SPAIN: SNCF’s low-cost subsidiary Ouigo has further expanded its operations in Spain, launching Madrid – Valladolid services on April 19, consisting of two return trips per day.
Single fares start at €9, and initially 14 000 tickets per week have been made available. The operator could make more cheap fares available by running its Duplex trainsets in multiple if demand warrants it, Ouigo suggested.
Meanwhile, from June 1, these services will be extended across Madrid to serve Alacant and Albacete, with most trains also calling at Cuenca.
During the remainder of 2024, Ouigo plans to expand its services to Murcia, with trains expected to start around the end of June. During the second half of the year, the operator expects to add trains to Sevilla, Córdoba and Málaga.
The announcement of the low-cost operator’s latest expansion plans triggered a row in the local media, amid comments attributed to Transport Minister Óscar Puente’s suggesting that Ouigo and fellow Open access operator Iryo were using ‘price dumping’ tactics. Puente has threatened to report the two operators to competition authority CNMC over what he termed ‘highly disloyal tactics’.
Puente said that the fares policy risked dragging incumbent operator RENFE ‘into some very poor results on those routes which were once very profitable’. Noting the €1bn annual payment Ouigo makes to infrastructure manager ADIF AV in access charges, he added that ‘I will bear this very much in mind during the next meeting they have with us when they request that ADIF should lower its charges. My reply will be that they are capable of paying them.’
Ouigo España’s Managing Director Hélène Valenzuela responded that ‘this is the first time that [the minister] has scolded us for offering low fares. Neither dumping, nor subsidies — they do not exist. I am in contact with all the authorities and would like to welcome the minister soon onboard our trains. There is politics and there is business, and we are in business.’
