trains

more capacity and driverless trains

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It is the most used line of the entire Spanish railway network, and now faces its greatest transformation in decades. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has presented an investment plan of 1,350 million euros to renew the Madrid Cercanías C5 from top to bottom. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2031 and for this, two cuts are already planned in the next summers of 2027 and 2028. We will tell you all the details. A line that moves Spain. The C5 connects the south and southwest of Madrid (Alcorcón, Leganés, Fuenlabrada, Móstoles) with the center of the capital through Atocha, and absorbs 29% of all commuter travelers in Madrid, which together moves nearly 250 million people a year. According to Ministry data, some 72 million users use it every year, making it the public transport line with the most travelers in the entire country. Just like they count According to El Diario, 56% of these trips are for work or academic reasons. Because now. According to they count From El País, demand has grown by 10% between 2022 and 2024, and current infrastructures are not prepared to absorb that increase. The trains in service do not exceed 150 meters in length, the platforms do not allow longer vehicles and the signaling system has become obsolete. Furthermore, the Ministry deliberately delayed the start of these works so as not to coincide with the burial of the A-5works that have given more work to the C5 since last year by increasing frequencies by 30%. What exactly is going to be done. The plan collects about 28 performances which will be distributed between Adif (650 million) and Renfe (700 million). The most important ones include: The extension of platforms between 40 and 50 extra meters to accommodate trains of up to 200 meters. The construction of the new Móstoles-El Soto station. The reorganization of the track change points between Atocha and Móstoles (bringing them closer to metro entrances to facilitate transfers). The renewal of the signaling system to the European ERTMS Level 2 standard. Accessibility and safety improvements in tunnels and underground stations. Renfe, for its part, will allocate 600 million to the purchase of 35 new Stadler trains, which are already in production and are expected to be received in the coming weeks to be put on other lines first. The cuts: when and where. Puente comments that interruptions will be “inevitable”, but that they will occur at times of lower demand. The first major cut will affect the Atocha-Cuatro Vientos section for four months starting in the summer of 2027, to begin work on the underground infrastructure and the countervault of the Laguna station. The second will arrive in the second half of 2028, with another four-month window to renew exhausts and signaling on the sections towards Móstoles and Cuatro Vientos. Of course, the entire calendar is conditional on the Madrid City Council complete the burying of the A-5 in January 2027, as promised. So if the timing fails, the plan would have to be modified. Alternatives during outages. The Ministry provides free replacement buses operated by the EMT and reinforcement on Metro and other Cercanías lines. According to collect El Diario, Puente has requested the collaboration of the Regional Transport Consortium of the Community of Madrid, and has demanded “the same loyalty” that, according to him, the Ministry has had in delaying the works of the C5 while the burying of the A-5 lasted. Of the 700 million from Renfe, 40 will be specifically allocated to finance this alternative transportation plan. When will they end. If the schedule is met, testing of the new ERTMS system will begin in April 2029, the first trains with automatic driving will begin to circulate in April 2030, and the line will be completed in October 2031. The objective is to go from 72 to 100 million travelers annually, with a capacity 60% greater than the current one. Puente has described this project as “the most important in terms of mobility so far this century.” Cover image | Transport Network and Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility In Xataka | Ouigo arrived in Spain, knocking down prices to gain a foothold in the market: four years later it is already profitable

