The tender for 30 high-speed trainsets, with an option for 10 more, has been amended. Renfe has extended the bid submission deadline to 23 June, instead of the initially planned 9 June.
The procurement was launched on 1 April, just one week after approval by Renfe’s Board. Given the sensitivity of the process in a liberalised market, the operator classified the technical specifications as confidential, distributing them in person to interested bidders until 21 April.
Renfe’s urgency to secure rolling stock to replace the ageing Series 100 fleet and expand high-speed capacity led to a tight two‑month window to analyse specifications, prepare, and submit bids.
The extension does not, for now, affect the opening date of financial offers, which remains set for 9 September 2026. To safeguard quality, price will carry a weighting of only 30% in the award criteria.
30 new trainsets at 350 km/h
Few details are known beyond a base budget of €1.563bn and a requirement for entry into service in under four years.
The delivery schedule is demanding: the first units must be handed over before month 40 (3 years and 4 months) after contract award, followed by one trainset every 1.5 months, completing the order by month 78.
The main disclosed technical parameter is a maximum operating speed of 350 km/h, aligned with the upgrade of the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed line announced in November 2025. The new units will join the 26 Series 103 trainsets, currently the only ones in Europe authorised for that speed.
Likely contenders, given product maturity, active production lines, and ongoing or completed homologation, include:
- Alstom with Avelia Horizon, its latest double-deck high-speed platform; if capacity is not paramount, it could also offer Avelia Stream, the convergence of AGV and Bombardier’s Zefiro.
- Hitachi with the ETR1000, the flagship of the Italian rail industry; its second generation, without Alstom/Bombardier technology and with improvements such as expanded luggage space, is already under way.
- Siemens with Velaro neo or Velaro novo; commercially, Siemens is keen to place the novo, which has yet to secure a European customer, while the neo offers proven reliability with multiple homologations in place or in progress.