France puts more obstacles to homologate Avril high-speed trains and for Renfe to arrive in Paris this year

France puts more obstacles to homologate Avril high-speed trains and for Renfe to arrive in Paris this year

France promised after the last bilateral summit with Spain held last January to facilitate the arrival of the high-speed trains from Renfe to Paris before the year was out. But the reality on the ground seems to be very different from the official statements and the operator continues to find some obstacles that from the other side of the Pyrenees have been repeatedly denied.

Renfe has chosen the model Talgo's S-106, also known as Avril, to operate its services to the French capital. The train has been approved since the end of last year in the neighboring country in a process that, according to sources in the sector, is not being easy. The Spanish rolling stock manufacturer has informed the Spanish operator that continues to find a multitude of obstacles in France that prevent the approval of trains, according to these sources. Specifically, the division of the SNCF in charge of the French railway infrastructures -the equivalent of the Spanish Adif- has made available to Talgo a workshop for maintenance in which basic maintenance tasks are not possible, like the wheel tournament. Given this, these sources add, Talgo is being forced to bring its trains from France to Spain, specifically to its workshops in Barcelona, ​​in order to carry out these elementary maintenance tasks, which delays the entire approval process.

Despite the goodwill shown by the French Government, Renfe has always been aware that getting to Paris this year depends, to a large extent, on the French railway authorities. In February, the then president of the company, Isaías Táboas, stated that they hopefully could meet this schedule, although he also added that it would only be possible "through French authorities". Táboas assured that the liberalization of the sector "advances at different speeds in Europe" and, without citing her, threw a dart at France by assuring that there is countries "more resilient to competition." Something that neither Renfe nor the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (Mitma) have just understood after the French operator, through its low-cost subsidiary Ouigo, has been operating in Spain for almost two years after a process in which they consider they were offered all the facilities to deploy their services.

From France, however, they do not consider that Renfe is being more demanding. In SNCF they assure that if the Spanish operator has not yet disembarked in the French market, it is not because its authorities have placed barriers or obstacles of an administrative nature but because of the "technical difficulties" involved in starting to operate in another country. For example, they detailed, the process of homologation of rolling stock to safety systems -Renfe has been testing the Avril de Talgo in France for some time for its future operation on the Paris line- is usually lengthy. "Ouigo took three years to obtain all the authorizations for his materials in Spain," they say. "France does not put barriers to Renfe because it is not interested," they assured LA RAZÓN from SNCF last month. “If there had been obstacles, Brussels would have told us [la Comisión Europea]. But it is not the case, far from it, “they added. "The French regulatory authorities comply with European regulations," they stressed before adding that there is already another operator, Trenitalia, which operates a corridor between Milan and Paris that illustrates that France is not averse to opening up its high-speed rail sector to competition. speed.

In SNCF they assure that they are in favor of having more competition in the French market. In his opinion, a bigger market would allow them to grow in customers and, therefore, improve their business.