On November 27th the French and Spanish governements signed an agreement to form a company, run jointly by their respective rail companies, SNCF and Renfe, to operate high speed rail services between Paris and Madrid.  It is anticipated that some services will be non-stop, with a journey time of 5h.10m, with others stopping in Lyon and Barcelona.  From Madrid it is 2h.30ms to Malaga, while the direct Barcelona - Malaga route takes about 5.h.40m.  Either way, it will be possible to leave London's St. Pancras station and complete the 1,700kms to Malaga entirely on a high-speed train.  The Madrid - Valencia line is due to open at the end of 2010 so visitors to the Costa Blanca will also benefit.

The scheduled start date is 2012 and the key to the route opening on time is the completion of the Barcelona - Figueras section on the Spanish side of the border, Figueras to Perpignan in France and then Perpignan to Montpellier.

Renfe, the Spanish state rail operator, is now one of the biggest players in high-speed expansion; in addition to continuing to expand AVE services in Spain it is currently bidding for contracts in Saudia Arabia and Brasil.