Birstall John
Member
Is there such a thing, as platform tickets in Spain? Visiting a few cities in Northern Spain, and would love to be able to do some spotting, whilst I am there.
Blimey it sounds like the best thing to do, is to get into the sticks, and do some lineside spotting.Gijon's Cercanias platforms are barriered (as with essentially all stations on the network), though there is this footbridge which overlooks the end of the platforms.
Security tend not to be too bothered if you have a ticket and you're 'supposed' to be there. Back in 2018, I strolled towards the platform end at a terminus outside Madrid and was chased by two security guards, who stopped in their tracks and let out an 'ohhhhh...' when I spun around and photographed the train. I spoke to them afterwards and both were fine about it - trespass is clearly a big concern.
Gijon's Cercanias platforms are barriered (as with essentially all stations on the network), though there is this footbridge which overlooks the end of the platforms.
Security tend not to be too bothered if you have a ticket and you're 'supposed' to be there. Back in 2018, I strolled towards the platform end at a terminus outside Madrid and was chased by two security guards, who stopped in their tracks and let out an 'ohhhhh...' when I spun around and photographed the train. I spoke to them afterwards and both were fine about it - trespass is clearly a big concern.
Thanks a lot for the info Adam. I will bare that in mind.I certainly had no trouble a couple of years back wandering round non high speed train platforms and taking photos.
On "high speed" (i.e. standard gauge) platforms my experience was of being herded round like getting on and off aircraft.
Thanks a lot for the info Adam. I will bare that in mind.
Was it ever 'normal'?... the way RENFE have turned what was presumably once a fairly normal rail network into something rather peculiar
Was it ever 'normal'?
If they want connection times of one hour, then they're sending incorrect data to MERITS.* You can use third party sellers to buy tickets with connections, but it's not at all clear what your rights are if you miss one due to delays. I did read something in a blog on the RENFE web site suggesting that you are OK changing trains so long as you allow an hour(!) connecting time but if so it doesn't seem to be well publicised.
In any case, if you book a journey with connecting Renfe trains, then you automatically have a through contract, wherever you booked.
EU Regulation 2021/782 article 12(1) and (3).That's great if that's the case, but I couldn't find anything telling me that I would have that right.
Yes, Renfe is making people's lives difficult. That's what they do. It's to the extent where I'm not sure whether this is still in line with said regulation: they're actively hiding certain journeys, not on the basis of connection time, but rather on the basis of whether they want people to use a connection or not, regardless of the connection time they've defined for the connection station.I wouldn't be confident with the argument "When you sell connecting tickets you don't allow an hour so I must be OK with this third party booking with a connection less than an hour that you wouldn't sell me."
In any case no matter what rights passengers do or don't have, it doesn't change the fact that for arbitrary journeys including connections you can't just buy a through ticket from RENFE in the way that you could for just about any other European operator. They don't even seem to offer a national travel planner that includes commuter trains.