Renfe abandons (for now) the Barcelona - Paris AVE

MadridCatalonia sees the high-speed train that should connect Barcelona and Paris pass by (for now). The railway project that was supposed to connect the Catalan capital with France remains on hold after Renfe decided to withdraw from it due to obstacles from the French country which have ended up being a burden for its completion, initially planned for 2024, as reported by Eldiario.es and confirmed by Renfe sources to ARA. Last year, the Barcelona-Toulouse connection was also suspendedEldiario.es. During all this time, the Spanish train operator has encountered bureaucratic hurdles, but also a commercial war from the French public company SNCF, its competitor, which has led the company chaired by Álvaro Fernández to decide to "temporarily withdraw" from the project. "It is not a definitive withdrawal, the project will resume when the technical and operational conditions allow it," indicate Renfe sources.

One of the main problems is that the Spanish operator had not been able to advance in the homologation (SNCF must give the go-ahead) of the trains in France, which made it impossible to draw up a "reliable" schedule of what the deadlines could be for completing a railway connection that was supposed to connect Barcelona with Paris to join the Barcelona-Lyon or Barcelona-Marseille route (in this case, the line starts in Madrid). It should be taken into account that to run trains through a specific European territory, this homologation is required, but also the safety certificate, and in the French case, this is required for each line or section that is to be operated. The path, therefore, is even more tortuous.

Now, after this move, Renfe's priority is the railway network in the State, explain from the operator, where precisely one of the most convulsive moments of recent years is being experienced, marked, above all, by the tragic accident in Adamuz (Córdoba) and which has had consequences on the normal functioning of the high-speed network. The problems on this line have been added to the already habitual, but also accentuated, problems on the conventional network.

However, Renfe's decision does not affect the operation of the other international lines it currently operates in France. For example, connections with Barcelona-Lyon and Madrid-Marseille, with a stop in the Catalan capital, which the Spanish operator has managed since 2023 and through which an average of 642,395 travelers pass per year. "Its activity continues normally," explain from Renfe. Since that year, Renfe has operated these lines alone after the breakup of the partnership it had, precisely, with the French SNCF.