In the final quarter of 2025, the high-speed rail service between Alicante and Madrid was stabilised. In comparison to the figures for October, November, and December 2024, the number of passengers on the four services available after the liberalisation of the rail sector (AVE, Ouigo, iryo, and Avlo, also operated by Renfe) nearly stagnated, with a minimal increase of 0.4%. The quarterly report produced by the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) indicates that this is the case. However, it also highlights a stark contrast with the other Levante corridor, which connects Valencia and Madrid, where passenger traffic increased by 26.5%.
In fact, the Alicante-Madrid train’s performance was the second most modest among all state-run rail lines, with the Madrid-Barcelona connection experiencing a 13% decrease compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. However, the reality is that the route to the capital still exceeded one million passengers, as evidenced by the figure of 1,026,477.
The CNMC details that Renfe, which groups the AVE and Avlo services, was once again the most popular option chosen to cover that journey, with 629,433 passengers. Ouigo, with 375,050, and iryo, with only 21,994 passengers, were the next most popular options (with the exception that the latter limited its offer to weekends in that period).
Ticket cost
How about the development of ticket prices? In this instance, the report indicates an increase in comparison to the same quarter of 2024. In particular, the average cost of the high-speed train journey between Alicante and Madrid increased by 6.6% in the final three months of the previous year, reaching €37.46. Nevertheless, this price was 1.3% lower than that of the previous quarter (July to September).
In reality, the price trend was an increase across all rail corridors, with the exception of the Madrid-Malaga route, which experienced a 5% decrease in ticket prices, and the Madrid-Seville route, which experienced a further reduction of 1.9%. The Madrid-Valencia route experienced a 22.3% rise in price, while the Madrid-Barcelona route experienced a 51.7% increase. Thus, the report indicates that the average quarterly price of a basic ticket for the Madrid-Barcelona route was €85, €48 for Madrid-Seville, €46 for Madrid-Malaga, €37 for Madrid-Alicante, and €34 for Madrid-Valencia during that period.
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