The Spanish Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has urged EU countries to speed up the certification processes for rolling stock. These procedures lengthen the current train manufacturing and commissioning times, which can take up to six or seven years.
He made this point at the Informal Council of Transport and Maritime Affairs Ministers in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Puente warned that these delays are hampering the competitiveness of the European railway industry and hindering the implementation of interoperable technologies. Among the causes, he pointed to fragmented regulation, slow procedures and capacity limitations in the rolling stock industry, in line with the diagnosis of the European Railway Agency.
As a solution, he has proposed improving regulatory knowledge, strengthening independent assessments and expanding testing infrastructures.
In this line, last July the Minister announced the resumption of the project to build a test ring in Antequera, Malaga. A circuit thatwas paralysed in 2013 after the tender for the construction contract was unsuccessful. It had 215 million euros of EU funding, of the 350 million budgeted.