Page 73 - Vía Libre Special - 25 Years of Spanish High Speed Rail

Characteristics of the initial
service 1997:

Trains:
6 Alstom trainsets
Capacity per trainset:
325 people
Speed:
200-220 Km/h
Frequency: Tarragona was one of the provincial
capitals which benefited from the decision
5 services a day in each direction to boost the Mediterranean corridor with the
(Two between Barcelona and Alicante creation of the Euromed.
and three between Barcelona and Va-
lencia)
Journey time:
An average of 3 hours
Stations:
Barcelona Sants, Tarragona, Castellón,
Valencia Nord, and Alicante
Price:
4,600 pesetas in second class
6,500 pesetas in first class
Crew:
7 people

In 1997 the Euromed service linked the stations of
confidence and professionalism of the train Barcelona Sants, Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia Nord
managers, supervisors, crew members and everyone and Alicante.
forming part of the project were instrumental to the
excellence and prestige of the brand. be part of the learning process), and the committed
The first Renfe long distance team for the support of the entire organization, was the fuel
Mediterranean corridor was the result of the that fired the passion, commitment, responsibility,
careful selection of staff (for posts created six cooperation, and pride in belonging in the men and
years previously for the Madrid-Seville AVE) and women taking part.
the broad-based and innovative training that they In short, a mix of elements that gave rise to
received. All professional categories took part in this the commercial success of the new Euromed service,
process and interacted with one another. People while instilling a powerful customer-oriented culture
from human resources, AVE, Euromed’s management, and some links that remain alive today.
and managers from various business areas were also
present. The staff and intangibles
These initial premises, together with the
creation of a management centre at Sants to The supervisors and train managers became
support the onboard and on the ground work on authentic public relations drivers for Renfe, as recalls
the trains with people from the same group, the Tomás Gil, number one in his class of supervisors.
approachability and leadership of the management “We took care of the smallest details: we checked years of Spanish high speed rail
team, the trust, initiative and responsibility placed in the cleanliness of the trains, we checked that all
the frontline people (mistakes were considered to passenger comfort features were working, we

Vía Libre • Special 25th Anniversary of the AVE Edition 73