Renfe warns that the new compensation for delays will increase high-speed rates by 10%

The president of Renfe, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, has assured that changing the company’s compensation policy for high-speed delays would cost them more than 125 million a year, would imply a 10% increase in rates and would displace 5% of its travelers to the competition.

This was stated in an interview in Five Daysin which he has indicated that he believes that on January 1 there will be no changes in the travel conditions with Renfe, that they want to impose conditions that are not symmetrical with those of the rest of the operators and that many services that they provide despite being deficient and that the rest of the operators do not want to provide are put at risk.

On the other hand, they have assured that they want to recover the low-cost Avlo service on the Madrid-Barcelona line, but that they need more trains, that to incorporate new trains into the network they are open to all options and that they are going to explore the purchase of Chinese trains. However, he has acknowledged that there are unknowns about the approval of this product or whether the manufacturer has state aid, which could make it incompatible for an award in Europe.

In addition, he has advanced that in a period of two or three years they need about 30 trains and that, in the case of the Cercanías, they are prepared for a liberalization of the service and that the reliability and availability of trains from mid-2026 will improve greatly.

The new compensation

With the support of Congress, thanks to the votes in favor of the PP, Vox, Junts, ERC and PNV, this Senate amendment to the Sustainable Mobility Law was approved with the objective of returning the previous punctuality commitment to the one approved on July 1, 2024, which reduced the financial amount to be refunded to passengers who suffered the greatest delays on their trains.

Although the Ministry of Transportation is studying the legal formula to avoid the change, the provision has become law, which is why it dictates the following: “the Government will recover with effect from January 1, 2026 Renfe’s punctuality and refund commitments prior to the modifications produced in July 2024, once again guaranteeing compensation for 15 and 30 minutes late, 50 and 100% of the amount respectively, in high-speed and long-distance services”.