The Spanish high speed rail service AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) is the fastest commercial service in the world according to official figures, with an average speed of 222 kilometers per hour, putting it ahead of Japan.
Further, the Spanish network will also be the most extensive in Europe when the 391 kilometers connecting Madrid with Albacete, Cuenca and Valencia are put into service on December 18th.
Regarding its average speed of service, the Spanish AVE travels at an average of 221.05 kilometers per hour (Km/h), thus surpassing the 218.8 kilometers per hour registered in Japan, and that of France (216 Km/h). Next in the ranking is the United Kingdom, whose high speed trains travel at an average commercial speed of 180 kilometers per hour, followed by Italy (172.5 Km/h), Korea (153.19 Km/h) and Germany (145 Km/h).
As far as punctuality is concerned, only the high speed trains from Japan and Spain are on time close to 100%. In the Asian country, 99% of the high speed trains arrive at their destination on time, and in Spain the figure is 98.5%. Next in line is the high speed service of South Korea, with an average punctuality of 93.7%, followed by France’s TGV (92.5%), the Eurostar connecting France and the United Kingdom (91.6%), Italy’s Eurostar (87%) and the German high speed train (79%).
The Spanish network and high speed service thus continue to be a worldwide point of reference. A proof of this are the visits that delegations representing different countries (the United States, China, Sweden and Egypt, among others) continually make to Spain in order to see the network and seek advice, in order to use this information for their own rail investment plans.