SNCF breaks high-speed commercial alliance with Renfe

ParisRenfe and the French state railway company, SNCF, will no longer jointly operate high-speed lines between the state and France. The French operator told Renfe on Wednesday that it would not renew the alliance when the current contract expires at the end of the year due to lack of profitability. “The lines have never been profitable and we do not want to continue losing money,” say sources from the French operator quoted by the economic newspaper The echoes.

Renfe regrets that SNCF has put an end to the agreement to jointly operate the Barcelona-Paris, Barcelona-Lyon and Madrid-Marseille lines. “The operator has informed us of its intention not to renew and we have told it that we do not share the reasons given for dissolving the alliance,” sources from the Spanish operator told ARA. “Renfe would certainly have preferred to continue, but from our point of view we have not found a satisfactory agreement,” say from the French company. SNCF already broke the commercial agreement with the Italian Trenitalia last year for the same reasons.

With the pandemic, demand has plummeted – 72% in 2020 and 59% in 2021, according to SNCF data – and competition from airlines is strong, but Renfe maintains that, despite the obvious drop in ticket sales since March 2020, “there is a market”. Since the end of 2013, trade alliance trains between the two operators have carried 5.6 million passengers.

Since the liberalization of rail transport, relations between Renfe and SNCF had become strained. The two companies have become competitors in high-speed lines such as the one between Barcelona and Madrid, which SNCF operates under the low-cost brand Ouigo. However, Renfe has failed to operate lines in France. The Welsh authorities have put sticks in the wheels arguing technical approval issues. Now Renfe is waiting for France to allow it to launch the same lines that it currently operates with SNCF alone. “We look forward to their full collaboration and reciprocity,” said the Spanish operator. “We want to continue renting the same number of trains,” they say. SNCF will continue to operate the Barcelona-Paris line next year, the only one it considers profitable.

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