Renfe takes the first step to create a subsidiary in France to “open the market” and with its sights set on the long-awaited AVE to Paris

Renfe took a first step this Tuesday towards the creation of a subsidiary in France, its own organizational structure to open new markets in the neighboring country, manage the projects it already has, for example, the AVE trains to Marseille and Lyon, and with the the sight set on the desired arrival of AVE to Paris What company sources expect to happen? before the end of this year.

In fact, the main requirement for the AVE to reach the French capital is precisely the creation of a subsidiary towards which this Tuesday a call was given. first step with the agreement of the Board of Directors of Renfe to raise the creation of a company that will be called Renfe France, first to the Ministry of Transportation and later to Tax authoritiesin a process that will not be immediate but is expected to be quick and that must then go through the Delegate Commission for Economic Affairs of the Government and finally by the Minister council.

The result will be a subsidiary of Renfe, 100% owned by Renfe Proyectos Internacionales, the company that was created a year ago to develop businesses outside of Spain. It will have its own structure and personnel and its corporate purpose will be “the business search” in France and his execution and exploitationthus centralizing its services and “positioning itself as reference operator in other markets and consolidate the international business so that it represents the 10% of Renfe’s total income”the company has indicated in a note.

The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Oscar Puente, has welcomed this “first step” on social networks so that Renfe has a French subsidiary, which has stated that “will strengthen the positioning” of the company opening the market in France, “looking for business and as a holding company for project management” in this country.

France is a “key market” for Renfe, which currently provides direct high-speed services from the Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona and Girona routes, with final destination Marseille and Lyon, where last year he already opened a Renfe Viajeros branchwhich will be maintained when the subsidiary in Paris is created.

Obstacles to the entry of Renfe in France

Furthermore, the Spanish company plans continue expanding through the French regions of New Aquitaine and Occitania and works in the homologation of trains AVE S-106 (Talgo Avril) and the security certificate required to reach the most desired destination, to Paristhe route that has been resisting for years and in which the Government no longer hides its discomfort over the conditions set by France and its state railway company, SNCFin what Puente considers a liberalization dysfunction of passenger transport by rail. Conversely, it ensures that Spain has complied with the rules of opening the market to other competitors, even at the cost of Renfe’s French competitor on Spanish soil, Ouigoowned by the SNCF, carries out commercial practices with ticket prices that a few weeks ago it even described as “unfair”.

Renfe and the Spanish Government have been waiting for years for authorization from the French authorities so that the AVE can circulate to Paris in a process that they denounce has been full of “obstacles” and situations of inequality with respect to the treatment given to French trains in Spain.

A few weeks ago, Puente opted to tone down on Ouigo after meeting with his French counterpart, Patrice Vergrietemabout complaints about the treatment that France gives to Renfe, forcing it to return to homologate your trains -even the French Alstom- and security systems and even preventing them from doing the maintenance in their workshops, when those of Adif in Spain do provide that service, for example, for Ouigo convoys.