High-speed 'ghost train' out of Toledo axed
Service costing 18,000 euros a day was carrying just a handful of passengers
Renfe on Monday said that it would no longer operate its high-speed AVE train service connecting Toledo-Albacete-Cuenca because of declining passenger numbers. The AVE service will stop running from Friday.
While the high-speed link between Madrid and Toledo is a popular route, Enrique Urkijo, Renfe's director general for passengers, said that only nine passengers were using the Albacete route daily while the trains only took seven to Cuenca.
Urkijo said that since the route was first offered in December, only 2,796 passengers used the AVE to get to and from Cuenca and Albacete. It costs Renfe 18,000 euros a day to operate the route.
Meanwhile, from Friday Renfe will offer three more trains to cover the Madrid-Toledo route to its already nine-train daily service.