Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Quick question about the T-Dia ticket that you can purchase for Barcelona and its environs.
In terms of validity, in there any distinction between the Rodalies services operated with suburban stock and those which run further out towards Portbou/Lleida etc but are classified as 'Rodalies' operated with a mix of RENFE MD/Regional units?
In essence, would this ticket be accepted on these trains within the applicable zones of the T-Dia ticket, or is it only for the truly 'suburban' services?
Quick question about the T-Dia ticket that you can purchase for Barcelona and its environs.
In terms of validity, in there any distinction between the Rodalies services operated with suburban stock and those which run further out towards Portbou/Lleida etc but are classified as 'Rodalies' operated with a mix of RENFE MD/Regional units?
In essence, would this ticket be accepted on these trains within the applicable zones of the T-Dia ticket, or is it only for the truly 'suburban' services?
AFAIK depends on the train classification (Rodalies) not the rolling stock - just check the train isn't classed as MD on the timetable/departure indicator (I don't think there are many except on the Port Bou route.)
AFAIK depends on the train classification (Rodalies) not the rolling stock - just check the train isn't classed as MD on the timetable/departure indicator (I don't think there are many except on the Port Bou route.)
Great cheers. No all the ones I've seen have been numbered accordingly R11 etc, just with MD branded stock.
Seeing as they all leave from the same gated platforms at the likes of Sants I assumed the same fare structure applied but didn't want to be caught short!
Ola, was there/left there 2 days ago-now in Mallorca.
It goes by zones-zone 1-Barca city and is fairly big. It totals 6 zones. INcludes not just RENFE but also most of the FGC network and also the trams, metro in Barca and all buses IN the area-not the catalunya Express running out of it. There is NO discount on it with Tarjeta Dorada (pensioners pass). For 6 zones its about 28€. There are also 10-ride Carnets. And there is the usual Barcelona Card aiming at unknowing tourists as it includes a few sights or discounts.
For these other services-it is more complicated as you seem to think-its RENFE after all quite good in making it as difficult as even your British Rail is able to offer manifold confusing fares. (for those skimping at any thing: of course I am quite aware this BR is no more and also ATOC).
SOME of the lines you mention are rodalies all the way-though the T-Dia only covers the 6 zones. Those are mainly the lines going north to FR border. BUT they also may have a few Regional Express, and these may be-or not may- allowed. This will be announced-in catalan and spanish only-at the very last second at the platform, this assuming you can understand/hear the often quite mangled sounds. Or if very lucky-it even is shown on the screens on the platform. I have however never encountered any ticket check whilst riding in this area. All main stations are gated, it still uses the old style magn. stripe tickets. Many of other cercanias systems have gone over to chipcard style.
I used a ditto ´express´ to visit Tarragona and this would NOT accept any rodalies ticket-though it had a stop at the last station in the zones. But then mishap after more happened: the train was already some +45 late. Right after passing Sitges (no tabled stop) it stopped, waited, waited more, then driver came out of front, walked back and a few mins later we went back the 1 KM or so into Sitges. There was a big crowd waiting-the also heavily delayed 1/day Regional Express to Madrid was stranded, and these all boarded. After a while we continued. NO announcement, no nervous conductor coming round, nothing. There were fine screens that could have shown info-none working. After finally alighting-some 90 mins late by then, it transpired that my train (going Reus) was transformed in the stranded RE to Madrid.
Then at Tarragona-which was more modern and adapted to also /en/ as even Barca, it rained, so I waited, time to study the details that-if I presented myself the next day with the ticket and told I had a delay of >15 mins, I would have got a free ticket, to be used in 30 days after, for riding the same sector. Thats as such more generous as 25% money back-but for me came to no avail or help.
It seems these RE are the same style trainsets, but with ´coach´style seats with headrests and movable. ROd. have tipically hard plastic seats only.
You did not clearly state to if you would limit to Barca-city only or whole network. INside town it hardly seems to matter, as there simply seem to be never any checks. And for going out-well, I hope this helps. But perhaps there is even a Spanish genius among the forum readers who can shed more informed light in this.
Be also aware there may be completely unannounced ´obras=works on the line with bus replacement. This will also only be announced last minute, the train itself will probably still show original destination and it will only be told with many excuses together with the usual catalan/spanish announcing.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Specific for Catalunya is that there are NO MD trains there (these always require REServation). Its Regional Express-as above or a very few Mediterraneo, going south to Valencia, but these do not stop INside the 6 zones.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Longer distance trains are AVE, Avant (hispeed on the normal gauge) or IC (1 or 2/day going far west), these also do not make further stops in the zonal area. Its mostly Tarragona or Lerida and then beyond. No more to FR border.
