The variable-gauge AVEs that will cut travel times to Madrid finish the approval phase on the track, although they still need the authorization of the State Agency for Railway Safety and the verification of each of the units before entering service
08 feb 2023 . Updated at 11:20 p.m.
The unsuccessful contract for the 31 narrow-gauge trains, whose initial design is not adapted to the network’s historic tunnels —the units have not yet been manufactured by CAF—, mainly affects Asturias and Cantabria, which are the communities that have with a wide electrified meter gauge network that does not exist in Galicia. Twenty-six of those trains are electric, and therefore cannot be used in the community. But there are five other hybrid trains capable of circulating on tracks without catenary that could be used for the old network of Feve de Galicia and Castilla y León, although in principle they seem more favorable for mixed layouts that combine both types of traction. For this reason, the governments of both territories have sent a letter to the Secretary of State for Transport, the Galician Isabel Pardo de Vera, in which they ask her to specify how this situation affects the rolling stock committed to the Ferrol-Ribadeo line as soon as to calendar, supply deadlines and number of trains to be assigned to this line.
In the document, signed by the Minister of Infrastructure and Mobility, Ethel Vzquez, it is also requested form part, as affected territory, of the working group announced by the minister, Raquel Sánchez, to monitor the process together with the communities of Asturias and Cantabria, the most affected by the delay in putting these units into operation, which is estimated to be two or three years. The design problem was due to an error made in the definition of the gauges —the dimensions— of the tunnels. The trains could run on the newer ones, but not on the older ones.
The Minister recalls that Renfe committed itself in 2018 to undertake a plan to improve the quality of service in the community’s metric-gauge network, especially with regard to the reliability of rolling stock, with numerous incidents that often force to resort to alternative transport to guarantee the right to mobility of users. In that meeting, the operator admitted, according to the Xunta, that the continuous incidents They were because the trains were old and required modernization.
The Xunta welcomed the award to CAF of the contract for the 31 trains in June 2020, with five hybrids that could be destined for Galicia and the possibility of acquiring one more of this type. And they remember that the information that was given at the time made sure that the new metric gauge fleet would serve Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, Galicia, Castilla y León and Murcia.
The new Cercanas trains for Cantabria and Asturias will not circulate until at least 2026
Trenes Avril
On the other hand, La Voz was able to learn that the Avril trains, which will improve travel times from the cities of the Atlantic axis to Madrid, The approval tests have already been completed. Talgo announced after Christmas that they would end in the following weeks and, from sources familiar with the process, it has been learned that the tests on the road have already finished. The process for commissioning, however, continues, since the supervision of the State Railway Safety Agency is still necessary, which is the one that must grant authorization for them to circulate. Afterwards, each of the thirty units will still have to be verified, fifteen with fixed gauge and another fifteen with variable gauge, which are the ones that can circulate on the Galician high-speed inland network, which from Ourense has tracks in Iberian gauge. Recently, the Ministry of Transport gave a new deadline for commissioning: in summer or early autumn.
The Senate approves with the votes of the PSOE a motion of the PP on the Atlantic corridor
The Senate approved with 226 votes in favor and none against —there were 34 abstentions— a motion by the Popular Party to include the northwest Atlantic corridor —Galicia, Asturias and Castilla y León— in the plan to establish rail highways, consisting of the transport of trucks in rail convoys. Galicia and the rest of the northwest had been excluded from the Mercancas 30 initiative, of the Ministry of Transport, something that was described in the motion as a new offense against the interests of these territories.
The central spirit of the initiative had the support of the PSOE, despite the debate sparked by the intervention of Miguel Tellado (PP) and the subsequent reply from the socialist José Fernández Blanco. The final motion was configured with contributions in the form of amendments by the Mixed Group that did not affect the basic content.