AVE Madrid–Málaga

Splits from the Seville line at Córdoba and dives through the Sierra to the Costa del Sol.

The 2007 extension beyond Córdoba turned Málaga from a sleeper-train destination into a lunch trip: 513 km in about two and a half hours behind the shark-nosed S-102 Talgos. The route shares the classic run across La Mancha and down to Córdoba, then swings south through the olive seas of Andalusia, tunnelling the cordillera around Antequera, its Santa Ana station a hub in the groves, before sliding into María Zambrano beside the old town. El Torcal’s karst towers and the reservoirs of the Guadalhorce pass just out of window-reach.

Stations

1. 0 kmPuerta de Atocha +15
2. 210 kmPuertollano +4
3. 343 kmCórdoba +5
4. 455 kmAntequera-Santa Ana +5
5. 512 kmMálaga María Zambrano +4

The stations OpenStreetMap lists for this service, in order, with the distance along the line as drawn here. A train may skip some of them. A +N after a station: N other routes on this map stop or end there, and the map draws it as a station where lines meet.

Along the way

• Córdoba interchange
• Olive groves to the horizon
• Antequera Santa Ana
• Guadalhorce reservoir country
• Málaga María Zambrano

How this line was checked

• Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 1374172: the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
• Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 7 m from it
• Checked against the running timetable via ÖBB Scotty: our line sits under 100 m from the shape of AVE 2072
• Wikipedia has an article for this line
• See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it

Questions and answers

How long is the AVE?

The AVE runs 513 km from Madrid to Málaga.

How long does the AVE take?

The fastest scheduled journey is 2 h 20 min for the 513 km. That is an average of 220 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 300 km/h.

Who runs the AVE?

Renfe and iryo, with S-102 Talgo 350.

How old is the AVE?

The line has been in service since 2007. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.

How often does the AVE run?

≈ 10× daily across operators.

View on the world railway map →

Read more on Wikipedia ↗