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New Barcelona-Paris train link delayed until after Olympics

A direct rail route between Barcelona and Paris which was set to launch in time for the Summer Olympics has been delayed due to setbacks in France, as has another new sleeper train between Barcelona and Amsterdam.

Published: 16 April 2024 13:05 CEST
New Barcelona-Paris train link delayed until after Olympics
It is Spain's state-run rail operator Renfe and not France's SNCF which will manage the new Barcelona-Paris route that has been delayed. Photo: Pierre Verdy/AFP

The Renfe train link set to connect Barcelona with Paris will not be ready for the Olympic Games starting in the French capital in July, as was initially planned, due to administrative delays in France.

Spain’s Transport Minister, Óscar Puente, has indicated that the line is now scheduled to be up and running by the end of the year.

Renfe is Spain’s state-owned rail company. In 2023, it began offering cross-border services to Lyon and Marseille.

The delay comes after news that another international route, linking Barcelona with Amsterdam, is also set to be postponed due to technical problems on the French side. This is because the train would have to pass through France on its way to the Dutch capital.

However, such long administrative delays do seem somewhat surprising when the French publicly owned rail company SNCF is the operator, the infrastructure manager, and the regulatory body in charge of approving trains.

READ ALSO: New Spain-France train routes: What you need to know

In Spain these roles are separated between the operator Renfe, the infrastructure manager Adif, and the Railway Safety Agency (Agencia de Seguridad Ferroviaria).

After SNCF broke up a joint venture with Renfe that offered high-speed services between both countries two years ago, the Spanish company has been running the Barcelona-Lyon and Madrid-Barcelona-Marseille routes alone since the summer of 2023. However, SNCF is currently the only one with a direct rail link between the Catalan capital and Paris.

Renfe’s aim was to reach Paris by summer of 2024 to coincide with the Olympic Games in the French capital.

In 2012, Renfe and SNCF jointly operated train routes between Spain and France (with each operator managing their country’s route) but this alliance ended in 2022.

Barcelona-Amsterdam route

The Barcelona-Paris route is not the only to be stopped in its tracks due to French delays.

The planned night route between the Catalan capital and Amsterdam will be run by the European Sleeper company, but it is also having problems getting approved. According to the railway company, France is obstructing the launch of the service, which is scheduled to start in 2025.

The train has to pass through France, but the French railway line is reportedly overcrowded, authorities claim, delaying the start of the route.

“It’s not easy to get a place on the timetable there,” Elmer van Buuren, co-founder of European Sleeper, explained recently on Dutch radio station BNR.

Van Buuren said the French rail network is overcrowded and undergoing extensive renovations and repairs after years of delays. “This kind of work is mainly done at night, so it clashes in terms of priorities,” van Buuren said of his company, specialists in night sleeper train travel.

“The French will have to make room,” he added.

Another international sleeper train (the Nightjet) which promised a direct link between Barcelona and Zurich by the end of 2024 has also had its plans put on hold, but Austrian operator ÖBB has not disclosed the reasons why Spain is no longer on its route map. 

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TRAVEL NEWS

Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

The EU's new Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport controls is due to come into force later this year, but among many questions that remain is the situation for non-EU nationals who live in the EU or Schengen zone.

Published: 27 April 2024 07:59 CEST
Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

Currently scheduled to start in autumn 2024 (unless it’s delayed again, which is not unlikely) the EU’s new Entry & Exit System is basically an enhanced passport check at external EU borders, including a facial scan and fingerprinting.

You can find a full explanation of the new system HERE.

Travellers crossing an external EU or Schengen border for the first time will be required to complete EES ‘pre-registration’ formalities including that facial scan and fingerprinting.

There are, however, several groups exempt from EES and one of them is non-EU nationals who have a residency permit or long-stay visa for an EU country.

So if you’re a foreigner living in the EU or Schengen zone, here’s what you need to know.

Exempt

One of the stated aims of EES is to tighten up enforcement of over-staying – IE, people who stay longer than 90 days in every 180 without a visa, or those who overstay the limits of their visa.

Obviously these limits do not apply to non-EU nationals who are resident in the EU or Schengen zone, which is why this group is exempt from EES checks. They will instead be required to show their passport and residency permit/visa when crossing a border, just as they do now.

In its explanations of how EES will work, the European Commission is clear – exempt groups include non-EU residents of the Bloc.

A Commission spokesman told The Local: “Non-EU citizens residing in the EU are not in the scope of the EES and will not be subject to pre-enrollment of data in the EES via self-service systems. The use of automation remains under the responsibility of the Member States and its availability in border crossing points is not mandatory.

“When crossing the borders, holders of EU residence permits should be able to present to the border authorities their valid travel documents and residence permits.”

How this will work

How this will work on the ground, however, is a lot less clear.

Most ports/airports/terminals have two passport queues – EU and non-EU. It remains unclear whether the non-EU queue will have a separate section for those who are exempt from EES.

It does seem clear that exempt groups will not be able to use the automated passport scanners – since those cannot scan additional documents like residency permits – but should instead use manned passport booths. However it is not clear whether these will be available at all airports/ports/terminals or how non-EU residents of the EU will be directed to those services.

There’s also the issue that individual border guards are not always clear on the processes and rules for non-EU residents of the EU – even under the current system it’s relatively commonly for EU residents to have their passports incorrectly stamped or be given incorrect information about passport stamping by border guards.

Brits in particular will remember the immediate post-Brexit period when the processes as described by the EU and national authorities frequently did not match what was happening on the ground.

The Local will continue to try and get answers on these questions. 

READ ALSO What will EES mean for dual nationals

What if I live in the EU but I don’t have a visa/residency permit?

For most non-EU citizens, having either a visa or a residency permit is obligatory in order to be legally resident.

However, there is one exception: UK citizens who were legally resident in the EU prior to the end of the Brexit transition period and who live in one of the “declaratory” countries where getting a post-Brexit residency card was optional, rather than compulsory. Declaratory countries include Germany and Italy.

Although it is legal for people in this situation to live in those countries without a residency permit, authorities already advise people to get one in order to avoid confusion/hassle/delays at the border. Although EES does not change any rules relating to residency or travel, it seems likely that it will be more hassle to travel without a residency card than it is now.

Our advice? Things are going to be chaotic enough, getting a residency permit seems likely to save you a considerable amount of hassle.

Delays 

Although residents of the EU do not need to complete EES formalities, they will be affected if the new system causes long queues or delays at the border.

Several countries have expressed worries about this, with the UK-France border a particular cause for concern.

READ ALSO Travellers could face ’14 hours queues’ at UK-France border

Where does it apply?

EES is about external EU/Schengen borders, so does not apply if you are travelling within the Schengen zone – eg taking the train from France to Germany or flying from Spain to Sweden.

Ireland and Cyprus, despite being in the EU, are not in the Schengen zone so will not be using EES, they will continue to stamp passports manually.

Norway, Switzerland and Iceland – countries that are in the Schengen zone but not in the EU – will be using EES.

The full list of countries using EES is: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Therefore a journey between any of the countries listed above will not be covered by EES.

However a journey in or out of any of those countries from a country not listed above will be covered by EES.

You can find our full Q&A on EES HERE.

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