Opening to high -speed trains competition in Spain is an undeniable success. Before the arrival of new operators, the train was an expensive transport mode, reserved for commercial customers and the car reigned supreme.
Since the Renfe (Spanish SNCF) has to deal with competitors, prices have melted and traffic has jumped.
According to the latest French transportation (art) regulatory authority, the assistance of trains in our neighbors has shot more than 30% in 2023, strengthening the participation of the modal train against the car (+5 points in four years), while the number of places offered exploded by 202% between 2019 and 2024.
600 million cumulative losses for new participants
But this increase has its reverse. To quickly capture market share, the new participants participated in a violent price war. Even so, according to art, these decreases “represent up to -40 % in the lines competed by the 3 operators.”
For the Spanish government, these prices are even too low to guarantee the viability of the system. And he makes it known again.
The Secretary of State for Transportation has urged the operators instead (Renfe, Renfe-Avlo, Iro and Ouigo-SNCF) to review their price strategy that highlights 600 million cumulative losses since 2021, they can be read in the world.
The Government believes that this very low price does not allow profitability to be achieved, which threatens the entire system in general (and Renfe in particular). In his sight, he again attacked Ouigo Spain and his low -cost model, according to him, “dumping” with a loss strategy, and leads to the market down.
Therefore, he decided to postpone until September the launch of the second wave of liberalization of the market that must concern the Madrid-Galic, Madrid-Sarturies/Cantarbrie and Madrid-Cadix/Huelva lines.
Contacted, SNCF travelers do not want to comment on these accusations.
Low cost prices advance
These accusations are not new, but they must be nuanced. Attacking a market from zero mechanically heavy losses losses during the first years of exploitation, taking into account the investments that will be made and costs such as tolls, this is observed in France with Trenitalia that has since arrived in red.
If Ouigo Spain has been in red since its launch in 2021, the SNCF ensures that its subsidiary will reach balance this year, or even generate a few million euros in profits (a year of delay in terms of plan) thanks to the launch Links with AndalusiaInitially scheduled for October 2024, but it was launched in early 2025.
On the issue of prices, the merger was really severe if compared to the situation before liberalization. But they tend to stabilize or even increase, especially on the side of ouigo …
Protect Renfe’s market share that has melted 19 points in 4 years
According to an internal document that we have provided, in the highly frequented line of Madrid-Barcelona, between the first and third quarter of 2024, the average prices of Ouigo Spain increased from 34.63 euros to 43.16 euros. In Avlo, the low cost of the RENFE, we go from 39.23 euros to 45.31 euros.
The trend is the same for Valencia in Madrid with an average price that increased from 20.58 euros to 26.16 euros in Ouigo and from 20.48 to 24.14 euros in Avlo. And for Madrid-Aliante (23.20 euros at 31.46).
The question is whether Spanish government attacks do not intend to better protect the positions of the national renfe operator, which is the most expensive, but has seen its market share of 77% in 2021 to 58% in 2023 …
Source: BFM TV
