Renfe brings back to life trains that were stopped to meet their material needs. The operator is facing the summer with the most intensity of travelers in its history with a fleet of trains reduced by the necessary maintenance of some of them and the large order of 5,000 million that is not yet ready. In order to be able to transport the greatest number of passengers possible, the public operator is not only adjusting the rotation of its material to the maximum, but is also looking for imaginative formulas to expand its operations.
Hence, it has decided to recover six of the ten 490 series trains, known as Alaris, which in 2013 had to remove the tracks after finding cracks in their bogies. These units, designed by Alstom and Fiat, have been in daily service since 1999 on Spanish roads under the ‘Alaris’ brand, connecting mainly the city of Valencia with Barcelona and Madrid. Its ability to reach speeds of 200 kilometers per hour helped improve the duration of these journeys despite not traveling on high-speed roads.
In the last few weeks, the operator has accelerated the rate of contracting the different services and materials it needs for these trains to return to the tracks. In total, it will allocate 12 million euros to its reform, repainting and carrying out various repairs that will last ten months for each train. The works that began in May of last year and are carried out at the maintenance base that the operator has in Malaga.
Renfe considers this intervention a “big repair” that includes unlocking work “due to the time they have been out of service.” The action includes structural repairs and the installation of new GSMR communications equipment, security (ERTMS and ASFA Digital v4) and rear-view cameras to improve the vision of drivers.
Regarding the visual, the interior design of the trains will be remodeled with new seats, the cafeteria will be eliminated in exchange for installing vending machines, luggage compartments and bicycle racks; and new lighting, flooring and seat plugs will be installed. These trains, with 171 seats and another two for people with reduced mobility, will provide medium-distance services on the conventional network. So far, Renfe has not confirmed the routes on which it will provide service.
18 million seats to travel this summer
Renfe has revealed this week its offer between July 1 and September 15 for all its high-speed, regional, medium and long-distance services, all of them with special offers due to government discounts or the liberalization that has lowered rates in corridors where there is competition. Its trains will be able to transport up to 18 million passengers this summer: 7.5 million on AVE, Alvia, Euromed and Intercity; and the rest on Avant, Regional and Media Distancia trains.
The company claims to have put “all its human and material resources in order to guarantee the mobility of citizens during these dates, in anticipation of increased demand for summer vacations.” It is expected that the connections with the most demand are those that connect the center of the peninsula with Andalusia, the Valencian Community, Catalonia and the northern destinations.