I'm wanting to travel within the six zones and no further. Currently just using a Barcelona one but next weekend I'll be back (such are the joys of very cheap Ryanair flights) and will have a while longer to play with. Funnily enough I'll be doing your trip in reverse, it being a whole £23.61 in total to fly to Barcelona with ten hours or so to play with in Palma.
It's more just for a bit of variety more than anything. I can certainly amuse myself with the suburban stuff otherwise.
I have noticed that reliability compared to the likes of Madrid is a lot worse. I'm reminded of when I travelled in Asturias and bus replacements seemed to be utterly random and often at the surprise of the driver too.
Just to pick up on what was said earlier about there not being any MD trains in Catalunya - that's unfortunately not true (at least on the R11, the line from Barcelona up to Girona, Figueres and the French border) - the timetables (available here) indicate some trans as being "R" (Regional) and some as "MD" (Mitjana Distància / Media Distancia). The MD ones are run with different stock and are the faster ones with fewer stops inside the Barcelona zones (the MD ones stop at Sant Celoni and then Maçanet-Massanes whereas the R ones stop at Granollers Centre, Sant Celoni and then all stations). The MD trains also have a different pricing structure (being more expensive - for example Barcelona to Girona is €8.40 on an "R" train and €11.25 on an "MD"). One annoying thing about this is that the only trains that cross the border to Cerbère are the slower R trains.
Heading South out of Barcelona (eg to Tarragona), rather than there being R and MD trains, there are R and RE (Regional and Regional Express) trains, and again the RE trains have a different fare structure (in this case an R is €7.00 and an RE is €8.05), but it's not always the case that an RE will use different stock to a standard R train. Some RE trains (heading South) do stop at Vilanova i la Geltrú and I think they all stop at Sant Vicenç de Calders as the last stop inside the zones, so if you're heading to those stations just keep on eye on which train you're getting to be on the safe side.
The announcement to listen/watch for at the stations is "Per aquest tren no són vàlids els bitllets o abonaments de Rodalies" in Catalan and "Para este tren no son válidos los billetes o abonos de Cercanías" in Spanish ("For this train, tickets and passes for local trains are not valid"). My understanding is that a T-Dia, T-Casual or T-Usual counts as a "pass for local trains" and so wouldn't be valid on the MDs or REs. I can't find a definitive source for this, but the fares page on Rodalies says "the Barcelona suburban railway integrated network" (or in Catalan it says "la xarxa de Rodalies"), and so I think that they would point to this if it came to it (the MD and RE trains aren't part of the "xarxa de Rodalies", even though they are operated by "Rodalies de Catalunya" - the naming of the system is not exactly straightforward). If it was me, I wouldn't chance my luck (although I would happily take a normal "R" train inside the zones my ticket covered).
I've written this up and re-reading it I'm not sure it actually makes things any clearer but hopefully it helps slightly!
Funnily enough today is the today I've been using the T-Dia proper and I ended up taking the R17 from Vilanova non-stop to Sants. It was merrily advertised as 'Regional' so I decided decided to jump on anyway and see what happened.
Not an awful lot, as the conductor decided to go sit with the driver for the entire trip!
I think that's going to be the only instance of me using a line where such services will be useful today- indeed duly noted too that some services to Portbou are categorised as MD. Google Maps picks up on this too.
*Edit- I'm currently headed to Maçanet and can see that my connection is in fact ex-Portbou but looks to do every shack along to Sant Celoni so that seems to be all good..!
The fares system in the Barcelona area is very confusing to the uninformed visitor, but I suppose it's no worse than what we have in much of the UK! If you are travelling by high speed RENFE train, it's worth noting that most tickets include "CombinadoCercanías", which gives you 4 hours' free travel on the Cercanías services at either end of your journey. You enter a 5 character code to collect your ticket at the Cercanías ticket machine. However, this only includes Cercanías (called Rodalies in Catalonia) services, not Metro or any other RENFE services.
I wouldn't rely on what Google Maps says about RENFE services in Spain - it was missing several trains, and some were shown as running to different timings than those advertised at the station.
Unfortunately the RENFE website is also of little use as it does not list Cercanías services/stations in its journey planner - only high speed (AVE, Avlo, Euromed etc.) and regional services (MD = Medium Distance, RE and R) services. They also do not have a data feed, so Google Maps, Interrail journey planner, DB etc. only show a limited number of trains, sometimes with out of date information.
I found the best solution was to use the journey planning website provided by the Generalitat de Catalunya (regional government) as this seems has up to date information on all public transport in the area.
There is some very impressive rail infrastructure in Spain, and it's clear there has been massive investment in recent years. However some of these snags and complexities still let the experience down.
We are aware of an issue with emails from the Forum to Microsoft-based email accounts (hotmail/outlook/live.com email addresses). This is being looked into currently, thanks for your patience meanwhile.
