The railway operator iryo begins its journey on the high-speed tracks that connect Madrid with Andalusia on the eve of Holy Week and the April Fair. The Italian ‘red arrows’ will be the first to break Renfe’s monopoly in the south of the peninsula and from March 31 they will link the capital of Spain with Córdoba, Seville and Málaga. The company’s presence on the Andalusian roads represents the real landing of railway liberalization in southern Spain, where until now only the state operator provided service through its AVE and local services (Cercanías and Media Distancia).
In a first stage, there are two daily trains in each direction between Madrid and Seville and another two between Madrid and Malaga, both with a travel time of around 2 hours and 35 minutes. The frequencies, for the moment, are distributed in a morning train and an afternoon train, with departures from Madrid before at 06:55 and 17:55 to Seville and 07:55 and 14:55 to Malaga. In the opposite direction, the trains from Santa Justa leave at 10:15 a.m. to 9:15 p.m.; while from the Costa del Sol they will do so at 11:30 and 20:45. As of June 2, trains from Malaga will also stop at Antequera-Santa Ana.
Tickets from 18 euros but without being ‘low cost’
To promote his arrival, iryo launched a promotion of 250,000 flexible bills with the possibility of acquiring them on any date until the end of the year. Although it ended a few days ago, you can still find rates from 18 euros. The possibility of acquiring seats for the summer season is working in their interests, since Renfe has not yet put its trains up for sale in the absence of Adif confirming its paths.
“The pre-reservation is brutal, much better than our start in the rest of the corridors, it looks very good,” said the president of the company and of Air Nostrum, Carlos Bertomeu, in relation to the rate of ticket sales. Iryo will complete the first phase of its use in June, when it increases the number of frequencies in the corridor to the 16 that it has agreed with Adif in its framework agreement.
This commitment to the low-cost market is part of the launch strategy, but unlike the third player in the market, Ouigo, its business model aims to win over the business traveler. “We will have very competitive prices in a company that is not ‘low cost’, that treats all segments but does not leave empty seats due to price,” he assured. Proof of this is the signing of agreements with business organizations, the design of a ‘premium’ offer together with the hotel chain
New destinations in June
With a good part of the Italian capital (45% belongs to the state company Trenitalia) and the rest divided between Air Nostrum (31%) and Globalvía (24%), the operator became the first bet of private investors for the Spanish high speed. It started connecting Barcelona and Madrid, with a stop in Zaragoza; cities to which Valencia and Cuenca were later added.
Alicante and Albacete will be added to these destinations as of June 2, and Tarragona as of the 15th of the same month. According to the delivery of its fleet of 20 Frecciarossa 1000 trains—to which it has allocated 797 million euros—it will increase its frequencies on all available routes, a milestone that it intends to reach in September. Its arrival in Andalusia also results in 60 new jobs and an estimated tourist impact of 360 million euros per year. Iryo’s plans for the future also contemplate his future presence in Granada, without any deadlines having been set so far.