Trains and other things: Santiago de Compostela, Vigo

Today is my last day in Spain, I will travel south to Portugal. In fact it is the only way to travel between Spain and Portugal today by day train. There are two daily services between Vigo and Porto. Between Madrid and Lisbon it is possible to travel by a night train.

I have time to visit Santiago de Compostela before my train.

Leaving my hotel in the morning, this must have been one of the nicest hotels during this trip, small and cosy.

Iglesia de la Compañia o de la Universidad

Facultade de Xeografia e Historia - USC

Escola Universitaria de Traballo Social

Santiago de Compostela Cathedral - destination of the Camino de Santiago, a leading Catholic pilgrimage route originated in the 9th century.

No backpacks in the cathedral are allowed

A confessional

Pazo de Raxoi

Backpackers arriving from Camino de Santiago.

Las Dos Marias

Eating churros, famous Spanish dessert

Parque da Alameda

Statue of Don Ramon María De Valle-Inclán - a Spanish writer

Fish market

Unfortunately the rest of the day and my trip would be very rainy

The prevailing winds from the Atlantic and the surrounding mountains combine to give Santiago some of Spain’s highest rainfall: about 1,545 millimetres (60.8 in) annually. (Wikipedia)

Train station

City of Culture of Galicia

Vossloh Euro 4000 locomotive hauling a freight train is passing by

Operated by Takargo Rail which is a Portuguese rail transport company

Renfe Class 594 DMU, is based on Danish IC3 trains

The train is used for TRD (Tren Regional Diésel) services

Renfe Class 730

I will use two trains today, the first one is to Vigo.

The Atlantic Axis high-speed rail line, also called Atlantic Corridor high-speed rail line, is a high-speed railway line that links A Coruña and Vigo in Spain. Construction started in 2001 and the first section between La Coruña and Santiago de Compostela opened in 2009 and was electrified in 2011. The extension from Santiago de Compostela to Vigo completed in March 2015 and the entire line was inaugurated on 18 April 2015. (Wikipedia)

Co-financed by EU

Media Distancia train is a Renfe Class 121

The new high speed railway is built for 250km/h

Viaduct over river Ulla

Vilagarcia

The old railway is running in parallel. The trip between A Coruña and Vigo now takes 83min, which is almost 50min faster than before.

Vigo Urzaiz is a new high speed railway station terminal

The station is served only by Media Distancia services

The new underground station is located where the original station of Vigo-Urzáiz was once, it was built in 1878. The new station opened in 2015

My next train will be from another station in Vigo, so there is a short walk over there

Two train stations now in Vigo

The city of Vigo has 292,817 inhabitants (2016), with an extended metropolitan population of 481,268, making it the 14th-largest metropolitan area of Spain. (Wikipedia)

Another new station in Vigo is Guixar, which opened in 2010, it is meant to serve as a temporary station.

Today there are however more services departing from here, including international service to Porto.

International service Trencelta operated by Portugese CP started in 2013, operating the route between Vigo and Porto, taking 2h15min. Renfe Class 592 DMU is used for this service.