In 2019 RENFE (Spanish railways) announced they wanted to launch routes into France. But at the time faced ‘numerous obstacles. This month they launched services into France and tickets are on sale. In just four years they overcame any bureaucratic obstacles and started operations. Some 43.000 tickets have already been sold for these new routes between Spain and France.

RENFE are without question the rail company to watch. They have an aggressive attitude to getting high-speed rail travel on the Iberian Peninsula, France and the UK. As previously reported, they already have a bullet train capable of almost 400 kph and they are negotiating access to the Channel tunnel and Paddington. The Channel tunnel operators have said they have no problem with this.


Hydrogen train starts tests in Spain

The FCH2 Rail project has received authorisation and the first of the routes planned with the arrival of the unit at Canfranc station, in the Aragonese Pyrenees. The test train is scheduled to run on several routs of the Spanish Railway Network, mainly between Aragon, Madrid and Galicia.

This year RENFE will put their new ‘bullet train’ into service and they are already testing hydrogen-powered trains on their network. They don’t seem to talk a lot about global warming, but they certainly are making major moves. Electric-powered trains are substantially more environmentally friendly, and hydrogen-powered are even better.

Compared with air travel within Europe, the damage to our environment is massively reduced. So why don’t we use the train more? It's more comfortable, more legroom, city centre to city centre, and you can even walk around. Try that on your Ryanair flight. The problem is rails or lack of them to accommodate the new speeds trains can now travel at. The EU is funding the development of the new high-speed rails, there is a very powerful move towards getting us off the plane and onto the rails.

Changing the way you travel is one the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Flying from London to Paris emits 14 times more CO2 than travelling by train. UK or France to Portugal will show even greater savings on CO2, at least 50 times less.

Faced with this sort of ecological savings, how do you feel about taking the train instead of the plane? I suspect that the answer is simply, make it more accessible, and yes, I will make the change. Will it be cheaper, probably not, but the airfare is not the only cost associated with flying, parking, airport charges, all the extras needed to get a bit more comfort or faster boarding. Add it all up and you might be surprised.

The other factor is that competition is starting on the rails in Europe. SNCF have launched a low-cost high-speed OUIGO service. RENFE-AVLO is RENFE's new high-speed low-cost, long-distance train, more seats per carriage but much lower prices. Madrid Barcelona can be as cheap as Euros 29 single. Competition is coming, and the passenger saves. Demand drives availability.


Portugal is lagging behind

Portugal has lagged behind in the development of high-speed rail. You can find a map here. Its difficult to get reliable dates and projects for perhaps the most important route, Lisbon Madrid. The problem is the link between Evora and the Spanish border. Infraestructuras de Portugal expects that the new line to be completed in December 2023.

The project is part of the railway connection between Elvas and Évora, which is Portugal’s largest investment. Take the completion date with a pinch of salt, maybe a few more months, but if this information is correct the connection between Lisbon and Madrid could, and I stress could, be operational next year. This line will be part of the future Southern International Corridor, which will connect the ports of the south of the country (Lisbon, Sines and Setúbal) with the railway network that connects with Spain through Badajoz. This is also known as the Atlantic Corridor. The Atlantic Corridor is a rail line connecting Portugal, Spain, France and Germany, a main artery of the European railway network.

Spain is making fast progress. Plasencia-Cáceres-Badajoz (almost 150 km + 18 km of the Mérida Bypass under construction) is completed. On July 18, 2022, the Plasencia-Mérida-Cáceres-Badajoz section of this new line came into service. Madrid Lisbon is a high priority and it seems, from all the information available, that it is progressing at speed.


RENFE in Portugal

Add all the various bits of information available on official government and other rail sites, and it would be difficult to not understand why RENFE are progressing the authority to operate on Portuguese lines, and they seem to have the end of this year in sight as a start date. Training is already well advanced and as you can easily see, RENFE don’t accept delays or refusals. Look at what happened in France. Last Wednesday RENFE announced the launch of its fifth business unit in a bid to manage and growth of its international activities. RENFE ‘Proyectos Internacionales’ was created following the restructuring of RENFE operations.


Train not Plane

Every day this becomes a real alternative. How many CO2-emitting flights around Europe would be cut if this can be made a reality. You will soon have a choice. Your chance to make a difference to global warming. Watch this space for updated news.

Author

Resident in Portugal for 50 years, publishing and writing about Portugal since 1977. Privileged to have seen, firsthand, Portugal progress from a dictatorship (1974) into a stable democracy. 

Paul Luckman