Andrea Valladolid’s second home is the train. And it is not a euphemism. Like many journalists, she begins each morning by getting on a train to go where the news is. Today is Barcelona, tomorrow, Valencia and within two days, any other point in the Spanish geography. Many press conferences take place first thing in the morning and that means taking the first train of the day, the one that leaves before dawn and often arrives in a hurry, without eating anything and with a long list of emails to check.
The new high-speed operator, iryo, which already links Madrid and Barcelona, offers something that is worth its price in gold for those like Andrea who travel against the clock: faster trains with early morning departures. A few precious minutes that allow you to be at your destination sooner. Or, simply, arrive on time for your informative appointments, without interrupting an event that has already begun by excusing yourself with the classic ‘forgive me, I’m just coming from Madrid’.
The new high-speed operator, iryo, offers faster trains with early departures
A newsroom at many kilometers per hour
As soon as she settles into her seat, Andrea opens her laptop and connects to the Internet. It’s time to read the latest news, check email, confirm interviews or finish editing an article. She knows that once she arrives in Barcelona, she will lack minutes to carry out these procedures calmly. It’s not yet 7 o’clock and, while many are still spending the last few minutes of her between the sheets, Andrea has already organized her day’s agenda.
These routine but essential procedures only need three things: a good Internet connection, a wide and comfortable table where you can type without pressing your elbows against your ribs, and silence. “It gives me life that in iryo I have a free high-speed Wi-Fi connection and the possibility of a 5G connection. In this way, I take advantage of every last second of the journey, overtaking work”, explains this journalist and colleague at La Vanguardia. He greatly values the fact that each seat has a socket “to charge the mobile or laptop. That many times I forget to do it at night and they are my work instruments”.
iryo offers free high-speed Wi-Fi and the possibility of 5G connection, which allows passengers to take advantage of the trip to work without any problem
Two rows later, Carlos, commercial director of an auto parts company, finalizes the estimate for a client he will meet with in just two hours. He is one of the many executives who, like Andrea, “lives” daily on a train. Or María and Esther, two expert architects in building rehabilitation and energy efficiency, who take advantage of the tables facing each other in the Singular Only YOU class together with Manu, an engineer, and Zoe, a lawyer, to finalize the details of the energy transition project for a town hall that they present that same morning.
A class for every need
Each passenger is a world. There are those who take advantage of the journey to rest and disconnect. Others, like Andrea, need to move on with their daily work or have a first team meeting before visiting a client. Some are managers of large companies where the cost of a premium ticket is not a problem. Others have just embarked on a startup and measure every penny of every move. “One of our pillars is people. We offer four classes of comfort: Infinite, Singular Only You, Singular and Initial. All have flexible rates and unlimited changes. We also offer four gastronomy options so that, combined with the classes, each client can decide what to drink at any given moment”, explains Óscar Santamaría, iryo’s marketing director.
iryo offers four personalized comfort classes, with flexible rates and unlimited changes: Infinite, Singular Only You, Singular and Initial
This flexibility is one of the qualities that users like Andrea value the most, whose day can change at any time because today does not know about agendas. Changing the return time of your ticket – or the date – is already commonplace. Travelers like her find in the Casas iryo of the stations of origin and arrival personalized attention in a quiet environment regarding schedules, fares and ticket sales.
In addition, Infinita and Singular Only You class travelers, as well as members of the Club Yo loyalty program for YoInfinita and YoSingular Empresas, can access private rest or work areas in the associated hotels. This is the case of the Casa iryo at Only YOU Atocha (Madrid) or the Casa iryo NOBU Hotel Barcelona. Both hotels are located next to the Atocha and Sants stations, respectively, so it hardly takes time to get to their facilities.
“For us it is very important that the client feels at home. It is one of the spearheads of iryo as a value proposition”
Traveling towards sustainability
These rest areas are vital for the business traveller, since they find the calm to have a coffee that it is difficult to have in the bustling cafeterias of the station. Or for those who, like Andrea, want to relax at the end of a hectic day in a safe environment, away from the friends of the alien who sometimes make a killing in busy transit areas. “More than a train, we offer an experience. For us it is very important that the client feels at home. It is one of the spearheads of iryo as a value proposition”, points out Santamaría.
iryo has manufactured a fleet of 20 ETR 1000 trains, better known as ‘Frecciarossa’, the most sustainable, silent and fastest in Europe
But where iryo clearly stands out from other operators is in its strong commitment to sustainability. “Our trains are made with recycled raw materials. In turn, 95% of the train is recyclable at the end of its useful life. And we use electricity from renewable sources”, adds Santamaría. Giant steps that allow us to reduce the carbon footprint of each journey. In addition, they invite customers to finish neutralizing their carbon footprint with the Green Complement, a small contribution when buying the ticket that goes towards planting trees in association with ReTree. Through social networks, iryo proposed to his followers to choose the location of that forest. The winning option to plant that first Valley of Dreams will be an area affected by forest fires in Madrid.
Breakfast to recharge batteries
Like many of her wagon companions, Andrea leaves the house dead from sleep and without breakfast. Luckily, the train has a wide gastronomic offer that goes from quick breakfast to gourmet proposals with the Infinite Bistro fare with Haizea.
iryo offers a local gastronomy service on board with premium menus at all hours, both in its Haizea Bar and in the seats themselves
Thus, between mail and mail, gather strength to face the appointments in the morning. That they will not be all that he expected, because before arriving at Sants they tell him that he has to bring forward his return to cover the information in another destination. A setback that is not so much thanks to iryo’s flexible change policy. An alternative that seems tailor-made for unpredictable globetrotters like Andrea and that define a friendlier way of treating the traveler.
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