Renfe has already accepted France’s rejection of its growth plans in the country and is now looking to Portugal as a new internationalization bet. The company has started the process to homologate its Talgo trains from series 106 and 107, with an eye on the high-speed corridor being built between Lisbon and Porto, and later on the one that will connect Lisbon and Madrid.
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The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, revealed the news yesterday in an interview with Europa Press in which he highlighted the fit of these Talgo models with Portuguese infrastructures, where standard high-speed sections coexist with the Iberian gauge, which is somewhat wider. The Talgos adapt to both types, which could give them a competitive advantage in the neighboring country.
Óscar Puente says the entry will be “easier,” but there are also reservations in Portugal
The government expects to find a more favorable environment in the Portuguese market than in France, where Renfe has found nothing but obstacles in its attempt to reach Paris. “There is no point in insisting on things that seem difficult, so we are changing our ideas, focusing more on Portugal,” Puente said regarding the French venture. Portugal is “a territory where we will work much more comfortably and will have an easier entry,” he added.
The Portuguese high-speed network is yet to be developed, with a view to the connection between Lisbon and Porto, scheduled for 2032. Around that date, it should also be possible to connect Vigo with Porto through an international link using both track gauges. For now, Renfe’s counterpart, Comboios de Portugal (CP), has already launched a tender to purchase 12 trains for just over 500 million. Alstom has options because it manufactures in Portugal, but Talgo’s technical solutions make it a serious contender.
Sources at Renfe indicate that the company aims to enter as an operator in the neighboring country, thus assuming a role equivalent to that of the French Ouigo or the Italian Iryo in Spain. For this, it has the Talgo 106 model, which is the one used by AVE and Avlo, and which provides high-speed services in Galicia as it is the only one that can change track gauge. Part of the route between Spain and Portugal would be on Iberian gauge. The other model, the 107, corresponds to the former sleeper trains, now transformed. Renfe has not yet received any 107 Talgo units, but the orders are already in testing.
For Renfe, Portugal now occupies a relevant place in its internationalization plans, with which it aims to reach the equivalent of 10% of its revenues. Growth in France is limited to Lyon and Marseille, it owns 33% of the Italian operator Arenaways, participates in the AVE to Mecca, and offers consultancy in Mexico. It has not found the expected reciprocity in the French SNCF, despite the opening of Spanish high-speed to Ouigo.
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Other sources warn that the Portuguese CP is trying to learn from Renfe’s business and that the entry of the Spanish operator in the country also “raises concerns,” as has happened with other Spanish investments. They fear that a larger company will take a good portion of the business and gain a hegemonic position at the peninsular level. The government of Luís Montenegro already showed reservations about CaixaBank’s purchase of Novo Banco, which was finally acquired by the French BPCE.
For Puente, both Spain and Portugal “clearly have the goal of being linked through the railway network.” However, the connections are not progressing at the expected speed, especially the one between Lisbon and Madrid, which has been sidelined by the Portuguese government to prioritize the northern link. Brussels has set 2034 as the date to connect the two cities, although work is delayed.
The other piece in the business and political puzzle is Talgo, in which SEPI has just bought a stake as part of the new controlling shareholder block, led by the Basque businessman José Antonio Jainaga. At the last shareholders’ meeting, Jainaga himself, president of Talgo, explained that the company is in a position to end the uncertainty of recent years. The train manufacturer still needs alliances to meet its commitments to customers.
Puente also refers in the interview published yesterday to the slowness of European manufacturers in train deliveries and certification, with “average times around six years.” Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers have already begun to offer faster and cheaper solutions, and they could become a threat. This is one of the impressions the minister himself took away from his visit in December last year to one of the plants of the Chinese group CRRC.
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