The plan was to launch through high-speed rail service between Paris (Lyon) and Barcelona last month. But it never happened.
According to the respected rail industry website IRJ, officials from the French and Spanish rail and infrastructure networks now confirm that the service has been delayed indefinitely owing to a number of technical issues.
Perhaps this should not come as a surprise. As we wrote a couple of months ago (see online news, March 2013) the development of international high-speed rail is being held back by a combination of technical, political and immigration issues.
Until through services start it is still possible to travel between these two cities by daytime high-speed train with a change of train at the Franco-Spanish border.
Passengers must take the French TGV from Paris (Lyon) to Figueres where, after a simple cross-platform change, they continue 15 mins later with a Spanish AVE (Spain’s equivalent of the TGV) service to Barcelona.
According to raileurope.co.uk there are two high-speed trains every day on this route. The fastest journey time is 6 hrs 33 mins.
For more information visit raileurope.co.uk
Report by Alex McWhirter
