That 'diesel engine' is actually a diesel multiple unit (DMU), the Talgo XXI, which is fitted out and used as a specialised test train, and normal practice when commissioning high-speed lines is to go up with test run top speed in steps of 30 km/h steps, so its use shouldn't be surprising.
The Talgo XXI, aka "Virgen del Rocío", aka BT001, aka AVE/RENFE 355 001, was built as a gauge-changing train prototype in 2002. It achieved a world record of 256.38 km/h for DMUs, snatching it from Britain's HST (while the diesel engine world record is actually higher, 275 km/h by a Russian loco).
A picture of the train after conversion to test train for GIF and re-painting in the scheme of Zapatero-era GIF successor ADIF:
This line is part of the Madrid-Irún line which will allow high-speed trains to run between Madrid and Paris in under 10 hours (maybe DoDo knows the planned travel time for this future route).
With no definite route set on half the missing sections, it is a bit early to predict travel time. Would it all be fully built out for 360 km/h with no gaps, it could be around four hours non-stop. But realistically, we can be happy with six hours in 2016, with seven more likely (2h10 Paris-Bordeaux, maybe 2h30m Madrid-Irún, what's critical is in-between in France). *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Nitpicking myself: there are actually two of them, but see the picture. (ADIF also owns the single Talgo 350 prototype for similar purposes but higher speeds & electric traction.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
This line is part of the Madrid-Irún line which will allow high-speed trains to run between Madrid and Paris in under 10 hours (maybe DoDo knows the planned travel time for this future route). With no definite route set on half the missing sections, it is a bit early to predict travel time. Would it all be fully built out for 360 km/h with no gaps, it could be around four hours non-stop. But realistically, we can be happy with six hours in 2016, with seven more likely (2h10 Paris-Bordeaux, maybe 2h30m Madrid-Irún, what's critical is in-between in France).
With no definite route set on half the missing sections, it is a bit early to predict travel time. Would it all be fully built out for 360 km/h with no gaps, it could be around four hours non-stop. But realistically, we can be happy with six hours in 2016, with seven more likely (2h10 Paris-Bordeaux, maybe 2h30m Madrid-Irún, what's critical is in-between in France).
Today Madrid-Irún is at best similarly 5½h. But how did you get at nothing under 3h30 with high-speed?
Madrid-Valladolid (179.6 km) is slated at an initial 0h55 (later 0h50), while Vitoria-San Sebastián on the in-construction Y Vasca (c. 110 km) at 0h34m. Nothing is definite for Valladolid-Burgos-Vitoria (c. 220 km), but Aznar-time general plans put Madrid-Vitoria at 1h35, Madrid-San Sebastián at 2h15 (and Valladolid at 0h50).
Direct Madrid-Paris, or even Madrid-Vitoria and Madrid-San Sebastián trains don't need to stop at intermediate stops (just as there are say direct Paris-Marseilles trains). Note that San Sebastián is not on the direct line to France (for that matter, Irún may be bypassed too), check on the Y Vasca map (and with bypass in this press release [pdf!]).
What might limit schedule plans in the medium term is problems with the signalling system ERTMS Lev 2. Madrid-Barcelona runs with 300 km/h only since a few months, and it seems plans to run the Siemens and Talgo trains at higher speeds (350 resp. 330 km/h) have been put on ice. But this should be solved by the time all of the Valladolid-Vitoria gap is built... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