Fear of vibrations stops trains on the Madrid-Barcelona route

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At 230 km/h in a 300 km/h section because the vibrations are excessive. It is the speed at which you will travel between Madrid and Calatayud (Zaragoza) if the driver decides so. The 200 kilometer stretch has been a source of controversy for some time and it was now that, after the Adamuz accident in Córdobaconcerns have increased. What has happened? The train drivers would be traveling at 230 km/h on the section between Madrid and Calatayud (Zaragoza) because the vibrations are excessive, according to The Economist. They claim in the media that the machinists would have unilaterally decided to make this decision because the intensity of the vibrations is too high. The decision would have come after Adamuz accident (Córdoba) in which an Iryo train has derailed and, according to the first investigationsa second Alvia train traveling in the opposite direction collided with it. It is also noted from The Economist that the decision would affect Renfe trains but that there are no similar communications in Ouigo and Iryo. In addition, the newspaper also specifies that there would be Renfe personnel on the train itself warning travelers that delays will reach 15 minutes for this reason. Can machinists do this? In Xataka We have contacted SEMAF (Spanish Union of Railway Machinists), the majority among this group, who assure us that they have no evidence that the machinists have decided collectively and unilaterally to reduce the speed of the track. It will be, according to SEMAF, at the discretion of each worker. The union explains that the driver has the power to reduce the speed of the train or even stop it if he considers that the conditions of the track prevent adequate driving comfort due to excessive vibrations. In fact, those speed reductions were already occurring before the breakage of Talgo’s S-106 (Avril) trains. This is what a machinist contacted by Xataka who prefers to keep his identity anonymous. He explains that it is each driver who decides how to act and that “we have not been told to do it (slow down the speed) either from the company or from the unions.” The Calatayud controversy The 200 kilometer stretch between Madrid and Calatayud has been in the spotlight for some time. At the end of July 2025, Talgo’s AVRIL trains that Renfe uses for its AVLO services suffered cracks in their structure as a result of the vibrations generated when the trains passed. So The Economist already announced the news and after a series of contradictory communications, Renfe ended up withdrawing the trains of the Madrid-Barcelona line, disregarding the AVLO service that has not been available again. Since then, Talgo and Adif are blaming themselves for what happened. The chronology. From SEMAF, however, they do not share exactly all the points that are pointed out. According to its chronology, the events have happened as follows: AVRIL trains suffer cracks due to excess vibrations and are retired SEMAF sends a letter to Adif requesting that the speed be reduced Adif does not respond SEMAF reminds train drivers that they have the power to reduce speed if they consider there is a justified reason. For SEMAF, nothing has changed. The train drivers are the ones who decide, always with justification and indicating the reason to the command post, whether or not to reduce the speed. SEMAF emphasizes that they have not given an instruction from the union to reduce speed. The vibrations. During the last few hours the controversy around the vibrations of the AVE has been increasing. From SEMAF, they may be caused by small damage to the track as a result of the passage of the trains themselves, which is why they ask that investment in maintenance is adequate to the increase in traffic in the liberalized corridors. Of course, the union emphasizes that there is no risk of derailment due to these vibrations and they make it clear that it is a comfort problem for the passenger and generate greater stress on the infrastructure and the condition of the rolling stock. This means that actions have to be launched on the road or in workshops ahead of time. Furthermore, there is no evidence that they were the cause of the Adamuz accident. “If we were clear that it was a danger to the road, we would stop traffic.” SEMAF has been so emphatic that it also emphasizes that the infrastructure is safe and that it is clear that if Adif detects a problem serious enough to cause a derailment, the line will be closed. “We want to go home”. The Renfe driver with whom Xataka has been able to contact explains that “the tracks are deteriorated, we train drivers give a lot of information, and sometimes we are taken for crazy because we give too many parts”, the words are from a Renfe train driver who prefers to keep his name anonymous. “As a result of the S-106 problems, it was proposed that the trains circulate at a slower speed. It is true that these deformities (the cracks) are due to the state of the track, to which we must add the terrible quality of the train. We also lowered them (the speeds) with other series of trains. Call it a prevention measure or care of the infrastructure,” explains the driver. “The crew members complain, the interveners complain and we write complaints, because there are areas where we are having trouble,” he summarizes. Although he makes it clear that “if we understand that there is a danger to traffic, we call the command posts and they take measures by setting limitations, although for months we have also been taking them by slowing down. We are the first interested parties, we want to return home.” Why do vibrations occur? Firstly, SEMAF points out that we are talking about the rolling stock being “steel against steel” so any imperfection will be more evident. Vibrations can be caused by an imperfection in the road or an imperfection in the … Read more

Ouigo has left 15,000 passengers stranded in Andalusia. Immediately afterwards, Renfe has put more trains at 7 euros

