Spain’s Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has called at the EU Transport Council in Luxembourg for faster rolling stock manufacturing and delivery through a common European strategy.
Puente stressed that major European OEMs are missing contracted milestones, with average delays of 2.5 years across Europe and up to three years in Spain. As a result, time from contract award to entry into passenger service is stretching to around eight years.
He cited strong demand, complex and non-harmonised authorisation processes, limited industrial standardisation, and the lack of pan-European test facilities as key drivers.
To address the issue, he urged the European Commission to convene structured dialogue with Member States, manufacturers, social partners and the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) to define coordinated measures that strengthen the sector’s competitiveness.
Puente reiterated that these delays erode service reliability, raise operating costs and constrain operators’ growth.
In an interview published this morning by ElEconomista.es, Ricardo Ramos, CEO of Siemens Mobility for Spain and Southwest Europe, argued that the primary bottleneck lies in authorisation. Ahead of the Council, Puente added that insufficient manufacturing capacity to meet current demand is also a factor.