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Renfe has had to apologize. He has done it in the mouth of Álvaro Fernández, its president, who has criticized the information in which he points to “rail chaos”. He has done it just when we have known another fact: Renfe never added as many passengers as in the first half of this year.
277.4 million. That is the number of travelers who have climbed to Renfe trains in the first six months of the year. The figure has been advanced by the company itself Who says they have risen to 3% more travelers compared to the same period last year. About 9 million more passengers.
In this semester, Renfe has broken another record. June 20 was the day that more people were mounted on a company train, counting 135,600 travelers in 24 hours. It is an increase of 7,170 users (5.58%) compared to the previous record.
The key. To achieve this growth, high speed has been key. According to Renfe, the impulse has been generated by the greatest offer from the exits from Madrid to Extremadura and Galicia, passing the latter through Castilla y León.
In fact, it is specified that high speed has moved in the first half of 2025 to 17.9 million travelers between January and June 2025. One that is 10.9% higher than that recorded in the first half of 2024 when 1.8 million less passengers traveled.
Yet. Passenger record figures arrive at a complicated time for Renfe. The first half of July has been marked by all kinds of delays. Some impossible to solve, such as the meteorological issues that stop the trains in Catalonia, but also for delays that They have hurt the company’s image.
Just a few days ago, a Renfe train stopped again in Toledo. There, Adif has a black point that evidenced the problem of Spanish infrastructure at the beginning of the month when that same place caused the fall of the rail network in southern. An Ouigo train suffered a failure in its systems that forced a stop. This stop had an impact on the accumulation of trains in a small section, overloading the network and burning the Renfe Avant systems. The passengers 13 hours were passedNight included.
Importual? It is not, much less, the only case. The Spanish rail system is winning the fame of unpunctual although its president says that 88% of trains reach their destination in time. And not only that, this places the company among the three most efficient in Europe, only behind the rail systems of Switzerland and the Netherlands.
In Xataka We have asked Renfe what is the definition of “punctuality”, since the company extended last year the margin of time before the client so that he can request the total or partial refund of the ticket. Of the 30 minutes that were common until 2024 They went to 90 minutes from margin. So far, Renfe has not given us an answer.
A 2025 controversy. That was last year but if something has characterized the first semester of 2025 have been the controversies that revolve around the company. On January one, what would come later. With the change of year, the new trains for The Madrid-Galicia route were detained.
In the following months, more delays would arrive, such as those mentioned in July but also in April and May. 16,000 passengers were affected for the theft of copper on the railway tracks and the problem of an Iryo train with a catenary caused a domino effect that It resulted in more delays.
To this we must add the controversies in the Galician corridor, with neighbors who protest the High -speed train stop suppression In a Zamorana station. EITHER The proposal of the mayor of Vigo to skip stops in Castilla y León for the train to arrive before.
Photo | Germán Poo-Caamaño
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