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From one day to the next and without giving too many explanations, Ouigo has canceled its services in Andalusia until next January 22. The French company leaves some 15,000 travelers on the ground who have to make ends meet to cover the Madrid-Seville or Madrid-Málaga that they already had planned. And Renfe is taking advantage of it. What has happened? About 15,000 passengers affected for the cancellation of eight daily services from Friday to Monday and six daily services from Tuesday to Thursday on those same routes until January 22 “for operational reasons.” These are all the explanations that Ouigo has given for paralyzing its services in the south of Spain. The French company has given these reasons to newspapers such as The Country either The World because it has not even published a statement with a press release or made public any type of text on social networks that communicates the massive cancellations for two weeks. The last tweet mentions the current offers. Since then, silence. And now? The customer has two options, as the company has communicated to passengers who have already purchased a ticket for the next ten days: Change travel date Cancel the trip at no cost Refund of the ticket price in a voucher that can reach 200% of the original ticket price On the rebound. The new situation has been taken advantage of by Renfe. The company has announced that it is activating two new daily services between Madrid and Seville with AVLO trains. The first of them leaves Madrid at 12:00 and returns from Seville at 5:17 p.m. The company has also indicated that the new trains are also available within the active offers of trains at seven euros. Renfe has also taken the opportunity to remind users that train companies have the obligation to propose an alternative means of transport. in less than 100 minutes since the cancellation occurs. If not, the customer has the right to a refund of the ticket price free of charge. The refund, they remember in the OCUmust be delivered in the same payment method and the acceptance of a voucher to travel on another occasion must always be voluntary. a stick. Although Renfe has arranged two special services on the Madrid-Seville, it seems clear that the new schedules cannot take on the volume of cancellations produced with the Ouigo trains, but it does serve Renfe for two things. The first is to receive unexpected income on the line. The second is that it allows them to send a message. And remembering the railway regulations is enough for Renfe to send a stick to Ouigo just when the controversy over compensation in case of delay is flying over the national panorama. It must be remembered that Renfe is obliged to refund, from January 1, 2026, 100% of the ticket if trains are delayed more than 30 minutes. A measure that the Government wants to avoid understanding that it is discriminatory for the public company compared to the competition. And Ouigo and Iryo benefit since what was approved by the Congress of Deputies only affects Renfe. Both the French and the Italian companies only return 100% of the ticket when delays exceed 90 minutes, a decision that Renfe continues to apply into 2026 since the State’s attorney has concluded with a report that the obligation is not such as of January 1 despite the change in regulations and that it is necessary to change the Railway Sector Regulation. as reported by the Ministry of Transport. The case has already occurred. Renfe also knows what it is talking about. And last summer, the fires in Zamora and León cut off the train service between Galicia and Madrid. Then Renfe was committed to returning the price total of the ticket, just as happens with Ouigo, but FACUA defended that the company was obliged to provide an alternative land service and that this was not being complied with. The railway company defended itself by saying that it was unthinkable to transfer the volume of passengers from the train to a bus service. Photo | Xataka In Xataka | Renfe has had a more dangerous rival than Ouigo: comply with its own schedules

The surprise is not that in 2025 Renfe will offer a real-time map of commuter trains. The surprise is that it does not seem to be made by Renfe

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Renfe has just launched a website that allows users to consult in real time the situation of Cercanías and Rodalies trains in the towns where this service is available. And despite what one might think, that website works surprisingly well. Suburbs in real time. On the web real-time.renfe.com It is possible to first select the urban center in which we want to carry out the query so that at that moment the interface zooms in on that location and its Cercanías train network is displayed. The map shows the network lines clearly, but it also shows the position of the trains on that network, which is also updated automatically. The new interactive Renfe Cercanías map works really well. When does that train arrive at that stop? Not only can we see the general situation, but we can also click on any of the train icons shown on the map so that a popup window appears in the browser. It contains information related to that train, which stop it is coming from, which stop it is going to, or its expected arrival. Are you late? Another interesting element of this website is that it offers extra information about the punctuality of each train. Above and to the right of each train icon appears a dot that can be of various colors. Green indicates that it is on time or less than three minutes late. Orange indicates a delay of between three and five minutes, and red reveals a delay of more than five minutes. Extra information. On the left side of the website it is also possible to select one of the network lines of each municipality, and even a station, which will make the website zoom in on that specific station. If we select a line we can also consult the available services, and specifically we can know which stations on that line have accessible trains and stations, and where we can find bike racks. The colored dots that appear at the top right of each train’s icons reveal how punctual they are being. A promising service. This website also allows third parties such as Google Maps to offer this service through their own platforms, and becomes a way to mitigate uncertainty about the network situation. Pablo Fernández Pastor, Director of Innovation and Digital Transformation of Renfe Viajeros, explains how “the trip as such does not begin at the station, it begins from the moment you are beginning to plan it.” Long distance services coming soon. Those responsible for the service have also indicated that starting in the first half of 2026, real-time information on medium and long distance services will be incorporated into this website. If this experience maintains what is currently being offered, we will certainly have a very useful real-time information service for users. a pleasant surprise. The launch of this service is surprising, especially because in recent years we have seen how the Renfe website was criticized for its usability, its erratic behavior and how it has worked during periods of high demand. This service represents an important step in the right direction for Renfe, without a doubt. Image | Renfe In Xataka | There are no more 20 euro tickets: the trains between Madrid and Barcelona have become very expensive again for a reason

