Cercanías de Madrid: first Class 453s in service
posted on 27th Aug 2026 18:45
Early on 24 August 2026, the first five of the Class 453 EMUs being supplied by Stadler València to Cercanías de Madrid entered service. These are three T100 (four cars) and two T200 (8 cars) formations. By the end of the year it is expected that there will be nine T100s and eight T200s in service out of the batch of 79 on order. The trains were initially used on Line C-7 between Alcalá de Henares, Principe Pío and Chamartín, although they are really intended for Lines C-4 and C-5. This is because they are still running ‘on test’, and their official presentation was scheduled for 31 August.
The arrival of the Class 453s has sparked off anger in València, where the Rodalies network is to receive, from Madrid, a batch of 41 five-car Civia Class 465 EMUs, with an average age of ‘just’ 17.2 years, which Renfe asserts are ‘the most modern of the entire Cercanías fleet’. 22 are to arrive before the end of 2026, and 19 more during 2027.
These are to be used on Lines C1 (València Nord to Gandia), C2 (València Nord -to Xàtiva and Moixent) and C6 (València Nord to Castelló de la Plana), to enable a 30 % increase in service provision. Each train has space for up to 748 passengers, compared with the 549 that the existing Class 447 EMUs currently in use on these routes (with an average age of 27.8 years) can carry.
Renfe also notes that the 447s have an average breakdown rate of one every 211,292 km, compared with the 465s’ 487,943 km. The surplus Class 447s are to be cascaded too, for use on the Cercanías networks in Euzkadi, where their barrier-free accessibility will be welcomed.
Renfe is to invest 87.69 million EUR in the renovation of the 465s prior to entering service, with the first trains entering service in València from 7 September 2026 onwards. Renfe insists, in the face of protests, that this is not an issue related to the age of the trains, only a ‘reshuffling’ of resources. Various political groups in València accused MITMS, in particular minister Óscar Puente, of cascading secondhand trains to València while modernising the fleet of the capital’s Cercanías network.
Meanwhile, all is not well on the Asturian Cercanías network, where political spokespeople have asserted that things are rapidly deteriorating. Between 21 June and 21 August an average of 17 trains per day had to be cancelled, replaced by bus services, or suffered delays of more than 20 minutes.
In all 1,097 incidents of these types were recorded, affecting over 1,300 services, which works out at almost one ‘incident’ every hour during each operational day. In 2025 the number of ‘incidents recorded was 803, so there has been a year-on-yer increase of 36.6 %.
85% of the ‘incidents’ occurred on the metre gauge network, the worst affected line being that from Gijón to Avilés, Pravia and Cudillero, with 549 ‘incidents’. So far there is no indication of when the new EMUs and EDMUs on order from CAF will be ready to enter service. Dynamic testing and authorisation have yet to start.
