News

On 3 May 2023, during a meeting with Adrián Barbón, the President of the Principality of Asturias, the Secretary General for Infrastructures, Xavier Flores, announced that the 50 km high speed line from La Robla to Pola de Lena, through the 25 km base tunnel under the Cordillera Cantábrica, would be opened to commercial traffic 'during November 2023'.

On 27 March 2023 Renfe is to expand its network of low cost AVLO services.

In June 2022 MITMA announced that the Variante between La Robla and Pola de Lena, under construction since 2004 at cost which is likely to exceed 4 billion EUR, would be inaugurated in May 2023.

In late November 2022 the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) published its annual report on rail traffic trends in Spain.

There are hopes that salvation of the services between Barcelona and Lyon/Marseille might come in the shape of Renfe's new Class 106 Avril fleet.

On 11 December 2022, the international high speed train services between Barcelona and Lyon and Madrid, Barcelona and Marseille were withdrawn.

In 2021 the operator placed an order worth around 86 million EUR with Stadler for a batch of 12 triple-voltage EURO6000 locomotives.

The final 15.9 km of high speed line between Orihuela and Murcia were inaugurated on 19 December 2022.

On 15 December 2022, at Sant Andreu depot in Barcelona, Renfe President Isaías Táboas signed a contract with Alstom, CAF and Stadler for 97 new EMUs for Rodalies services in Catalunya.

On 13 October 2022, Stadler presented Renfe four of the 12 powerful electric locomotives EURO6000, which are being manufactured for Renfe Mercancías.

During a nocturnal test run with Talgo staff on board early on 7 September 2022, a Class 106 Avril reached 360 km/h on the 1,668 mm gauge high speed line between Ourense and Santiago de Compostela.

After factory static tests were conducted, CAF began test runs with its prototype EHMU at the end of July.

The first members of the new high speed Class 106 fleet were expected to have been handed over to Renfe in January 2021 in readiness for commercial operation in summer 2022.

At the end of May, at its plant in Zaragoza, CAF started static tests on the hydrogen-powered demonstrator train being developed for the FCH2Rail project.

In January 2022, Renfe invited the general public to submit ideas for a revamped 'Alta Velocidad Española' logo, to replace the one which has been in use since April 1992 when the Madrid to Sevilla high speed line was inaugurated.