The addition of Ouigo and Iryo to the high-speed line between Madrid and Barcelona has led the train to break a historic passenger record and has caused a significant drop in ticket prices, but notot is good news for those who move at more than 300 kilometers per hour between the stations of Atocha and Sants. The negative side of the entry of competition is a drop in AVE punctuality rates to levels never seen before, which is starting to arouse concern among the most regular users.
According to the latest figures obtained by La Vanguardia, one in four trains arrives later than expected. The punctuality index, which in the Barcelona-Madrid corridor was 92.26% in 2019, has fallen to 73.58% in 2023, which is almost over. These are data that have never been seen in the 15-year history of the high-speed line between the two major Spanish cities. The most common was that year after year 90% punctuality was exceeded without many setbacks.
The most frequent causes of delays in recent months are breakdowns of interlockings, signaling or electrification, all attributable to the railway infrastructure administrator (Adif). Sources in the sector indicate as the main reason for these incidents a higher use of the roads due to the increase in traffic, which has increased especially since 2021. The reasons attributable to Adif are the first cause of unpunctuality in the reports to what this newspaper has had access to. They pose twice as many problems as those due to external causes, such as adverse weather conditions or breakdowns of the trains themselves. Three years ago, however, the infrastructure did not cause so many problems and the first reason for the delays was attributed to Renfe itself.
The data worries the state public operator and the other two private companies, which do not share statistics of this kind. But sources in the sector predict that they will be similar or even worse since, since they have fewer trains, they have less room for maneuver in the event of an incident, especially in the case of the French low-cost subsidiary Ouigo, with the convoys righteous At this point, Renfe is the best prepared, but even so, since the number of slots reserved for the group of operators is much larger, the recovery cannot be carried out as quickly as it used to be.
This is demonstrated by the data that record delays of more than thirty minutes, which have directly doubled. Between April and October of this year there were 94 compared to 41 in the same period in 2019, when they had no competition and acted in a monopoly situation. At that time, if something characterized the high-speed network it was its punctuality, which had nothing to do with that of Rodalies and was practically guaranteed to meet the scheduled time, these competitive two and a half hours of direct trains or less more than three hours in case of intermediate stops in Zaragoza or other stations such as Lleida or Camp de Tarragona. The delays and incidents also affect, in retrospect, travelers traveling on high-speed trains between Barcelona and Girona or Figueres.
The worst month according to the same data was June, in which there were 19 incidents that caused delays of more than half an hour. The month of July wasn’t much better either, with 17 recorded. Since then, every month has exceeded a dozen days when commuters have experienced delays of more than thirty minutes on the d ‘high speed between Madrid and Barcelona to the French border.
The situation is not exclusive only to the most coveted and most traveled corridor. The routes that go from Barcelona to the south of Spain, beyond the Spanish capital, show even worse results. In the case of trains between Barcelona and Malaga, punctuality has gone from 84.85% to 59.52%. The situation is even worse for trips between Barcelona and Seville, with a decrease in punctuality from 90.05% to 44.72%. That is, more than half of the trains between the Catalan capital and Andalusia arrive late. In this case there are not three operators that share tracks, there are only two, Renfe and Iryo. More than the competition, the situation is attributable to the various works that Adif has carried out during the summer months on the high-speed line between Madrid and Andalusia, which has also had a negative impact on the punctuality of trains Avant bound for other places such as Ciudad Real, Puertollano and Toledo.
The new president of Adif, Ángel Contreras, will have to deal with this problem, of which he is familiar due to his position at the head of the general direction of Conservation and Maintenance of the infrastructure manager for the last five years. However, the increase in delays is not the only urgent issue to be resolved in the field of high speed in Catalonia. The incorporation of the new operators has also brought to the limit the capacity of the platforms and the lobby of the Sants station, which was never designed to absorb such a high number of passengers and which makes it urgent for the entry into service of the sagrera
The long queues to go through the security controls and then to go down to the corresponding platform each time generate more discomfort among regular users. Although some measures have been taken to try to mitigate the collapse, the situation is becoming uncomfortable on a daily basis and when one of these spiraling incidents or delays takes place, the situation already becomes unmanageable .
