Spain’s Renfe targets Portuguese rail market

PORTUGAL: Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente has announced that national train operator Renfe is to seek authorisation for the use of its Talgo Series 106 Avril and S107 trainsets in Portugal.

This follows unsuccessful attempts to get the S106s authorised for use on international services between Spain and France.

On August 18 Puente said Renfe’s attempts to expand in France are on hold, telling Spanish news agency Europa Press that ‘the pressure from the EU to improve its links with Spain barely had any effect’.

In contrast, Spain and Portugal ‘clearly have the goal of being linked through the railway network’, and the S106 and S107 sets ‘are very suitable for the Portuguese market’, which shares Spain’s 1 668 mm broad gauge and plans to use broad gauge for the future Lisboa – Porto high speed line.

Renfe is paying Talgo €132m to equip the 15 standard-gauge only S106 trainsets with variable-gauge technology. Once this has been completed, all 30 S106 trainsets will be dual gauge.

The goal is to have the Renfe trainsets operational and approved for international services by the time a planned high speed link between Spain and Portugal via Badajoz is completed in the early 2030s.

In the meantime, it is envisaged that all three conventional international rail links between Portugal and Spain will be electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz, which would enable the trains to be used on cross-border services before the high speed line is completed.

The 13 Series 107 sets will be formed of 26 newly built Talgo variable-gauge power cars and 156 rebuilt Series VII former sleeping cars. Delivery is running around two years behind schedule, with four sets currently on test.

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