P.L.Guillemin schrieb am Dienstag, 24. Februar 2004 um 14:50:38 UTC+1:

Ulf Kutzner <[email protected]> a écrit dans le message : [email protected]...

"P.L.Guillemin" schrieb:

[Golden Age and Decadence of the "Sud-Express"]

In the late-80s, that Train could have up to 20 cars South of Hendaye,

Or could be split in one Irún - Porto and one Irún - Lisboa.

Indeed.

including 8 French couchette cars and 4 Car Transporters, both mounted

on

interchangeable bogies...

North of Hendaye, the French Train was also quite long, and also

conveyed

through cars between Paris and Vigo/Alicante,

I have seen a through car to Alicante but never found it in the
timetables. Could have attracted too many passengers.

IIRC, it was faster via Portbou, using R473-472 "Paris-Côte Vermeille" (or Ex 1111-1110 running at peaks + Talgo 463-460 "Mare Nostrum" (or Diurno 1473-1470 "Valencia Expreso" Portbou-Alicante and vv.)

and also a few to Santiago,
depending on pilgrim's demand.

But not published for normal travelers?

These cars only ran on a chartered basis AFAIK

A very high

percentage of passengers seemed to were Interrailers like me....

Which is all but a sign of long-term sustainability South of the

Pyrenees.

How much money RENFE gets from an interrailer on Irún - Fuentes de
Onoro?

Not very much, I m afraid. That's why so many Estrella Trains only have seated-accommodation in Preferente class. While this is priced at a reduced rate, the fact that it is yet 1st-class acts as a bar against Interrailers. Anyway, now that all B11x-10200 cars are gone (either rebuilt into Arco
cars, or scrapped or sold to EFE), it's too late.
The Costa Brava which I lately spotted in Portbou was in such poor condition that I would think twice before taking this train (save for cabotage in Catalonia). Even Gran Clase WL26x cars now repellent

Conversion into a Talgo train is unlikely to happen if this train

remains

barred North of Hendaye, as revenue would remain too weak to fund the

new

rolling-stock. Loadings are reported to be low save in Summer

So, there might have been more cars last summer and there will be this year?

Estrella services now run with very reduced formations, some of them

being

devoid of any catering facilities, which had always been very uncommon

in

Spain.

Eg:

204-205 "Costa Vasca"

Irun-Madrid: A12tv-12000+Bc10x-9600+WL26x (3 cars)

But again should be more in summer.

In Spain, conventional fleet is now very meager:

Arco cars (Class 2000) (ex B11x-10200):
A9t-2000: 10
B10t-2200: 21
BR3t-2800: 10

Diurno cars:
B10t-9300: 15
BR3t-9820:5
Estrella cars
A12t-9000: 5 (Ex-Diurno)
A9t-9100: 5 (Ex-Diurno)
A12tv-12000: 5 (Ex-Diurno)
A10x-10000: 18
A8lv-10500: 4 (sleeperettes)
Bc10x-9600: 30
Bc10x-10600: 10
WL26x-7100: 36
BR3t-9820: 2 (Ex Diurno)
BR4x-10800: 8
WR-9900: 3
WL36x-5400 (T2), AR7t-9750, B11t-9200, BR4t-9800 and B11x-10200 are all
gone.
There is only a very limited amount of spare Bc10x-9600 and B10t-9300 to increase core formations, and such spare cars usually decay on sidings...

In Portugal, CP now plans to withdraw all its antiquated Stainless-steel Soferame cars rather soon. Alfa Pendular sets are to displace newly-refurbished Corail cars (delivered in 1987-88) and IC (rebuilt
Soferame cars).

CP now bought 5 (five) Corail Bc10x cars from RENFE, not many
for running a daily service.

Regards, ULF

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