The liberalization of high speed will continue to expand in 2024. The manager of the high-speed rail network, Adif AV, has today approved the schedules of the different rail services that will be provided from December 10 of this year and during 2024, a necessary step so that the different railway companies that operate on Spanish tracks can put their trains on track. The instruction approved today will allow the end of Renfe’s monopoly on the lines of Valladolid, Murcia and Andalusia, after the new frequencies requested by Ouigo have been approved.
The French operator announced its intention to expand its route map with a new daily service between Madrid and Murcia, which will compete directly with Renfe. It will also be able to extend the trains that today link Alicante and Madrid to Segovia and Valladolid, although to do so it will have to pass an economic balance test. This requirement, whose calculation must be carried out by the CNMC, seeks to guarantee that the entry of a new operator to this line will not subtract passengers from the services subsidized by the State (OSP), which Renfe provides through the “Avant” brand.
In addition, Adif AV has granted capacity to Ouigo so that it can begin operating on the line to Andalusia, with a view to launching new services between Madrid, Córdoba, Seville and Málaga. The ‘low cost’ has been awarded five circulations per direction on this route, in which it will compete with Renfe and Iryo and for which it has already begun the necessary homologation tests for its trains. Their plan is to start services in the second half of 2024.
A controversial process
The annual railway infrastructure capacity allocation process began on June 12, when the different operators presented their requests for paths to circulate to Adif AV. On August 10, the Infrastructure Administrator announced the provisional assignment of gears for each request, a process that upset Renfe, which was considered aggravated by changing a significant number of train schedules that it operated until now.
Adif gave the different companies a month to present their allegations and with today’s approval, the process is concluded, which also assigns the final capacities two months before the trains start.