2024-01-27 18:03:01
Saturday, January 27, 2024, 7:03 p.m.
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The high-speed network in Spain has gone from having 12 trains when the Madrid-Seville service began in 1992 to more than 330 today, the vast majority from Renfe but about 40 from private operators that entered the market in 2020. The network now exceeds 4,000 kilometers, the largest in the world only behind China. The emergence of new operators due to the liberalization of high-speed passengers three years ago is intensifying the use of the tracks, with more high-speed trains circulating daily to more and more destinations, as happened just a few weeks ago with the arrival of high speed to Asturias.
The more destinations and the more trains, the greater the need for drivers. Renfe’s figures have no comparison with those of the new private companies, which have only been in Spain for a short time and are growing at a forced pace due to the tendency of workers to go to the public operator as soon as they have the opportunity. Renfe has a staff of 5,700 train drivers, the highest number in history, and since it began its employment renewal plan – which will end in 2026 – it offers around 450 or 500 positions annually through its public employment offer (OPE). ). Those who pass the exam do not become civil servants, but they do have a permanent position in a public company, which gives “a lot of salary and professional stability,” the SEMAF machinists union explains.
A student practices in one of the simulators at the Renfe training center during the 2022 academic year. Avelino Gomez
And although salaries are similar in public and private companies (between 2,000 and 2,500 euros per month), stability is highly valued by professionals in the sector. «Private high-speed companies do not currently have any collective agreement with the workers, but rather each one signs their conditions in the contract, there are even colleagues who doing the same job have different salaries because they have negotiated their conditions for better or worse»; explain sources from the CC OO railway sector.
The training course costs 20,000 euros
for train drivers offered by several private schools in Spain, in addition to Renfe. Once they have passed the theoretical and practical exams, professionals can enter the world of work or prepare for an opposition.
Due to this, private companies may be left temporarily short of drivers. From SEMAF they explain that you cannot be a train driver overnight, but rather that a few months of specific training is required on the train you are going to drive and on the tracks you are going to travel on. “When professionals leave a private company for Renfe, there is always a margin of time in which there is a lack of professionals until new ones are trained, but it is not due to the lack of drivers in the market,” the union confirms.
«The lack of drivers can be an entry barrier for new private operators»
Andrea Giuricin
CEO of TRA Consulting
Something that is not shared by Iryo, one of the companies affected by these departures. It currently has 100 machinists on staff and there is no evidence that more professionals will leave at the moment. They have 45 people hired in training (a train driver needs 4 to 6 months of internship to join his specific position) to fill the vacancies and be able to maintain all the routes. «We have a pool of pre-selected drivers that is activated immediately when there are vacancies. Thus, the day after receiving advance notice of a driver’s departure, the selection process begins among them in order to begin training as soon as possible,” say company sources, who indicate that they understand that the departure of drivers “is part of the rules of the market.
Something similar happens in Ouigo. They currently have 80 train drivers on staff, but seven of them have already notified that they will leave the company in March and join Renfe. “We are in a dynamic sector with a shortage of talent and these movements have an impact that we analyze permanently,” explain sources from the French operator.
The salaries of the public and private companies are very similar, about 2,000 euros per month, but professionals value the long-term stability of Renfe
A lack of professionals referred to by Andrea Giuricin, CEO of TRA Consulting and professor of Transport Management at the University of Milan, who believes that with the increase in demand for trains – which will increase in the coming years, according to its forecasts – the number of drivers is not sufficient to respond to the market. “We are experiencing a situation similar to that which occurred in Italy, where this lack of train drivers became an entry barrier for new operators,” explains the expert, who considers this to be the main problem for railway companies, but also for customers.
However, from the SEMAF they assure that “there will end up being excess drivers” because the Renfe employment plan will end in a couple of years and not as many positions will be offered, at the same time that the private ones will not have the capacity to absorb the number of professionals. that are formed annually.
Rail traffic skyrockets and exceeds pre-pandemic levels
The recovery of tourism, the entry of new operators into the high-speed network and the commissioning of new lines has meant that rail traffic in Spain will increase by 10.1% in 2023 to a record number of 201 million trains per kilometer, also exceeding pre-pandemic data by 1.8%, according to the latest Adif bulletin.
The network that grew the most was the high-speed network, exceeding 2019 data by 33% thanks to the liberalization of the sector undertaken in recent years and which has led to the entry of two new operators (Ouigo and Iryo) in competition with Renfe. . Specifically, the Madrid-Levante route increased by 70% last year compared to 2022 and almost 96% compared to 2019 data, before the pandemic. The Madrid-Barcelona line increased by 38% compared to 2022 and 40% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
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