Renfe: Испанская государственная железнодорожная компания

Spanish state owned rail transport company

Renfe (ˈreɱfe, ), officially Renfe Operadora, is Spain's national state owned railway company. It was created in 2005 upon the split of the former Spanish National Railway Network (Renfe) into the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), which inherited the infrastructure, and Renfe Operadora, which inherited the railway service.

The name "Renfe" (acronym of Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles) is derived from that of the former Spanish National Railway Network created on 24 January 1941 with the nationalisation of Spain's railways. As per EU Directive 91/440, Renfe was divided into Renfe Operadora (operations) and ADIF (infrastructure) on 1 January 2005. At the same time, the existing Renfe logo (nicknamed the "galleta", Spanish for biscuit), first introduced in 1971, was replaced by a dark purple lower case wordmark designed by Interbrand. Separate logos used by the other sectors were also replaced, but the old Renfe logo remains in use in some stations in Spain and on maps to indicate an ADIF station. The Railway Sector Act, 2003 separated the management, maintenance and construction of rail infrastructure from train operation. The first activity is now the responsibility of Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), while the newly created Renfe Operadora (also known as Grupo Renfe or simply Renfe) owns the rolling stock and remains responsible for the planning, marketing and operation of the passenger and freight services. Renfe no longer has a monopoly on domestic passenger services due to Ouigo España launching in 2021, followed by Iryo in 2022.

Figures 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Passengers (Mio.) 527,975 517,583 510,176 476,334 463,012 476,917 472,145 466,057 464,961 465,201 471,359 487,881 507,088 510,453 Passenger kilometer (Mio.) 20,480 20,167 22,281 21,895 21,166 21,585 21,319 22,563 23,754 24,825 25,291 26,060 26,931 27,263 AVE Passengers (Tsd.) 4.878 5.559 11.461 11.250 10.851 12.563 12.101 14.697 17.967 19.428 20.352 21.108 21.332 22.370 AVE Passenger kilometer (Tsd.) 1.884 2.161 4.888 5.260 5.171 5.846 5.793 7.095 8.038 9.230 9.632 10.267 10.289 10.760

The company operates some of railways, of them electrified. Most of the tracks are constructed to the broadIberian gauge of , the same as that used in Portugal but wider than the international gauge of which is standard in most of the rest of the world. The newer high speed (AVE) network has been built to the international standard gauge of for the connection to the rest of the European railway system. For this reason, the gauge is generally termed "European gauge" in Spain. Construction of a high speed rail line between Madrid and Seville began in 1988 and began operations in 1991, going The second high speed rail line (Madrid to Barcelona) was completed in 2007 with the inaugural service commencing on 20 February 2008. The operational speed on this route is The greater part of the line (Madrid to Lleida) was entered service on 11 October 2003, with a connection to Huesca from Zaragoza. The third high speed line (Madrid to Toledo) was opened in November 2005, followed by a spur from Córdoba to Málaga as far as Antequera in 2007. Another high speed route from Madrid to Valladolid was opened in 2007. A line from Madrid to Valencia was opened in 2010, and the first stage of a high speed line in Galicia opened in 2011. A line to Lisbon is being designed. Other lines operated by Renfe include Euromed, a moderate speed line between Barcelona and Alicante. In addition to intercity transport, Renfe operates commuter train systems, known as Cercanías (or Rodalies in Catalonia and Cercanías Aldirikoak in the Basque Country), in eleven metropolitan areas, including Madrid and Barcelona. In some cities, Renfe shares the market with other commuter railway operators, such as FGC. In 2019, Renfe solicited bids for 31 new trains for the Asturias and Cantabria regions and the €258m contract was awarded to the CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles) in June 2020. Around February 2023, authorities discovered the designs were for the wrong loading gauge and would be too wide for the tunnels. Amidst international embarrassment, Renfe and ADIF each tried to deflect responsibility, and some called for the firing of the executives deemed responsible. Fortunately, the trains were still being designed, however the Cercanía commuter trains will be delayed until 2026.

Service Route(s) Locomotive Passenger Car Image Al Ándalus Sevilla Granada Úbeda Sevilla Renfe Class 319.3 Locomotive Al Ándalus Costa Verde Express Bilbao Santiago de CompostelaSantiago de Compostela Bilbao Feve Class 1900 Locomotive El Transcantábrico El Transcantábrico Gran Lujo San Sebastián–Santiago de CompostelaSantiago de Compostela–San Sebastián Feve Class 1900 Locomotive El Transcantábrico La Robla Express "La Robla Route:"Bilbao LeónLeón Bilbao"Pilgrim's Route:"Oviedo Ortigueira Santiago de Compostela Oviedo Feve Class 1650 Locomotive La Robla

Travel tickets are available from rail stations and online. In 2023 the European Commission initiated an investigation into concerns that Renfe might have been abusing its dominant position in the online ticketing market by refusing to share journey time information with competing ticketing websites. Renfe offered a number of commitments intended to address these concerns, which the European Commission made legally binding in January 2024 under the EU's competition rules.