Renfe’s Board of Directors has taken the initiative to submit to the Ministry of Finance and Public Function, through MITMA, the proposal to create a branch in France, to enter the French market, with Renfe Viajeros, including high speed and public services (commuters and medium distances).
This has been agreed upon by the company’s board of directors after its last meeting, with the aim of allowing Renfe Viajeros to sign contracts, market services (ticket sales), issue invoices, hire staff or import, among others. .
“This new structure reflects Renfe’s will to bet on the French market and will remain in the long term, this being a fundamental piece in its strategic plan for international expansion to become a reference operator, through the provision of quality services , safe and efficient,” the company said in a statement.
On the other hand, the Spanish company continues to develop the work to obtain the safety certificate to operate throughout France (as SNCF-Ouigo already has to operate in Spain) and to be able to take advantage of the incipient liberalization that the French State and SNCF have announced. have advertised SNCF.
For now, Renfe has already obtained the certificates to operate on the Barcelona-Lyon and Madrid-Barcelona-Marseille lines. Once the training of the train drivers is completed and all the necessary authorizations to operate these lines are obtained, the Spanish ensign will define the transport plan, which is expected to be progressive until reaching 28 weekly circulations.
On January 16, the tests of its AVE trains that will circulate between Spain and France began, which will consist of reproducing the characteristics of the commercial service, to demonstrate operational solvency.
