Trains currently operating between Oviedo and Llanes are moving at 36.4 kilometers per hour, matching the speed of the historic route that linked the Asturian capital with Madrid 130 years ago in 1892. An Adif employee commented with a mix of irony and regret that a well-trained cyclist can sometimes outpace a train, noting that the AVE itself travels at 360 kilometers per hour.
The new digital ASFA system, which stands for Announcement of Signals and Auto Braking, recently rolled out along the rhythm of the metric display. The route from Ferrol to Santander traverses all of Asturias from Vegadeo to Colombres, and its introduction has lengthened travel times, compelling Renfe to adjust schedules accordingly. This update has caused a visible disruption in planning and timing for many trips.
As a consequence, the Oviedo–Llanes line, which used to cover the journey in 2 hours and 46 minutes up to last Sunday, now requires about 3 hours and 6 minutes. An extra 20 minutes is the new normal. With a rail distance of 115 kilometers, the route’s average speed rose from 41.5 km/h to 36.4 km/h after the change.
On the Oviedo–Santander corridor, measuring 215 kilometers, travel time has grown from 4 hours 58 minutes to 5 hours 38 minutes since the digital ASFA implementation, adding roughly 40 minutes. The average speed dropped from 43.3 km/h to 38.5 km/h, a pace more typical of trains from another era in Spain.
For the Oviedo–Ferrol segment, the impact is even starker. Reports from the Renfe-Feve Spain Users Association and the Association for the Promotion of Conventional Railways and Mobility (Affecom) indicate that travel between Ferrol and Oviedo now hovers around 7 hours and 22 minutes. In the 1970s and 1980s, the same route was handled by a so-called fast train in roughly 5 hours and 50 minutes, about an hour and a half faster than today.
Considering that the Ferrol–Oviedo distance is 310 kilometers, current times imply an average speed near 40 km/h, echoing speeds seen on historic Spanish rail routes. This marks a drop of about 4 km/h from last Sunday. The Oviedo–Ribadeo stretch, at 164 kilometers, now takes about 4 hours 16 minutes with a further six minutes added elsewhere, roughly 20 minutes longer than before.
The groups mentioned above say the new travel-time extensions threaten regional cohesion in Asturias and oppose the government’s calls for time reform and mitigation of digital ASFA effects. They describe the situation as a misfortune when comparing Oviedo–Luarca with the Pajares variant opening soon, noting it would take essentially the same time as the capital city link.
Speed reduction
Why does digital ASFA drive longer trips? Because it imposes stricter constraints than the old analog system. Trains must slow down by 30 to 10 kilometers per hour more than before at points marked by warnings such as level crossings, curves, and work zones. Digital ASFA is a safety mechanism that integrates components on trains and rails and influences overall scheduling.
Last Sunday, Adif expanded the digital ASFA rollout to the Oviedo–Infiesto and Oviedo–San Esteban suburban lines within its RAM metric network. With this move, nearly all Feve lines in Asturias meet European standards and the Rail Traffic Regulations deadline set for July 1 of this year to begin the analog cut-off. The new system is already in operation on the commuter routes Gijón–Cudillero, Gijón–Laviana, and Gijón–Oviedo–Trubia.
According to the Railway Manager, implementing digital ASFA on commuter lines has improved the reliability of railway operations, reduced human error, and offered greater schedule precision in Asturias. Still, the same official notes that commuter lines experience longer travel times, typically 12 to 14 minutes on average for entire routes. In high-traffic sections like Oviedo–Pola Siero the increase may be around 4 minutes, and in the Oviedo–Trubia segment about 2 minutes. Adif also predicts that the new driver-assistance system will eventually help trains run more on time.
Marking the broader impact, the new system is reshaping how regional rail moves people and goods, prompting a recalibration of expectations for journey times and service reliability across northern Spain.