Trainspotting in Spain

[Birstall John]

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.

 

[nwales58]

No such thing.

For MD/Cercanias you may be able to wait on a platform, but at larger places there could be a Renfe security person around who moves undesirables away. If a station with Alvia/AVE there is access control to those platforms.

Have a look at a map of each place. Traditionally there were loads of level crossings on approaches but, e.g. at Leon and Burgos, the station section has been put underground or moved away entirely. [Edited for accuracy]

In case you're going down to Madrid there was an earlier thread. Basically Chamartin or a car park roof overlooking Atocha.

 

[Birstall John]

thanks for the reply, I am going to, Gijón,Bilbao, and La Coruna. I will go and try to find a viewpoin, which sounds the best way to go.

 

[nwales58]

Coruna, other than the (non-Alvia) platforms, probably no good as the approach is above the roads. If you travel out to a MD station towards Santiago, make sure you have booked the train back as they can be full especially Friday and Sunday.

Bilbao, assuming you mean Abando, there is a Cercanias station nearby just beyond the first bridge before everything goes into tunnels. Concordia is sleepy.

Gijon I don't know.

 

[Birstall John]

Thanks very much for your advice, it’s much appreciated.

 

[rg177]

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.

 

[Birstall John]

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.

Blimey it sounds like the best thing to do, is to get into the sticks, and do some lineside spotting.
I imagined it would be like The Netherlands, where you can tap in and out, and if you tap out in under an hour, it’s free.

 

[peteb]

I think you could get on the non-high speed platforms at Palencia without hassle but that might have changed since last year. Quite a busy line runs through the town. Old level crossings blocked off give a good view but nowhere to sit!

 

[AdamWW]

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.

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.

 

[Birstall John]

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.

 

[AdamWW]

Thanks a lot for the info Adam. I will bare that in mind.

I hope your experiences are similar. This was a brief trip so I don't make any claim that my experiences were typical.

But I did a fair bit of wandering round the platform area of large stations and taking photos without anybody objecting.

I found the rail system fascinating, both in terms of the mixture of gauges, including dual gauge track and gauge conversion stations, and the way RENFE have turned what was presumably once a fairly normal rail network into something rather peculiar, at least to my eyes.

 

[nwales58]

... the way RENFE have turned what was presumably once a fairly normal rail network into something rather peculiar

Was it ever 'normal'?

In 1976, my first visit, after 40 years of isolation it looked to me like a 1930s railway with the additional of diesel power and very small numbers of esoteric trains: Talgo and TER for rich people who could afford the mega-supplements.

Most people were very poor, much poorer than anywhere I'd seen before (until I reached Portugal). So frequencies were low, even in comparison with France in the 1970s. Chamartin had an array of Solari indicators, maybe a dozen or 20; on inspection that was enough to show the next 24 hours of medium and long distance departures! All long distance trains seemed to have compulsory place counted non-reservations. Freight was very sparse too. Far from French normal let alone Germany or Britain.

 

[AdamWW]

Was it ever 'normal'?

I couldn't say from personal experience. Maybe not.

I was assuming that you used to be able to just buy a ticket between any two stations even if it involved changing trains, rather than only being offered through trains along with a few connecting services specifically programmed into the system*, and also that the need for compulsory reservations wasn't as extreme as now. I also presume that before the high speed lines and their associated security, stations worked much like ones elsewhere in Europe rather than like little airports. And presumably the network was presented as a single organisation, rather than high speed, intercity/MD and suburban services all being separate entities with not just their own ticketing systems but in some cases different ticket barriers in the same gateline to access platforms depending on what type of service you're using.

* 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.

 

[rvdborgt]

* 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.

If they want connection times of one hour, then they're sending incorrect data to MERITS.
In addition, the connections that Renfe do sell, are often shorter than one hour.
In any case, if you book a journey with connecting Renfe trains, then you automatically have a through contract, wherever you booked.

 

[AdamWW]

In any case, if you book a journey with connecting Renfe trains, then you automatically have a through contract, wherever you booked.

That's great if that's the case, but I couldn't find anything telling me that I would have that right.
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.

 

[rvdborgt]

That's great if that's the case, but I couldn't find anything telling me that I would have that right.

EU Regulation 2021/782 article 12(1) and (3).

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.

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.
So you need to find a place where they sell the journey you want. Try Rail Europe, Trainline, etc.