Brazil has been pursuing high-speed trains for 20 years. Now it will have the first in South America

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If we see the list of countries with the most high-speed train linesChina is the one cut the codwith Europe and Japan also on the crest of the wave. However, South America is a territory that neither punctures nor cuts. That’s about to change and, although there are several projects in different countries, the first high-speed train in South America will be in Brazil. And it promises to revolutionize transportation in one of the country’s key corridors. It is not (fast) train territory. Connecting South America by train is extremely complicated. Not only do they have a complex topography with mountains and jungles to overcome, but also an enormous geographical dispersion, political instability in some countries and priorities that have changed with different governments. Currently, the territory is experiencing a revolution. There are countries like Mexico either Chili who are waging war on their own with internal projects, but also a project known as ‘Bioceanic Railway Corridor‘ which will unite the Pacific and Atlantic and connect the port of Santos in Brazil with that of Bayóvar in Peru. Apart from that line, Brazil has its own plans. The Brazilian TAV. The Brazilian high-speed project is not without controversy. The TAV (or High Speed ​​Train) began to take shape in 2004. Named ‘Bandeirantes Express’, the idea was to connect São Paulo with Campinas. It came to nothing and in 2007 it was shelved, but with the arrival of Lula da Silva and the perspective of Soccer World Cup 2014HE relaunched. It would have been the perfect setting, but the dates were not met either and, from lost to the river: we took it back to 2016 for the Rio Olympics. Spoiler: it went wrong due to financing problems, doubts about profitability and, evidently, a lack of interest from the private sector that was not clear about how to recover the investment. Chronology. It would have been the first high-speed train in South America, but it seems that it had not said its last word, because in 2023, the private company TAV Brasil got by the National Land Transportation Agency the authorization to link the main cities of the country: Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. The 99-year concession allows them to plan, build and operate the line that, if all goes well, will connect the two cities with intermediate stops between Sao José dos Campos and Volta Redonda. The investment is not clear and is estimated at about 60,000 million reais, which is about 11,000 million euros, and points to a ticket price of around 85 euros for a complete trip. TAV Brazil has announced the following calendar: End of 2026 for the conclusion of feasibility studies. 2027 as the start of construction. 2032 as commercial commissioning. The train. The intention is that the machine reaches speeds of 320 km/h, which would more than meet what is considered the high speed standard (250 km/h) and will allow travel the 400 kilometers between the two megacities in just one hour and forty-five minutes. This is a considerable reduction compared to a current road trip that takes about six hours. Interests. The big question is who will build the system… and the trains. This is a high-stakes project and, as in other parts of the world, geopolitics plays an important role. Historicallythe project has attracted the interest of companies such as the Spanish CAF or the French Alstom (in contention right now for the train in Belgian), but also from Siemens and other leading companies in the sector. TAV Brazil has not closed its doors and is talking with both Spanish companies and Arab funds and, of course, with China, which is becoming a global touchstone in the railway segment. They are revolutionizing Africa, they have a presence in the deployment of the line that will cross South America from Brazil to Peru and getting a piece of the Brazilian high-speed pie would mean another lucrative hit on the table. In any case, the one in Brazil and other projects seem to be beginning to shape the railway future of a Latin America that has had plans for decades, but for various reasons they have not come to fruition. Images | Limongi, Danilo.mac, Mohamed SY In Xataka | The US has been dreaming of its first high-speed train for decades: the California project is being a real nightmare

Asturias and Cantabria travel on trains that are more than 40 years old and their renewal has been delayed again

