Renfe has had a record summer of delays, and more than two million AVE travelers have run out of refund for changes

Summer has been hard for rail transport in Spain. Four out of ten high speed trains They arrived late at their destinationbut only three out of 100 passengers were able to claim some kind of compensation, according to The world. The data comes after hardening Refund conditions of Renfe in 2024, the main reason why the figures contrast both with the data prior to the reform.

Change of conditions. In July 2024, Renfe reformed Its ‘punctuality commitment’, multiplying the minimum delay time necessary to claim half of the ticket. If 15 minutes were enough to get 50% of the amount, now a full hour is needed. For total refund, the threshold went from 30 minutes to an hour and a half. The company justified this tightening as an “update” to continue being “the most advantageous for the traveler”, as the medium collects.

Summer figures. As They point From the world, between June and August, 6,554 long -distance trains and AVE arrived with delays exceeding 15 minutes, affecting 2.5 million passengers. However, with the new rules, only 444,000 travelers were entitled to compensation. This means that more than 2 million users who would have received a refund with the previous criteria were left without it. This, according to the medium, would mean a saving of about 79 million euros only in these three months.

Context. The reform is covered in the European Parliament Regulation of 2021, although at that time, Renfe offered much more generous compensations than the minimum required by European regulations. And while the EU forces to compensate with 25% of the ticket after 60 minutes late, the Spanish operator gave 50% with only 15 minutes. Now he has hardened his measures just when more delays are recorded.

Problems that follow there. Minister Óscar Puente acknowledged in September that the rail system will continue to have incidents “at least two more years”, according to collect The world. The problems range from Fissures in Talgo S106 trains (which forced to withdraw the low cost services from AVLO on the Madrid-Barcelona route) up to infrastructure deficiencies caused by fireaccording to the medium. The alternative to service, the conventional bird, costs up to 34% more than the economic option eliminated.

What comes now? Bridge has traveled to Germany To look for new trains in factories such as Siemens, recognizing that without renewing the fleet it will be impossible to improve the service, as collect The world. “We must not launch the bells on the fly, but if we do not renew the fleet, it is evident that we will not be able to improve in any case the service we are providing to the citizenship,” admits bridge. And in addition to having been a summer to forget in terms of ferroviar delays, it has also agreed that reimbursement conditions have also worsened.

Cover image | Falk2

In Xataka | Renfe has a new and gigantic project in progress: a night train to connect Europe from this to west