EU-DIGEST - special edition

Spanish airlines are facing growing pressure on their domestic routes from the expansion of the country's high-speed railway network, which the government says will be the world's most extensive by 2010.

State-owned railway operator Renfe opened a bullet train service between Madrid and Malaga on the Mediterranean coast in December and between the Spanish capital and Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, two months later.

"We have the largest amount of high-speed rail under construction, with five times more than the next country, Japan, and in just two years we will have the most kilometres of high-speed in operation," Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa de la Vega said at the time.

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