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Year 2020. Renfe awards CAF the delivery of 31 trains to operate on the Cercanías services of Asturias and Cantabria. The reason was as simple as it was understandable: the average age of the fleet was already 28 years. Four years later, the renewal of the promised trains is once again delayed. It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. “In principle”. This is what Álvaro Fernández Heredia, president of Renfe, has confirmed, who a few days ago assured that the promised trains for Asturias and Cantabria will not arrive until 2027 in an interview with the specialized media. Trenvista. If the plans are fulfilled, of course. And these same trains should arrive next year. In 2024, Transport reiterated its intention that the first tests would be carried out in the first half of 2026 and it was assured that we would see them on the roads that same year. Last September, yes in 2025, was still expected that the trains would make an appearance in a few months. Now, Fernández Heredia says that “in principle, these trains will be in service in 2027.” A statement that leaves fear of new future delays floating. The trains. What Renfe awarded to CAF was the delivery of 31 new trains to be distributed between the Cercanías services of Cantabria and Asturias. When said award was announced It was mentioned that the intention was to renew a fleet that was already an average of 28 years old. It was 2020 and the contract was valued at 258 million euros. Five years later, the residents of Asturias and Cantabria will continue traveling on trains with more than four decades behind them in some cases. At the moment, there is no trace of the 31 Metric Gauge trains (25 electric and six hybrid) that should be able to circulate at a maximum of 100 km/h and have space to transport bicycles. The tunnels. It was the great scandal of this award. In 2023, when CAF began building the trains, it found that something strange was happening with the order. The trains ordered They didn’t enter through the tunnels… more or less. The trains that were intended to be launched are too wide for the Asturian and Cantabrian infrastructure. Order FOM/1630/2015established new measures for gauges on newly built roads. These new measures aim to leave more space between the train and the walls of the tunnels to facilitate evacuations in case of breakdown and were the ones that were sent from Adif to CAFwithout taking into account the infrastructure prior to 2015. Hence it was said that the new trains for Asturias and Cantabria They did not enter through the tunnels. Faced with this situation, there was no choice but to ask: is it better to change the trains or change the infrastructure? Given the cost of the second intervention, the first was chosen. Yes, sure. Despite everything, the intention was the same: to maintain the plans that the trains would arrive in 2026. Now we know that this will not be the case and that they will do so in 2027… “in principle”, in the words of the president of Renfe himself. In The Commerce They review all the occasions in which Renfe has maintained its intention to have the trains ready next year. In addition to the cases already mentioned, the Government reiterated its intentions in February 2024 and July 2024. Since then, silence. “It rains in the wet”. This is what the Cantabrian Government complains about when asked by The Confidential. The regional Executive focuses on the fact that this latest delay is just one more of all the drifts that the case has had and the constant problems that citizens experience. The Association of Rail and Mobility Users (Affecom) highlights that from “Luarca to Oviedo there are about 90 kilometers and it takes almost three hours. (…) It takes us the same time to go to Madrid as it does to travel 90 kilometers through the Principality of Asturias.” And they highlight another detail: there are many breakdowns in stations where there is no coverage of any kind. This is a problem because, first of all, the passenger has no way to communicate by mobile phone to notify of a delay. It would not be (so) serious if it were exceptional but this summer, between July and August, the Asturian PP assures that 800 incidents were recorded that affected 1,000 services. Photo | André Marques 432 In Xataka | “In 1961 it took Bilbao three hours and five minutes. Now it takes three and ten”: Cantabria and Spain’s drama with the train

Renfe has its AVRIL trains ready to put them back on the tracks. You just have to show that they don’t split

