Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia on Saturday inaugurated a new line in the country's high-speed rail network, which is being billed as the most advanced in Europe, DPA reported.
The royal couple took the high-speed AVE train from Madrid to Valencia on the eastern Mediterranean coast. Other passengers on board included Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Infrastructure Minister Jose Blanco.
On Wednesday, Crown Prince Felipe had inaugurated another stretch of the same line, which branches off to Albacete in the south-east.
Travelling at up to 330 kilometres an hour, the AVE will cover the 391-kilometre route between Madrid and Valencia in just 95 minutes, more than twice as fast as earlier trains.
More than 3.5 million people are expected to travel annually on the new line, according to the rail company Renfe.
Running 15 times daily between Madrid and Valencia in both directions, the AVE is expected to reduce flight traffic on the route by 55 per cent, car traffic by 25 per cent and bus traffic by 5 per cent.
The construction of the new high-speed rail line cost 6.6 billion euros (8.6 billion dollars).
Spain began developing its high-speed rail network in 1992 with the inauguration of a line linking Madrid with Seville. The AVE now travels also other cities such as Malaga, Toledo or Valladolid.
The line linking Madrid with Barcelona, which was opened in 2008, is due to be extended to the French side of the border by 2012. The AVE network currently covers 2,200 kilometres.
The network features three types of trains: a new version of the French TGV, another of the German ICE-3 as well as a Spanish-Canadian train known as El Pato (The Duck).
"Spain has surpassed even former pioneers such as France and Japan," Blanco says. The government says Spain is now the world leader in high-speed trains, preceded only by China.
The AVE network is seen as reviving poorer regions, boosting technological exports and improving Spain's transport connections with the rest of Europe.
Critics, however, say not all the AVE lines are profitable, and that Spain is neglecting the potential offered by traditional trains
...