Elipsos
| Elipsos Internacional, SA
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Public company under Spanish law |
| founding | April 1, 2001 |
| Seat | Madrid ( Spain ) |
| Branch | Railway company |
| Website | http://www.elipsos.com/ |
| As of April 22, 2015 | |
Elipsos (full name: Elipsos Internacional, SA ) is a Spanish railway company founded in 2001 . It is owned equally by the Spanish state railway Renfe and its French counterpart SNCF . The company has been responsible for international high-speed connections between France and Spain since December 2013 . From its foundation until the end of 2012 and 2013 respectively, Elipsos operated night train connections from Spain to France and Italy as well as to Switzerland .
history
In order to promote and better market night train connections between Spain and its northern neighbors, the French and Spanish state railways decided in 2001 to set up a joint company for this project. Elipsos , based in Madrid, started operations on April 1, 2001. Due to the legal situation at the time - European long-distance rail transport was not yet liberalized - Elipsos only marketed and looked after international night train connections. The trains themselves continued to be officially operated by RENFE on Spanish territory and SNCF on French territory. Until December 2012 - when destinations in Italy and Switzerland were still being approached - Trenitalia and SBB were also operators.
Until the timetable change on December 15, 2013, Elipsos was in charge of the night train connections, named after famous Spanish artists. The trains were known as Trenhotel in Spain , Trainhôtel in France and EuroNight internationally .
In 2009 Elipsos carried 330,000 passengers.
When the night trains operated by Elipsos were discontinued for the timetable change on December 15, 2013, the range of high-speed connections between France and Spain was significantly expanded. The high-speed network is offered by Elipsos under the Renfe-SNCF en cooperación / en coopération brand .
By the end of 2014, i.e. in the first year of its existence, the high-speed connections were used by a total of 1.85 million people. Of these, 800,000 passengers were on cross-border trips. The busiest route Paris - Barcelona counted 200,000 passengers. Among the travelers, 37% were French, 28% Spanish and 35% of other origins.
Current connections
All connections marketed by Elipsos are currently served by French TGV or Spanish AVE high-speed trains. These trains operate under the name Renfe-SNCF en cooperación / en coopération . They use the high-speed routes Perpignan - Figueres and Figueres - Barcelona between France and northern Spain .
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| TGV | Paris - Barcelona | 6 hours 25 minutes | 3 |
| AVE | Lyon - Barcelona | 5 hours 1 minute | 1 |
| AVE | Toulouse - Barcelona | 3 hours 8 minutes | 1 |
| AVE | Marseille - Madrid via Barcelona | 7 hours 40 minutes | 1 |
Former connections
All connections were operated as night trains with Talgo series VI cars. These trains have a gauge change facility to switch between Iberian gauge (1668 mm) and European standard gauge (1435 mm).
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| Trenhotel Francisco de Goya | Madrid Chamartin - Paris Austerlitz | December 2013 |
| Trenhotel Joan Miró | Barcelona-França - Paris Austerlitz | December 2013 |
| Trenhotel Pau Casals | Barcelona-França - Zurich main station | December 2012 |
| Trenhotel Salvador Dalí | Barcelona-França - Milano Centrale | December 2012 |
The line to Zurich was discontinued on December 9, 2012, the night train to Milan (Milano Centrale) was discontinued on December 7, 2012. The two connections to Paris are no longer offered since the timetable change on December 15, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Number table of the SNCF ( Memento of the original dated February 23, 2011) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French)
- ↑ a b Renfe-SNCF website . Retrieved April 23, 2015.
- ↑ En un an d'existence, la ligne TGV vers Barcelone a transporté 1,8 millions de passagers (French). French newspaper L'Indépendant website , December 15, 2014. Accessed April 23, 2015.
- ↑ a b c d Overview map of the connections offered ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Renfe-SNCF website . Retrieved April 23, 2015.
- ^ The new SBB timetable: More space on the Geneva – Lausanne route . NZZ website , November 8, 2012. Accessed April 23, 2015.
- ↑ Important changes: Elipsos night trains , http://www.eurail.com, October 15, 2012
