La Renfe fact another step towards his possible exit from France. The Spanish company has just announced theabandoning the opening of its Toulouse-Barcelona route which was to be operated on a seasonal basis, from April to September. A daily return trip in AVE - the Spanish high-speed train - between the two cities in 3.5 hours, with Barcelona Sants station providing passengers with optimised connections to MadridZaragoza, Tarragona, Valencia, Lleida and Castellón. This decision was immediately regretted by Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie region, who believes that ". the return of a rail link between Toulouse and Barcelona is absolutely essential, for the planet, the economy and the inhabitants of our two regions and our two countries, who are waiting impatiently for it." .
Is this abandonment, or at best this postponement, a new attempt to bend the French authorities' will after its recent threats to stop its two France-Spain routes, Lyon-Barcelona and Marseille-Madrid? The carrier accuses the French government and the SNCF group of hindering its development in France through excessive administrative and technical constraints. More specifically, on the Paris-Lyon, which Renfe hoped to open in the summer of 2024 during the Olympic Games.. This while SNCF has been operating in Spain since 2021 via its low-cost Ouigo brand which now holds more than 20% of the Spanish high-speed market.
The issue of AVE certification at the heart of the problem
La Renfe which has already carried more than a million passengers in France, has confirmed that it is studying the future of its operations in France because of " the difficulties and successive delays encountered in rolling out its high-speed services" . Renfe regularly criticises France for not opening up to competition, Alain Krakovitchthe Director of TGV-Intercités for SNCF Voyageurs, rejects these accusations, assuring us that the problem is primarily technological. The Spanish company is reportedly having problems getting its new AVE S-106 high-speed trains, assembled by the Spanish group Talgo, approved for use on the French network. It should be noted that it is this manufacturer that the future company Le Train has ordered 10 trains with the aim of serving the cities of the Grand Ouest region by 2026. Let's hope it doesn't suffer the same setbacks...
