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France blocks Renfe’s first attempt to operate its regional stations and re-elects SNCF

Date: March 29, 2024 Time: 20:53:58

Renfe’s first major offensive to operate regional trains in France taking advantage of rail liberalization has been unsuccessful. The region of Haute-France (Hauts de France), north of Paris, has resolved its first public tender for the provision of regional trains, designating the French state operator SNCF Viajeros as the winner by exceeding the conditions offered by the rest of the competitors, among which were the Spanish company. In this way, the French railway giant will continue to be in charge of routes that it already operates today in the surroundings of the city of Amiens in exchange for around 500 million euros.

In addition to Renfe, Arriva – a subsidiary of the German state operator Deutsche Bahn – and the French private operators Transdev and Régionéo entered the contest. The contract, with a duration of 10 and a half years, will begin on December 15, 2024 and foresees an annual traffic of 211 million passenger-kilometres in the so-called ‘Amiens star’, the network that surrounds it. Includes traffic to Rouen (capital of the Normandy region), or to the towns of San Quentin, Compiègne or Abancourt.

Renfe will continue to seek contracts abroad

In December 2022, the French operator announced the divorce of the cooperation that for a decade jointly operated trains on both sides of the border, between Paris and Barcelona or Madrid and Marseille. SNCF blamed its decision on the liberalization process at the European level, although since 2021 it has been operating on the ‘star’ lines of Spanish high-speed with its subsidiary Ouigo, with notable success.

Since then, the positions between operators and at the moment the governments of both countries have hardened, reaching the point of crossing statements about a possible brake on Renfe’s intentions to operate in France. Last February, the Spanish public entity made public its interest in competing on major routes such as Paris-Lyon, the ‘goose that laid the golden eggs’ of the French railway network, but also in bidding for tenders in France to prepare the future liberalization of Cercanías and Media Distancia in Spain.

The difficulties in homologating Renfe trains on French tracks have led to discussion at the highest level, after the Sánchez and Macron governments ratified an agreement to speed up cross-border connections. However, a controversy by the Spanish Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, who assured that Renfe’s AVE would arrive in Paris before the end of the year and that in 2030 the route to Barcelona could be carried out at high speed has received criticism from the Executive halo, who for the first time denied that that date was agreed.

“SNCF was afraid of losing”

The first public service obligation (OSP) contract tendered by the Haute-France region required a series of improvements with respect to the service provided to date by the winning operator. These include customer service, passenger information, train and station cleaning, ticketing, income protection and security. After winning the tender, SNCF Viajeros has confirmed that it will create a subsidiary dedicated to providing a “redesigned and updated” service, in line with the requirements of the regional administration. In addition, the maintenance facilities in Amiens will be improved and a control center will be installed.

The Haute-France government, through its vice president for mobility, transport infrastructure and ports Franck Dhersin, expressed its “ambition” that its trains “work much better than they do today” and the desire to “escape the monopoly of the SNCF”, although this company will continue to be in charge of providing the service with rules set by the regional administration. After this tender, others will follow, so that the regional network is open to competition in 2029.

“SNCF was afraid of losing the first tender and responded favorably to everything we had asked for for years,” said Dhersin, who reserves the right to terminate the contract if targets are not met for two years in a row. These set improvements in regularity, to go from 96 to 98.5% or increase the offer of trains by 9.5 points, in addition to increasing the penalties for cancellation of services or reduction of the set offer.

* This website provides news content gathered from various internet sources. It is crucial to understand that we are not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented Read More

Puck Henry
Puck Henry
Puck Henry is an editor for ePrimefeed covering all types of news.
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