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It seems that the soap opera of Renfe’s AVRIL trains is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The company has already received the completely repaired trains from Talgo, according to The Economistwho claim that the company has confirmed this point to them. The first question is what will be the new destination of these trains. The second is whether they will pass the litmus test: proving that they do not split. Back. Renfe already has the S106 trains affected by the cracks suffered in the Madrid-Barcelona corridor while providing AVLO service. That is what the company itself has confirmed to us, which, when asked by Xataka has confirmed that the replacement of the bogies has now “been successfully completed”. The trains have returned three months after being sent for repairs to the railway company’s facilities. They have done so after having completely replaced the affected bogies. Instead of being repaired, they have been completely changed to avoid greater evils. What happened? At the end of July, Renfe began to receive signals that something was wrong with its AVRIL trains that provided the AVLO service (Renfe’s low cost line) on the Madrid-Barcelona route. Those signs were, directly, cracks in trains. Although first there was talk of one train, we finally know that there were five that ended up affected by cracks of different magnitudes. After a tug of war between The Economist (which advanced the news) and the company itselfRenfe ended up suspending the sale of AVLO tickets on the Madrid-Barcelona route and ended up redistributing the AVE service to customers. Now the company recovers those affected trains but it does not seem that Madrid-Barcelona will be their destination. Whose fault is it? It is one of the great unknowns. Renfe has pointed out Talgo as the culprit of the cracks, reminding him that the trains are under warranty and that, therefore, they were not going to pay for the repairs. Talgo, for its part, blames Adifensuring that the maintenance of the line is insufficient and that this has caused excessive vibrations that have led to the famous cracks. Everything indicates that the problem is in the section between Madrid and Calatayud. In fact, the company even considered that it would continue operating with its AVLO service in the corridor but at a reduced speed which, it is assumed, did not generate the vibrations and therefore should not have an impact on structural damage to the train. Ultimately, this option was discarded. Fire test. The return of the affected AVRIL trains is a litmus test for Renfe… but above all for Talgo. And it is that Renfe has already been looking for trains in Germany to look for an alternative to the S106, known as AVRIL, which only Talgo manufactures. Giving a good image with a unique train in the world is essential to a company that is in financial trouble. The S106 trains were to be a leap forward for the company. They are the only ones who, given the railway peculiarities of Spainthey can “jump” from Iberian gauge to international gauge. For Renfe they are key because this allows them to position themselves ahead of Ouigo and Iryo facing a future opening to competition in the Galician corridor. However, the S106 have arrived late and They have garnered numerous bad reviews. And where are they going? It is another of the doubts that remain to be cleared up. According to Alberto Puivecinoresponsible for infrastructure and mobility at CCOO in Catalonia, it is possible that these trains will be used for AVANT (medium distance high speed) services in the region. A line that joins Lleida, Tarragona, Barcelona, ​​Girona and Figueres. The information was made public after a meeting between CCOO and the Generalitat of Catalonia. In Xataka We have asked Renfe in this regard but they assure that “the service that the currently immobilized units 106 will provide has not yet been determined. In any case, wherever they are finally going to operate they will do so with full safety guarantees.” For now, the fate of these units remains to be revealed. What we do know is that it is a litmus test for Talgo that must demonstrate that its S106 trains are once again reliable and, above all, are safe enough. Photo | Miguel In Xataka | The countries with the most kilometers of high-speed train, displayed in a graph with a brutal dominator: China

Who will compensate Renfe for its investment in AVRIL trains that are breaking down?

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AVRIL trains are at risk of cracking. At least that is what happened in one of those that provided service on the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed corridor, which has forced it to take all its trains out of circulation and cancel the AVLO service. But now, who pays the dishes Broken buggies? a fissure. It all began in July 2025. At least, the nightmare of what promised to be a peaceful, uninterrupted sleep began. At the end of the month and with the entire summer campaign ahead, Renfe suspended the sale of AVLO tickets between Madrid and Barcelona overnight. The reason soon became known: one of the trains had presented a fissure that forced him to stop full. Without being very clear about how to act, Renfe suspended the sale of these options low cost in the busiest corridor in Spain. Then he chose to make high speed… a slightly slower transportation, limiting maximum speed to avoid problems. Finally, ended up suspending the service completely. A setback. Preventively removing AVRIL trains from circulation in the Madrid-Barcelona corridor is a setback for Renfe since it will not compete with an option low cost in this space and leaves the way clear for Ouigo and Iryo. A space that, in fact, Ouigo had started to give way a few months ago. And although Renfe has room for maneuver because This line is the most expensive in Spain and the least sensitive to offers, the truth is that Renfe no longer competes on price in it. The setback comes, above all, because the results of Talgo’s S106 trains, known as AVRIL, are proving problematic. His arrival was already marked by the bad reviews and the turn of the year caused a widespread breakdown on the trains. Half a year later, when everything seemed forgotten, the trains break down (literally) on the Madrid-Barcelona route. Why are they important? When Renfe commissioned Talgo to produce 30 AVRIL trains, it did so thinking about its ability to lower prices. The trains allow access to a greater number of people and promised top speeds of 300 km/h, which they are not being able to take advantage of. But, above all, the batch of AVRIL trains is key because they are flexible. The trains can “jump” from the Iberian gauge to the international gauge. This allows Renfe to be the only one to be able to operate on the Galician high-speed corridor without having to transfer in Ourense. It is expected to be a differential advantage for competitors do not consider entry in said corridor when it opens to the rest of the competition. Who pays for this? Aware that poor performance of AVRIL trains is a setback for the company, Renfe has already started looking for trains in Germany. But, in addition, the relationship between Talgo and Renfe is not in the best moment. To begin with, because Renfe has already been claiming since last year more than 116 million euros compensation to Talgo for delays in the deliveries of its AVRIL trains. If it is confirmed that the problem with AVRIL trains is structural, new economic demands can be expected from Renfe. In Talgo, however, they defend themselves and assure that the real problem is in the infrastructure. In September they already pointed out Adif as the culprit of the cracks in its trains, alleging a “poor state of maintenance of the line (…) the horizontal leveling problems on that line and the vertical accelerations they cause on the rolling can, by repetition, cause the failure mode due to cracks in the bogie frame.” Adif has defended itself by ensuring that the line is correctly maintained and that it has all the necessary approvals so that the services are provided normally. Not happy with the answer, in The reason they explain that Talgo has already hired an external audit to determine what caused the crack in the four affected trains. Designated. What Talgo wants is obvious: to put the ball in Adif’s court. The company already had to reserve more than 100 million euros last year in their accounts to pay the compensation they owe to Renfe for delayed deliveries. Incurring more expenses because of a productive mistake can only damage your accounts further. On the other hand, Adif is the other big one. They explain in The reason that the main union of train drivers (Semaf) also points to the track management company as guilty due to insufficient maintenance. Criticisms that are not exclusive to this corridor since in Andalusia A lack of investment has also been pointed out worrying as the main cause of summer breakdowns. In that case, It was Ouigo who pointed out Adif as responsible for an incident that left more than 300 people completely stranded in the middle of the field for one night. Photo | Talgo In Xataka | Spain thought that Spain could manufacture the perfect trains for Spain. The reality: Spain is already looking for trains in Germany

