I travelled from Madrid Atocha to Santander on the 1035 ex Alicante last Wednesday, at the exceptional promotional price of 31.50 euros in Preferente. The barrier staff were rather suprised I wanted to travel from Atocha as the departure from Chamartin is 55 mins later! Heavily loaded Alvia 130.04 arrived in the terminal platforms, but there were very few passengers travelling forward that I could see, in Preferente at least. After departure at 1325 we went southbound through the gauge-changer and then reversed; the driver walking through the train to change ends. It was quite surreal running non-stop through the Cercanias broad-gauge tunnel to Chamartin where we picked up a moderate load of passengers. Departure was at 1420, running through the gauge-changer to the north of the station to gain the standard-gauge again!
Valladolid is in a state of flux with much tidying up to be done of the standard / broad gauge configuration, with various temporary connections in place. The gauge-changer to the north of the station has been removed and the 'Norte' main-line trains from Bilbao / Irun now exclusively use the southern one. The High Speed Line to Venta de Banos is double-tracked with left-hand running (in homage to the 'Norte', or because ERTMS has yet to be installed?). A 'third-side' has been constructed here, currently trackless, for the future HSL on to Burgos.
The situation on to Palencia, junction for Santander, is less than optimal shall we say, with the HSL becoming single-track. Our train gained the broad_gauge again through another gauge_changer to join the 'third-side' at Venta de Banos (used by the 'Camino de Santiago' Irun/Bilbao to Vigo/ A Coruna through train). Palencia station has two standard gauge platforms now, but now only one broad_gauge which seems a bit limiting.
The line to Santander is impressive, going 'over the top' with the Alvia romping up the gradients.There has been much track relaying but it is still desperately slow. Santander is going to loose out on the high speed revolution as the HSL from there to Bilbao (and so on to Madrid) has been cancelled.
I took Brittany Ferries 'Pont Aven' back to Plymouth, which I highly recommend - a very pleasant cruise with the Bay of Biscay fortunately very calm!