Walter Finch
A NEW high-speed train from Malaga to Alicante is being rolled out by the AVE rail provider.
But it doesn’t go directly in a straight line, or along the coast as the same journey by car would.
Instead it will still take a detour via Madrid, and still take half an hour longer than the car.
However it will no longer be necessary to get off and change trains in the Spanish capital.
The new AVE service will leave daily from Malaga at 8.05am with a stop in Atocha-Almudena Grandes in Madrid and arrive in Alicante at 1:39pm.
It will then go on to Murcia, making platform-fall at 2:37pm.
The reverse journey will leave Murcia at 3:32pm, stop in Alicante at 4:35pm and arrive in Malaga at 10:36pm.
However, if you’re pressed for time a car will still get you there faster.
It will take a traveller five and a half hours to get to Alicante by train, but only five if they started the journey with their own car in the best case scenario.
Rest stops, toilet breaks and driver changes will alter the calculation.
To Murcia – although it is geographically closer – will extend your trip by one hour to six and a half hours. By car, the same trip would take four hours and fifteen minutes – two hours quicker than the train.
The Spanish railway system’s spider web design means it’s usually necessary to go inland via Madrid for cities on the costas.
This irritating feature does not look like it will be remedied any time soon, since Malaga was once again left out of the EU’s plans for a Mediterranean Corridor last December.