France has tried by all means that CAF does not take “the contract of the century” of the Belgian trains. There is good news

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The contract continues. That is what the Belgian responsible for one of the country’s greatest tenders have said. The so -called “Century Contract” will therefore fall on CAF, the great Spanish rail giant. The Spanish company will be in charge of providing trains to the “Belgian Renfe”. Refused. The State Council of Belgium has spoken. And what has decided is that it rejects the last resort that Alstom had presented in the award contest to provide the CNS (the Belgian Renfe) of a huge battery of trains to modernize much of the fleet. In The mail They detail that the Belgian State Council had already rejected a resource for Siemens last week and now has been dismissed that of Alstom. The process has been especially long and complex with numerous resources presented, comings and goings and reconfirmations. “The contract of the century”. Given the enormous volume of money that will move this contract, it does not seem that the famous denomination of “the contract of the century” is left great. To start, the investment will be 1,695 million euros but if the deadlines and volume of deliveries are met, CAF could receive up to 3.4 billion euros. The amount will be paid for The supply of 500 trains Automotores including three car models with battery hybrid propulsion that will have the task of replacing the old diesel locomotives in those roads that have not yet been electrified. With the rejection of the latest resources, it only remains to negotiate the last details and sign the greatest contract in the history of CAF. Long and complex. Getting with this contract has not been simple for the Spanish company. At the beginning of the year, Alstom and Siemens resorted to the award of CAF to CAF, claiming that the motivations for it were not transparent enough. In April, a Belgian court recommended suspending the contest. During that time, Alstom took the opportunity to press by pointing out that his proposal was better because they have a plant on Belgian soil, emphasizing that the decision to take out this contract would harm the citizens themselves because they were not betting on local employment as a decisive factor. The process, however, continued. However, CAF has had to wait for the Belgian authorities to definitely reject the resource of Siemens and a second resource by emergency presented by Alstom, who insisted again on a supposed lack of transparency. Israel. During the last bars of all this bureaucratic framework, various voices rose to question the award of CAF. They defended that a company that was associated with the Israeli Shapir could not be hired to build and expand the red and green lines of the Light Jerusalem Rail. The project is problematic because it will be built on illegal Israeli settlements. That has caused the Basque company to have been indicated in an official UN report as one of the companies that take revenues from the country’s antipalestine policy. They specify that with this type of works these illegal settlements are helped. 500 million euros. That is what is estimated to take coffee If the Israeli project goes ahead. This is valued at 1.8 billion euros to lift 27 kilometers of roads and 50 new stations. With them we want to connect the West Bank settlements with those of West Jerusalem. The business for CAF does not remain alone in the construction of this light meter. It is also about to decide when it will participate in the management of the lines. At the moment, it is being assessed that its involvement is maintained between 15 and 25 years once between operation. CAF shields that the award of the contract is prior to the Israeli invasion of Palestine. Do not get into. At least that is what they say from SCNB. Appealed by up to four associations that rejected that CAF received this contest for its involvement with the project in the West Bank and Jerusalem, the Belgian operator has responded that it cannot “determine the foreign or commercial policy of the companies involved,” they collect in The mail. Its position is contrary to other companies in the sector. The Norwegian sovereign fund, for example, has retired its investments in Shapir (the partner of CAF in the Israeli project) for the genocide committed in Gaza and the Manager Storeband also took CA from its portfolio for its involvement. The Catalan company Comsa was also part of the consortium that had gained the award of the blue line of the tram to Jerusalem but In 2024 he retired from the project and The Basque Siner announced that it will not serve steel to Israeli companies. Photo | CAF and ABODI VESAKARAN In Xataka | Renfe wanted to renew his fleet in Cantabria and Asturias. Until he was wrong with the width of his trains

