Delays in the approval of the new Talgo trains by companies linked to the French public capital group, SNCF, prevent Renfe from being able to operate the high speed train to Paris. The Spanish company has been trying to disembark since 2022 in the French capital, the jewel in the crown for being the route with the most travelers, but the technical validation, which usually takes six months, does not arrive. The delay has already accumulated a year. A tangle of bureaucracy and excessive delays in the process will mean that the Spanish company will not be able to sell tickets during the Olympic Games this summer, when the normal thing would have been to have already received the authorizations. The Minister of Transportation, Óscar Puente, set a new estimated date a few days ago: the end of the year.
At the center of the controversy is SNCF, the company that owns Ouigo that maintains a price war in Spain and is in charge, through subsidiary companies, of the homologation of the trains. La Vanguardia has compiled, through sources in the sector, the problems that Renfe is suffering in getting to Paris. These sources point out that these are not problems that contravene the law, but rather obstacles that prevent the Spanish operator from growing in France.
Since October 2022, Renfe operates the lines from Perpignan to Lyon and Marseille. In the neighboring country, the railway safety certificate is not extended to the entire country, as is the case in Spain, but rather to specific lines. The technical process to reach Paris dates back to the last quarter of 2022. Renfe asked the French authorities to approve 100F series trains, whose manufacturer is the French Alstom and which Renfe uses on the southern border. These machines derive from the family of TGV-A and TGV-R trains, also from Alstom, that SNCF operated for years between Paris and Lyon. Renfe even carried out tests with them but the conclusion of the French authorities was that they were “incompatible” with current technology.
Renfe then resorted to plan B and opted for the homologation of the series 106 trains, manufactured by Talgo. This machinery is already authorized in Spain. In fact, the operator has received the first units that will begin operating in Galicia and Asturias in the coming days and that, with more than 500 seats available, practically double the capacity of those currently in operation. The approval process depends on Talgo, but Renfe actively accompanies the manufacturer. But the approval does not arrive and the Spanish company cannot operate in French territory with its newest trains.
The approval process for high-speed trains in France includes complex steps and three companies from the SNCF group are involved. Firstly, Eurailtest, a firm in charge of providing services to organize tests on the French network and measurements in laboratories. Manages and organizes the enablement calendar and resources. SNCF's second company is CIM (Center for Materials Engineering), owned by SCF Voyageurs. She is responsible for the expert reports. The third is Masteris, in charge of marketing SNCF services.
The testing schedule of companies dependent on the SNCF has been extended over time for various reasons, explain the sources consulted. On the one hand, there have been long periods of time in which Talgo and Renfe have not had the option to carry out the necessary tests. In other cases, Eurailtest has concentrated several tests in a short period of time, so that any deviation left the Spanish company without the capacity to react.
In the process, the Spanish companies have also observed that Eurailtest has not made the necessary resources available to Talgo for the tests to progress. The sources consulted highlight a “lack of agility” in this area. The same has happened with CIM's expert reports.
Finally, Spanish companies are also having difficulty accessing train workshops, essential for homologation. Renfe, for example, has had to move its trains from France to facilities in Catalonia. The Spanish operator does offer facilities to Ouigo and Iryo to use its workshops.
Once the approval of the S-106 has been achieved, Renfe must submit a request to the single window of the EU Railway Agency (EUAR). The Spanish operator has spent a million in the process, without positive results.
