The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has held a meeting this morning with the Chinese manufacturer CRRC, which the Ministry and Renfe are looking at for the new purchase of high-speed trains.
The meeting took place in the framework of an official trip to China in which he seeks to strengthen mobility ties with the eastern country. As part of the agenda, he will hold meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Liu Wei. The first meeting took place this morning in Beijing.
After this meeting, he held a first meeting with the heads of CRRC. The Ministry’s objective is to evaluate the Chinese manufacturer’s capacity to supply Renfe’s new high-speed trains.
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It is not the first approach with this objective; the president of the public operator stated in his interview with Trenvista that contacts had already been made in a round that includes all high-speed train manufacturers.
The possibility of CRRC supplying rolling stock to Renfe is not without controversy. On the one hand, the public aid received by the manufacturer is incompatible with European regulations, as it impedes the competitiveness of EU companies. This would prevent the EIB from financing the acquisition.
On the other hand, there are manufacturers in Europe and Spain with extensive experience in the manufacture of high-speed trains with guaranteed quality.
However, CRRC could offer lower prices and faster delivery times than its European counterparts, though the type-approval process would be longer than for models already in service in the EU.
Moreover, it has a very valuable product for the Spanish railway network: a variable gauge train capable of reaching 400 km/h.
This train would not only make it possible to take advantage of the 350 km/h at which it will be possible to travel on the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line. It would make it possible to combine Iberian gauge and international gauge routes, taking advantage of the maximum speed of the infrastructure at all times.