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A new high-speed train service was launched in Madrid last week that promises to give Spain’s state-owned Renfe and French company Ouigo a run for their money. The new brand, named ‘iryo’, will be in operation from the second quarter of 2022 and according to the company, whose headquarters are in the Valencian Community, the operator will manage 30% of the Spanish services which connect Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Seville, Malaga, Córdoba and Zaragoza in the first phase.

 

Given that Spain has recently suggested banning short-haul flights where equivalent train journeys are an option, iryo is doing its bit for the environment by offering “the only fleet of totally new trains on the market”. With an investment of one billion euros, the trains are the only ones in the world that have the Environmental Product Declaration (EDP), and are the “most sustainable, fastest and quietest in Europe”. Made with 95% recyclable material, the vehicles save 80% of carbon dioxide per person and journey.

 

Once it is fully operational, iryo will generate around 2,600 jobs across Spain and expects to attract around 50 million passengers in the first 10 years.

 

A spokesperson for the company highlighted Spain as a country at the forefront of modern rail travel and added that, after 30 years of high-speed travel in Spain, iryo aims “to transform the experience of travelling by train, positioning the railway as transport for a more sustainable future and positioning ourselves at the centre of a multimodal concept of mobility”.

 

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