Ouigo will reduce a frequency on the high-speed line between Madrid and Barcelona. From January next year and during some days of the week, the operator plans to reduce from ten to eight round trips on the route that has been operating since 2021 between the Spanish capital and the Ciutat Comtal with a stop in Tarragona and Zaragoza. The tickets that go on sale on the 27th for the first months of 2024 will already be able to see this lower frequency.
The decision is due to profitability issues. Ouigo explains that this is a reduction that could be temporary and that responds to the need to contain the losses that are accumulating. The operator with French capital complains about the increase in the energy bill and, especially, about the fees it has to pay to Adif to use the railway infrastructure. In particular, the Madrid-Barcelona line, as it is the route with the highest capacity, has a supplement to the fare that the operators must pay.
Adif plans to adapt the fee for this line by means of the so-called “market test” to calculate demand. It recalls that the fee “continues to be calculated as when there was only one operator”.
The operator has sent the Spanish Government this week its displeasure at the elimination of the toll plan from the addendum without, in return, a more important commitment to the transport of people by train.
