Economical driving saves ten percent of energy costs on the Madrid to Sevilla high speed train

Spanish Oddities
Economical driving saves ten percent of energy costs on the Madrid to Sevilla high speed train
By h.b. - Oct 7, 2008 - 8:11 AM

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Minister for Development, Magdalena Álvarez, said a group of drivers on the line had been responsible for the energy saving technique.

The Minister for Development, Magdalena Álvarez, announced yesterday that new ‘economical driving’ has been introduced on the Spanish high speed AVE trains.

She claimed that using the train’s inertia, energy savings of between 10% could be made, and that on the Madrid to Sevilla line between 35% and 54% of the journey could be made without any energy consumption.

She said the savings had been made possible thanks to a group of train drivers on the Madrid to Sevilla who were the first to apply the technique. Now a study was underway to see if the practice could be extended to the other high speed lines across the country.

The Minister also said yesterday that by 2012 there will be 3,000 kilometres of high speed lines across Spain.