All Spain articles – Page 3
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In depthSpain: Plan de Cercanías promises an end to inaction
Over the past three decades, much of Spain’s rail investment has been channelled into its expanding high speed network. Government plans now envisage a substantial boost for suburban services which account for 90% of all ridership. Mike Bent investigates.
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NewsSpanish dual gauging project makes progress
SPAIN: Infrastructure manager ADIF Alta Velocidad has enlarged the 558 m Gaintxurizketa tunnel between Errenteria and Irun as part of a project to provide a dual gauge link between the French border and the start of the future ‘Basque Y’ 1 435 mm gauge high speed ...
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NewsIberian T4000 pocket wagons arrive
SPAIN: Leasing company VTG is taking delivery of 200 T4000 pocket wagons for combined transport services on Spain and Portugal’s 1 668 mm gauge. The wagons are being built by Tatravagónka to a design derived from the T3000 pocket wagons in use on 1 435 mm ...
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NewsBasque region to take over RENFE suburban routes
SPAIN: On March 11 the Spanish government announced that management of all suburban services in the Basque region would be transferred from national operator RENFE to the Euzkadi autonomous community. The national government will set up a €400m fund to launch the project, some of which ...
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NewsHigh speed rail bypass contract awarded
SPAIN: High speed rail infrastructure manager ADIF Alta Velocidad has awarded Sacyr Construcción a €49m contract to build the first section of a 19 km bypass around the town of Loja on the Antequera – Granada high speed line. Trains currently use a single track, dual ...
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NewsMallorca EMU delivered
SPAIN: Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca has taken delivery of the first of five electric multiple-units being supplied by CAF. Testing is now underway with entry into services on SFM’s metre-gauge routes from Palma de Mallorca planned for June, by which time the remaining four EMUs are ...
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NewsHungarian consortium proposes Talgo takeover
SPAIN: Hungarian consortium Ganz-Mavag Europe has put forward a €619m offer to buy 100% of Talgo, which said the offer was attractive. However, the Spanish government is not keen to see the company in foreign ownership, and options including a potential takeover by CAF are reportedly ...
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NewsCheaper rolling stock financing predicted as Luxembourg protocol comes into force
INTERNATIONAL: A global treaty designed to make it easier and cheaper for the private sector to finance railway rolling stock came into force on March 8. The Luxembourg Rail Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment is a treaty under the ...
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NewsSpanish gauge-changing technology to integrate Ukrainian railways with the EU
UKRAINE: The use of automatic gauge-changing wheelsets to speed up the movement of freight wagons between Ukraine’s 1 520 mm broad gauge network and the 1 435 mm standard gauge of neighbouring European Union countries is to be piloted by national railway Ukrzaliznytsia and Spanish infrastructure ...
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Metro Report InternationalMadrid metro automation planned
SPAIN: The automation of Madrid metro lines 6 and 8 is planned, President of the Community of Madrid Isabel Natividad Díaz Ayuso has announced. Visiting construction works for the Line 3 extension from Villaverde Alto to El Casar on February 20, Díaz Ayuso said automation would ...
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Metro Report InternationalValència urban rail expansion plans
SPAIN: València city council and operator FGV have announced plans to further expand the Metrovalencia urban rail network by 2030. Light rail Line 10 which currently runs 5·3 km from Alacant in the city centre to Natzaret is to be extended north from Natzaret to the ...
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NewsOurense station remodelling contract awarded
SPAIN: High speed infrastructure manager ADIF Alta Velocidad announced on February 1 that it had awarded Copasa, Constructora San José and Syneox Rail a €112m contract to remodel Ourense station as a hub for rail and bus transport in northwestern Spain. The ...
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NewsMadrid Atocha through platforms contract awarded
SPAIN: High speed rail infrastructure manager ADIF Alta Velocidad has awarded Dragados, Tecsa, San José and Puentes y Calzadas an 83-month contract worth €451·6 m to build low-level platforms at Madrid Atocha station The two island platforms on the 1 435 mm gauge cross-city route from ...
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NewsGrant supports wagon orders
SPAIN: The Ministry of Transport, Mobility & the Urban Agenda has awarded leasing company Ermewa Ibérica a €17·3m grant to boost Spanish manufacturing as part of two wagon orders. The orders are for 150 Shimmns coil wagons which will be produced at the Inveho plant at ...
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NewsHydrogen high speed train to be developed
SPAIN: A group of Spanish companies has been awarded funding for the Hympulso project to power a Talgo 250 gauge-changing high speed trainset using renewable hydrogen. Talgo Class 730 electro-diesel trainsets used by national operator RENFE have a power car behind each driving car containing a ...
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NewsRENFE ticket sales competition commitments made legally binding
SPAIN: Commitments which national train operator RENFE made to address the European Commission’s concerns regarding the supply of data to rival ticketing retailers have been made legally binding under EU antitrust rules. ‘Today’s decision opens up competition in online rail ticketing services in Spain’, said Margrethe ...
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NewsRENFE28 management strategy approved
SPAIN: Innovation, digitalisation, boosting public services, leadership in the high speed market, profitability of the freight sector and the improvement of production processes are key objectives outlined in the RENFE28 management strategy which was approved by the national operator’s board on January 12. The four-year plan ...
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NewsEIB backs Madrid station enhancements
SPAIN: The European Investment Bank has approved a €550m loan to infrastructure manager ADIF to finance works to increase capacity at Madrid’s Atocha station. The loan approved in December forms part of a €740m framework package agreed in 2021 for works at the capital’s Atocha and ...
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Metro Report InternationalDesign updates for latest Zaragoza trams
SPAIN: Some design changes from the current fleet are included in two additional trams which CAF is supplying to increase peak capacity on the Zaragoza tramway. The cabs have been redesigned to improve visibility, and internal steps eliminated for better accessibility. The number of windows that ...
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NewsPajares cut-off opens to plug Asturias into Spanish high speed network
SPAIN: Following almost 20 years of construction, public passenger services began using the Pajares Base Tunnel through the Cordillera Cantábrica mountain range in the north of the country on November 30.