Manzanares, Puerta del Sol/Tunel de la Risa, Moncloa). Finally a ray of hope!

The article (linked above in Antonio's posting) states a 20 minute trip, 10 trips per day (but they didn't say if that was round-trip or one-way), and no news yet on the price of the tickets. My question is will this become THE ONLY train available between the cities or will the slower and (likely) less expensive trains still be used. I recall it was quite affordable before and no-doubt the AVE will cost more but will we have a choice? Can't wait to try the fast AVE though. That's great news.

Saludos, MadridMan

Can you let us know when you have more information about this train? We're hoping to take it in December. Thanks!

The fast link will be the only one available because the old rails have been dismantled (AVE's gauge and old rails' are different). The official opening will be on Nov 15th, but probably the public opening will be some days later. Actually, as of yesterday evening, there was no information in RENFE's Website about tickets or fares yet.

I expect it to be publicly opened during the weekend of 19th and 20th. Rumours about fares said that a one way ticket Madrid-Toledo could cost about 8 euros (slightly higher than the previous 5 euros fare). There will also be regional AVE trains from/to Toledo-Ciudad Real and Toledo-Guadalajara.

Confirmed. Here is the RENFE's press release to announce timetables and fares of the high speed rail link between Madrid and Toledo.

It will be opened on Nov 15th. Tickets will be sold from Nov 10th on. There will be 10 daily services on each way on weekdays, 8 on weekends:

MAD->TOL
6:50a Mon-Fri
7:50a Mon-Fri
9:20a
10:20a
12:20p
1:50p
3:50p
5:50p
7:50p
9:50p

TOL->MAD
6:50a Mon-Fri
8:00a Mon-Fri
9:20a
10:20a
12:20p
1:20p
3:20p
5:20p
7:20p
9:20p

The trip will take 35 minutes. The fares are:
8 euro one way
12.80 euro return trip on the same day
14.40 euro return trip on different day

There will be multi-trip tickets, but I think this is out of the scope of this forum.

Enjoy it!

Thanks Torrales and everyone for the info. May the first person to try it let us know how it goes!
j.

Loads of coverage on the Spanish tv news today. Everyone seems very pleased. On a slightly different note, one of the many free newspapers contained an article yesterday stating that Toledo, Avile, Guadalajara and Segovia are now set to become barrios of Madrid (in other words commuter towns) thanks to the new AVE links. I didn't realise this before, but it seems as though Segovia and Avila will soon have high-speed links to Madrid.

Segovia will, but Avila will not, at least in a near future.

The opening of the Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid high speed railway is expected by 2008 (could be sooner). This is a basic infrastructure, because it is the starting point for all high speed train connections from Madrid to any point from Irun (in the Basque/French border) to Tui (in the Galician/Portuguese border).

OK, we've checked out the Renfe site and have the Madrid to Toledo and back info. What's the best way to get into the center of Toledo? Does anyone know the bus number or the fare? Is it easy for a non-Spanish speaker to navigate between the train and the bus?