Rail liberalization exacerbates differences between corridors

On the one hand, on the train offerRenfe confirms merger of Catalan and Valencian cities 10-day frequency per direction (nine long distance and one regional). However, the total of the Madrid-Barcelona union almost fifty The number of daily frequencies, if the activation of the competition is counted for the incumbent. So, to the 26 Renfe round trips, 22 of them AVE and 4 of them Avlo, we must add 5 from Ouigo (jointly with the French SNCF) and 16 from Iryo (jointly with Trenitalia).

Although it is true that the frequencies between Barcelona and Valencia are the same still at 80% of pre-pandemic level, as described from Renfe. ticketing platform, railwayconfirms that the increase in demand has been remarkable in the last year. According to this platform, from January 1 to November 14, 2022, ticket purchases increased by 64% in the case of the Barcelona-València combination compared to the same period last year (2021). The increase in the Barcelona-Alicante line was 148 percent.

And at more AVE frequencies, more users. According to the CNMC report, approximately 1.1 million users traveled through the Mediterranean corridor in 2019. similar shape to what is available according to current data provided by the publicly traded company. Meanwhile, the Madrid-Barcelona line has been running for the last three years. increased its traffic on nearly 2 million travelers. So, if the 2019 regulatory report pointed to a demand of 4.5 million, currently Renfe sources point to around 6.3 million users.

More offers, less price

As there are more offers, ticket price has been on average 50% cheaper According to the figures from the Trainline ticket sales platform, there is an average of 7 percent increase on the Madrid-Barcelona route and on other routes compared to before and after the pandemic. Specifically, the period from January 1 to November 14, 2022 is the average ticket for the route Barcelona-Alicante It was around 57 euros; somebody Barcelona-Valenciaabout 41 euros and Madrid Barcelona It was 46 euros. Compared to Madrid-Catalonia, very similar prices for journeys half the distance by car in case of connection between Levante and Catalonia.

In fact, among the main objectives of entry into competition in Spain is to promote mode change, that is, the transfer of cars and airplanes to trains. In the absence of data on the individual vehicle, only public transport modes (train, plane and bus) emphasizes the dominance of the railway between the cities of Catalan and Valencia. dominant mode Together 80% of the fee –something that also happens on the route from Madrid to Valencia, Seville, Malaga and Alicante-, when it comes to the Madrid-Barcelona connection, the train made up about 60%, always 2019 according to the CNMC report for that year.

And when will the competition enter the Levantine axis? It seems that there is no time for that either. The arrival of Ouigo and Iryo in Alicante and Seville, whose projects were approved in 2019 and expected to start in 2023, is still pending. all runners “Where there is no (competition) yet, it will happen, believe me,” said the Minister of State for Transport a few weeks ago and until a year ago, the head of Adif. Isabel Pardo de Verain an intervention Congress of Deputies. Any interested company can request its input from Adif, the operator of the railway system, at any time.