The US is not a country for trains. They want to fix it with one that cross the country carrying people and trucks

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The train It is the spine of many countries. In Europe, communications between countries and within them They would not be understood without the trainbut there are others Examples like Japan or a China that has built almost 50,000 kilometers of high speed in record time. If we look at the United States, the case is the opposite: high speed that shines for its absence, with projects that are a nightmare and an overwhelming domain of the plane and the car for passenger transport. Of course, they have proposed to change the situation with a mastodontic project: a train network that connects New York and California. They have baptized him as ‘Transcontinental Chief’, and they will not have anything easy. Figures. First of all, some context and the proper names of this story. Amtrakor National Railroad Passenger Corporation, is the national passenger trains company in the United States. It was created as a commercial entity, but depended on federal and state subsidies for most of its routes. Its network covers more than 500 stations in 46 states and has a network of about 39,000 kilometers, including the NEC, the corridor between Boston and Washington DC Despite that huge network of roads and stations, in 2024 he transported about 32.4 million passengers. Much of the traffic corresponds to paths within the NEC and none of the paths exceeds 200 km/h. For comparing, in 2024, Renfe transported 35.2 million travelers in high -speed services and another 60 million in medium distance. We do not count the 442 million nearby, since they are short journeys. Chief Transcontinental. It is evident that the country needs a railway impulse, something that has been attempted on a small scale (even with trains that do not use fossil fuels), but the projects do not finish curdling. That is where Ameristarrail enters the scene, a private company dedicated to the proposal and development of long -distance interurban and high capacity interurban services. The project they are promoting is the one baptized as ‘Transcontinental Chief’ to connect New York and Los Angeles by train. He proposed itinerary He would connect the Hoboken station in New Jersey with Los Angeles, through cities such as Philadelphia, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and stop at the National Park of Grand Canyon. In this way, large urban and tourist poles would join. Recycling. He project From America has a couple of good ideas to get ahead. The first is to take advantage of what is already paid. That is, use the roads and stations that are already built to give new life to deficit infrastructure operated by other entities and by Amtrak itself (such as the Southwest Chief). Also use locomotives and wagons that already exist, such as beds beds and men’s restaurant cars because the full trip will be long, since the speed of those tracks is limited to 150 km/h. According to the company, if this plan is followed, a new legislation will not be necessary that would complicate and delay the project, but no additional public financing, since, in essence, the work is done and you only have to put the infrastructure up to date. Because although the United States does not have a solid passenger transport network by train, it does have a wide railway line focused on merchandise transport. Hybrid. The second good idea is to try to squeeze this train as much as possible. In addition to passengers, the idea of ​​America is to turn the train into a kind of ferry. This implies that private cars can be charged in platform cars so that a family, for example, can go from end of the country with their car, but without driving them. In addition, it has also been projected that there would be other cars capable of loading complex trucks, next to their drivers. Thus, truckers can get on the train, rest their mandatory time while the journey towards their destination does not stop. They have called it ‘Rolling Rest Stop’ would be a pioneer in the country, in addition to giving a boost to certain routes of merchandise trucks that cross the territory. MEH. Aim Football World Cup. Now, from Amtrak they don’t have it so clear. At the moment, the public company has release that they are not going to promote this proposal for America because they are not clear that public investment has to be made. It is not closed, eye, since the drivers maintain that there is enormous potential to convert long -distance services into profitable and sustainable lines, and that is something that Amertk needs. Images | Ameristarrail, Amtrak In Xataka | Renfe has a new and gigantic project in progress: a night train to connect Europe from this to west

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