WSJ: Spain's Bullet Train Changes Nation -- and Fast - by Thomas Catan

Alta Velocidad Española

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Spain's Bullet Train Changes Nation -- and Fast - by Thomas Catan

To sell his vision of a high-speed train network to the American public, President Barack Obama this week cited Spain, a country most people don't associate with futuristic bullet trains. Yet the country is on track to bypass France and Japan to have the world's biggest network of ultrafast trains by the end of next year, figures from the International Union of Railways and the Spanish government show. The growth of the Alta Velocidad Española, or AVE, high-speed rail network is having a profound effect on life in Spain. Many Spaniards are fiercely attached to their home regions and studies show they are unusually reluctant to live or even travel elsewhere.

But those centuries-old habits are starting to change as Spain stitches its disparate regions together with a €100 billion ($130 billion) system of bullet trains designed to traverse the countryside at up to 218 miles an hour. By 2020 nine out of ten Spaniards are expected to live within 31 miles of a high speed rail station.

Note EU-Digest: The trains itself are also a marvel of engineering and design: Its 200-metre aluminium chassis carries 404 passengers, whose reclining chairs - which can swivel to face the direction of travel - are fitted with video and music players.