High-speed AVE link from Valencia to Sevilla restored with connections to Alicante and Málaga

EASTERN and southern cities will soon be connected by high-speed rail now that the express AVE service is due to restart between Sevilla and Valencia, with one return journey every day.

From Valencia, the train will call at Cuenca and Puertollano (Ciudad Real province), both in Castilla-La Mancha, and at the inland city of Córdoba in northern Andalucía.

This will allow for AVE connections from Córdoba to Málaga and Cádiz, long-distance trains from Sevilla to Cádiz, from Córdoba to Granada, and from Alicante to Córdoba and Sevilla via the interchange in Cuenca.

Connecting trains will involve just one travel ticket – such as from Valencia to Málaga or Alicante to Cádiz – even though the trip will not be direct.

Despite having to change trains, the service will still be much faster than driving in most cases, and far less tortuous than at present, where passengers often have to travel some distance out of their way to get to their final destination.

Trains will leave from Valencia's AVE station, Joaquín Sorolla – accessible by free shuttle-bus from the city's main Estació Nord – at 09.00, and the return train to Valencia will leave Sevilla's Santa Justa station (pictured) at 18.15.

The entire journey will take just four hours.

Córdoba and Valencia will be three hours and 20 minutes apart, with the Córdoba train leaving for Valencia every day at 19.00, and the Valencia-Sevilla line reaching Córdoba from the east coast at 12.24.

From Cuenca, passengers can then get an AVE train to Albacete or Alicante.

Sevilla to Alicante will take a total of five hours and 26 minutes.

Travellers between Valencia and Málaga would leave the former on the 09.00 train or, from Málaga to Valencia, at 18.00, with a total journey time of four hours and 20 minutes, including the change in Córdoba.

Valencia passengers can also change at Córdoba to catch the AVE to Granada – or in reverse – and AVE trains leaving Cádiz daily at 15.40 for Sevilla will allow travellers from the former to get to Valencia.

As well as the AVE, the Intercity Torre del Oro train runs once-daily between Cádiz and Barcelona via Valencia.

According to rail board RENFE, the Valencia-Sevilla AVE link will be running once again from this coming Friday, October 7.