Paul Steane's Photography Pages

After arriving at the airport hotel at 00:05 I had to get the 05:59 metroValencia line 9 service from the nearby Rosas stop to Xativa stop in the centre of Valencia for the short walk to the main, older, broad gauge station Valencia Estación del Norte. A quick visit to the shops on the station provided breakfast before I got on the DMU for train 18161, the 06:38 service to Utiel. Advertised as one of only two daily through workings to Madrid over the broad gauge line via Utiel, Cuenca and Aranjuez, the route was cut and replaced by buses due to bad weather in winter 2022 washing away the track between Utiel and Cuenca. At Utiel the rail-replacement bus was taken for the two hour journey to Cuenca. Here, train 33473 was waiting to take us as far as Aranjuez, formed of RENFE Media Distancia DMU 598 015. This train was the whole point of this 'diversion' via Spain as it has been threatened with short-notice replacement by buses; it is very poorly patronised as the broad gauge route is very much slower than the new high speed standard gauge service which runs frequently between Cuenca and Madrid. Though nominally a through working to Madrid, as expected the DMU terminated at Aranjuez, but missing the Cercanías (local train) service to Madrid by two minutes. A twenty-minute wait for the next local train lead into a 45 minute run on an EMU along the old main line which still got me to Madrid in plenty of time for my return working - straight back to Valencia! The specific train chosen was train 4110 which had originated in Gijon and ran through beyond Valencia to Castellón de la Plana; I was getting off for my hotel in Sagunto. Train 4110 is an "Alvia" (dual gauge) Class 130 working and after using the high speed, standard gauge, line from Madrid to just outside Valencia Joaquin Sorolla, ran via the gauge changer into the broad gauge platforms at this, the newer Valencia terminus. Use of the broad gauge tracks between Valencia and Castellón allows the train to call at Sagunto, whereas the alternative "AVE"-worked trains must run on the standard gauge tracks and cannot be platformed at Sagunto.....