A proposed high-speed train service connecting Spain with Paris has been delayed again, but has it come off the rails completely?
Spain’s state railway company Renfe announced on Wednesday that it has temporarily shelved a planned high-speed rail project to Paris. The announcement reflects another delay in a project beset by bureaucratic problems and what critics describe as “regulatory imbalance”.
The postponement is due to “the accumulated difficulties in the process of certifying the trains in France and the impossibility of establishing a reliable timeframe for its completion,” Renfe sources confirmed to state broadcaster RTVE.
Sources also confirmed that the project to link Paris with Madrid or Barcelona, could be resumed when technical and operational conditions allow.
“This is not a permanent shelving,” Renfe reiterated in a statement.
“We intend to resume the project when the technical and operational conditions allow,” the rail group said.
This decision does not, however, affect the continued operation of Spain’s international routes currently running in France. Spanish rail operator Renfe runs services from Barcelona to Lyon and Madrid to Marseille which carry over 600,000 passengers per year.
French company SNCF runs a high-speed Barcelona to Paris service.
The delayed project is therefore only for Renfe services to Paris originating in Spain.
When will the Spain-France high-speed link be ready?
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This is far from the first delay on the cross-border high-speed link.Renfe’s planned service is already years behind schedule and has been repeatedly bogged down by French administrative hurdles.
The project was due to be ready for the Olympic Games in the French city, which were held in July 2024, however it was postponed until December of that same year due to delays in administrative procedures in France.
The new deadline was then missed after Renfe failed to obtain certification for its new S-106 trains, manufactured by the Spanish firm Talgo.
French outlet Le Monde suggests the delay is also evidence of an underlying commercial battle, with Renfe “locked in a standoff with SNCF that is forcing it to scale back its ambitions in France.”
Spanish media RTVE claims the administrative setbacks have always been with the French authorities, where state-owned company SNCF is simultaneously the operator, infrastructure manager and the body responsible for certifying the trains.
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A recurrent issue is that the Spanish operator has struggled for proper homologation of its trains in France, something SNCF must approve.
This has made it impossible for Renfe to draw up a “reliable” schedule of what a realistic deadline could be for completing a high speed connection between Barcelona-Paris.
Renfe has also been forced to scrap a planned rail connection between Barcelona and Toulouse.
When foreign trains pass through other European territories, homologation is required, as well as relevant safety certificates.
Catalan newspaper ARA reported that “in the French case, this is required for each line or section that is to be operated. The path, therefore, is even more tortuous.”
Spain’s Ministry of Transport has called for more reciprocity in international rail markets.
Spain allowed SNCF-owned company Ougio into its domestic market as part of market liberalisation in recent years.
Critics have argued that the regulatory and homologation demands on foreign operators essentially acts as a bureaucratic barrier that benefits French companies.
