Trains and other things: Seville, Málaga

Today I'm traveling back from Cadiz on the way towards Barcelona. On my way, I will visit Seville, Malaga, and Alicante.

In the morning, I'm taking a short tour around Cadiz

The train bound for Sevilla SJ (Santa Justa)

I'm stepping out at San Bernardo station in Seville, which is closer to the city center

The tram line in Seville opened in 2007 and is operated by CAF Urbos trams

The only tram line is very short, 1.4km but it is perfect if someone wants to reach the city center from San Bernardo station

Not many tourists this summer

Neoclassical building & former tobacco factory, now Seville University offices with paintings.

I don't have much time for Seville, as I am about to take 3 more high-speed trains today. Here is Renfe Class S104, operating as Avant service - high speed train on short distance lines.

This Avant service operates the route from Seville to Malaga through Cordoba

There only one Turista class on the train and no food/snack service

The trip from Seville to Malaga takes about 2 hours

Like with almost all other trains in Spain, this one requires a seat reservation. As the train is almost empty, it is possible to change the seat or seat alone.

S104 operates only on standard gauge lines and has a top speed of 250km/h. I have been traveling before on this train between Madrid and Toledo.

After making a longer stop at Cordoba, the train is changing direction and traveling on the high-speed line Cordoba-Malaga which opened in 2007.

The section between Córdoba and Málaga runs through precipitous terrain in the Sierra Nevada and several viaducts and tunnels were necessary to complete the connections, including the Guadalhorce viaduct (574m), the Abdalajís Tunnel (the 3rd longest in Spain after the Guadarrama and Pajares tunnels at 8970m in the Cordillera Bética), the Arroyo de las Piedras viaduct (1208m long and 93.4m high, making it the highest viaduct along the line), the Arroyo del Espinazo and Jévar viaducts (the longest viaduct along the line when the two are considered together) and the Álora, Espartal, Tevilla, Gibralmora and Cártama tunnels that exist in a long chain. The precipitous terrain is one possible reason why the Córdoba–Seville section was opened in 1992, but the Córdoba–Málaga section wasn't opened until December 2007. (Wikipedia)

There is a longer stop at Antequera-Santa Ana so I have a chance to take some photos

The branch line to Granada to the left

Now there are some tunnels along the way

Arriving at Malaga. The station bears the name of the philosopher and essayist María Zambrano since 2007.

I don't have much time here in Malaga too, so I'm using this Lime e-scooter to travel around the town

Now it is time to take my second Renfe Spain Pass trip. As both MD and Avant services are rather cheap, it is clever to use the Spain Pass for the AVE services which are the expensive ones.

Once again I will be traveling with AVE Class S102

The trip from Malaga to Madrid is only 2h 40min long with only one stop on the way

Ghost airport

My goal today is to reach Alicante, but to do so I have to travel through Madrid

I just have 40min to change trains here in Madrid, but the AVE services in Spain are incredibly punctual, much better than both TGV in France and Frecciarossa in Italy - probably due to that in Spain they are using dedicated tracks on the entire routes.