Renfe has taken a new step forward in the recovery of the high-speed trains that connect Spain with France, a service that is now solely in the hands of the French company SNCF after the break with the Spanish public operator last December. This week it opens a branch in Lyon, a bureaucratic process in the French commercial registry that is essential for Renfe to start commercial activity in the neighboring country.
"We are taking all the necessary steps, the operational branch was a sine qua non condition to operate in France, we have it operational since this week and the following procedures will be carried out imminently", announced the president of Renfe, Raül Blanco, during his Participation in the conference "Present and future of mobility" organized by La Vanguardia at the Monteverdi club in Madrid.
The company's initial plans were to open the office in Paris, but the prospects for the recovery of the route between Barcelona and the French capital are not rosy, so they have finally chosen to establish it next to the Lyon Part Dieu station, where they hope get service back in a matter of weeks. "This is a decisive step to establish itself in the French market in the long term", remarked Blanco.
Renfe's objective was to put the trains into circulation before the summer, but said planning is already late. The tickets are not yet for sale on the Renfe website and company sources specify that it will be throughout the summer. Meanwhile, train drivers continue to train on French rail sections aboard Alstom's S-100 series to meet the requirements of the French infrastructure operator.
On the same stage that Renfe has announced the step forward to recover the trains to France, the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, has made public another important advance in terms of high speed. This Tuesday the Council of Ministers will authorize the construction of the new through station at Puerta de Atocha, which will make it possible to complete the total connection of the northern half and the southern half of the high-speed network in Spain," according to the minister.
With this action, the main station in the Spanish capital will gain capacity and offer more possibilities for travelers on corridors such as the one in Valencia, who now end their journey in Chamartín and with the through station will also have a stop in Atocha. The action involves an investment of 500 million euros.
All in all, the minister has defended that the Government "invests more in conventional rail and suburban trains than in high speed". She does so at a time when incidents on the Madrid suburban train have become a matter of political debate, just as those on Rodalies in Catalonia have been for years.
