Alcázar de San Juan–Cádiz railway

Alcázar de San Juan–Cádiz railway
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Adif
Termini	Alcázar de San Juan Cádiz
Service
Operator(s)	Renfe Operadora
Technical
Line length	576.9 km (358.5 mi)
Track gauge	1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in) Iberian gauge
Route map to Madrid 148.1 Alcázar de San Juan to Valencia 164.2 Marañón 174.0 Cinco Casas to Tomelloso 183.7 Herrera de la Mancha 197.3 Manzanares to Ciudad Real 224.9 Valdepeñas 239.0 Santa Cruz de Mudela 248.5 Peñalajo 256.0 Almuradiel-Viso del Marqués 266.0 Venta de Cárdenas 273.6 Las Correderas 279.3 Santa Elena 285.5 Calancha 295.6 Vilches 300.3 Cabrerizas 306.1 Vadollano 314.7 Linares-Baeza to Almería Linares (under construction) 322.0 Las Madrigueras 328.8 Jabalquinto 335.7 Mengíbar-Las Palomeras Mengíbar-Artichuela Villargordo Jaén 340.9 Espeluy 350.0 Villanueva de la Reina 362.8 Andújar 368.8 Arjonilla 374.4 Marmolejo 381.7 Los Siles 387.4 Villa del Río 397.6 Montoro 406.8 Pedro Abad Los Majuelos 411.4 El Carpio de Córdoba 415.9 Villafranca de Córdoba 423.4 Los Cansinos 430.3 Alcolea de Córdoba to Madrid (AVE) 435.4 Campus Universitario de Rabanales 442.0 Córdoba 445.1 Córdoba-Mercancías 447.7 El Higuerón to Málaga 453.7 Villarubia de Córdoba to Málaga (AVE) 463.1 Almodóvar del Río 472.5 Posadas, Spain 482.1 Hornachuelos 492.8 Palma del Río 497.5 Peñaflor 506.1 El Priorato 515.9 Lora del Río 531.4 Guadajoz 536.3 Los Rosales to Zafra 543.4 Cantillana 550.1 Brenes 557.4 El Cáñamo 559.9 La Rinconada 563.2 Majarabique to Huelva 2.6 Palacio de Congresos 5.9 La Negrilla 571.1 Sevilla Santa Justa 6.6 Padre Pío Palmete 1.9 San Bernardo Seville Metro line 1 to Ciudad Expo Guadaíra under construction Seville Metro line 1 to Olivar de Quintos 3.6 Virgen del Rocío 6.1 Jardines de Hércules 7.5 La Salud 8.5 Bellavista 15.1 Dos Hermanas 16.6 Cantaelgallo to Málaga 31.7 Utrera 55.5 Las Cabezas de San Juan 74.2 Lebrija 89.3 El Cuervo 99.7 Aeropuerto de Jerez 103.4 Jerez de la Frontera-Mercancías 109.5 Jerez de la Frontera to Bonanza El Portal to Sanlúcar 124.4 El Puerto de Santa María 126.6 Valdelagrana 131.6 Las Aletas 2.33 Universidad 133.2 Puerto Real 144.1 San Fernando Centro 145.4 San Fernando Bahía Sur Trambahía to Pelagatos Ardila 147.5 Rio Arillo 153.9 Cortadura 154.9 Estadio 156.2 Segunda Aguada 157.1 San Severiano 158.1 Cádiz

The Alcázar de San Juan–Cádiz railway is an important Iberian-gauge railway line in Spain. It branches from the Madrid–Valencia railway at Alcázar de San Juan and terminates in Cádiz. It was once the only line linking Madrid to Seville, but now primarily serves local commuter rail services and regional traffic since the opening of the Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line in 1992.

Route

The line serves major Spanish cities including Córdoba, Seville, Jerez de la Frontera and Cádiz; along with a small branch to Jaén at Linares-Baeza, and a second after Linares to Almería of around 250 km (160 mi). The line also branches off at Córdoba as the Córdoba–Málaga railway. In October 2015 the section of the line between Seville and to Cádiz was upgraded to high-speed standard after 14 years of works and put in service by Alvia trains for speeds up to 200 km/h.

Services

The line is used by Cercanías Madrid's C-3 service, the C-1 and C-4 of Cercanías Sevilla and the C-1 of Cercanías Cádiz; along with numerous regional services along various stretches of the line. A Larga Distancia service runs the full distance between Madrid and Seville (although not all the way to Cádiz), taking 7 hours and 41 minutes; since the opening of the AVE high-speed rail line travel has been reduced to 2 hours and 21 minutes non-stop, freeing up the older slower line for other traffic.