Will we buy tickets to travel standing on the train in 2026? Renfe prepares a pilot for short Medium Distance journeys

2026 may be the year in which Let’s launch a new way of traveling by trainwithout reserved seat and standing instead of seated in exchange for a cheaper fare. This formula, which already works in other European countries, could go from the muses to the theater, that is, from the idea already raised in public by the Minister of Transport, Oscar Puenteto the “pilot” that the president of Renfe, Alvaro Fernandez Herediahe anticipated in an interview at the end of last year. “We areworking on making a pilot, We want to do a test to see when it would be,” he said without yet setting a date for the project.

For now, what is known is that the test would begin with trains of Medium Distancebecause they are those who do the “short” trips what Renfe and the Ministry are thinking about to allow passengers to travel standing. It must also be on trains where there is enough space so that passengers stand without disturbing those who are seated. According to the president of Renfe, in Media Distancia convoys there is between 5 and 10% of the excess space that could be dedicated to passengers without an assigned seat.

According to other sources familiar with the sector, to allow passengers to travel standing it would also be necessary modify the insurance conditions which assists all passengers and which, until now, is attached to the seat, so that standing travelers would also be covered.

The idea of ​​being able to make the most of trains by allowing passengers to travel standing started years ago from one of the most active user associations, the Association of High Speed ​​Users of Castilla y León. “They called us crazy”its president now recalls, Carlos Perfectoabout the idea they raised when they were minister José Luis Ábalos. If it finally sees the light, it would be another of the “historical” measures which values ​​what the Puente department has been taking in recent times to facilitate train mobility for users who move every day between one city and another to work or study. In this sense, the new quarterly pass for traveling on Avant trains, the “Vía Pass”, stands out in particular, which is the “most similar” thing to the work pass that your group has been demanding for years.

Although the idea therefore comes from a long time ago, Puente unwaveringly defends a measure that the president of Renfe has been a supporter of for some time. Renfe and the Ministry defend that it will give passengers the possibility of choosing to travel standing on a train that is already full, with a lower rateinstead of having to wait for the next one.

What is normal in France, Belgium, Germany or Italy

The other issue they raise is that standing on trains is common in other european countries. And even in Spain, where it also happens. “On the Rodalies network, in the regional train part [en Cataluña] you travel without a seat reservation and There are people who are sitting and standing and nothing has happened“said the president of Renfe.

In other European railway networks there is no ticket to travel standing up, but this is a possibility offered by the French ‘renfes’ (SNCF), the German (Deutsche Bahn) or the Italian (Trenitalia) in case the passenger wants to travel on a train in which there are no more seats available.

In the French network of Express Regional Trains (TER), The general rule is that train tickets are purchased without a seat guarantee, with reservations that are valid throughout the day on the selected route and when the train appears as full, it is possible to ride without guarantee of having a seat. If you end up traveling standing, it is done at a reduced rate. In Germany, a passenger can board both long-distance and regional trains even when there are no longer seats with a seat. In this case, the passenger can look for places that are finally free or travel on foot.

In Italy, the ticket purchased to travel on a regional train is just to travel, not for the seat, which already includes the possibility of having to travel standing if there are no seats left, something similar to what happens in Belgium.

From giving the idea to seeing it as “unviable”: what users say

Waiting to see how the possibility of standing on the train is designed here, the opinion of recurring users of Media Distancia trains is not uniform and swings between satisfaction at having been listened to and disbelief at a measure that they consider “unviable.”

“The opinion is favorable“It’s something that we had said from the association,” says Perfecto, president of the group that brings together frequent train users in Castilla y León. He thinks it is “a very good measure” because it allows whoever prefers it to choose to travel this way instead of having to wait for another train, at a time when he remembers that there are not enough trains to meet a growing demand.

Furthermore, he believes that there are people who may be interested in paying less and that putting more people on a train, even if they are standing, is a way to “make the railway infrastructure profitable”, tracks or stations that must be paid for regardless of the passengers traveling on each train. “I hope they do it as soon as possible because all the people who depend on the train would use it,” he says.

“It seems amazing to me that Instead of increasing the number of spaces in frequencies that have been requested for active and passive, let’s go backwards like crabs,” says, for her part, the president of the Toledo Train Users Association (AUTT), Beatriz Canowhich considers it “unfeasible” to be able to travel standing on the train, as well as contradictory to what is happening until now, which is not allowed to get on if there are no seats because it is full. “What are we left with?” he asks.

In the opinion of this association, “it is not understood” what Cano calls “rumor.” “We always complain about the braking when reaching stops. If people are standing it can be dangerous. Or when you have to walk on the train [hasta llegar al asiento] When it is already running, the stability is minimal. “How are we going to travel standing the whole way?”