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A215 words5 phrases

Travelling by train

Spanish trains are fast, punctual and full of announcements, so a few station words turn a stressful platform into a simple routine.

Quick answer

¿De qué vía sale el tren a Sevilla?

Which platform does the Seville train leave from? The word is la vía, the track, not a platform in the English sense.

The words

SpanishEnglish
el trenthe train
la estaciónthe station
el billetethe ticket
el andénthe platform
la víathe track
el vagónthe carriage
el asientothe seat
el pasillothe aisle
la ventanillathe window seat
el horariothe timetable
el retrasothe delay
el transbordothe change of train
la maletathe suitcase
salirto depart
llegarto arrive

The phrases you will actually say

¿De qué vía sale el tren a Sevilla?Which platform does the Seville train leave from?
Quería un billete de ida y vuelta.I would like a return ticket.
El tren lleva veinte minutos de retraso.The train is twenty minutes late.
Mi asiento es el doce, ventanilla.My seat is number twelve, window.
Hay que hacer transbordo en Zaragoza.You have to change trains in Zaragoza.

Worth knowing

The national operator is Renfe, and its long-distance high-speed service is the AVE, which runs at up to three hundred kilometres per hour and connects Madrid with Seville, Barcelona, Valencia and Málaga in a few hours; the cheaper high-speed brand is Avlo, and rival operators Ouigo and Iryo now share the same lines. Local commuter trains are Cercanías, medium-distance ones Media Distancia. Practical points: AVE tickets are seat-specific and get much cheaper booked weeks ahead, big stations put your bag through a scanner before boarding, and boarding usually closes a couple of minutes before departure, so the habit of arriving at the last second does not work here. Language note: Spanish announcements say vía for the numbered platform, and the andén is the physical strip you stand on. In Latin America el boleto often replaces el billete.

Practice

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