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TRAIN TRAVEL

Iryo: Spain’s new low-cost train operator launches on Friday

Spain's third train operator will kickstart its new Madrid-Barcelona route on Friday, with Valencia, Málaga and numerous other cities to be added to its network and average ticket prices selling for €18.

Published: 21 November 2022 13:38 CET
Iryo: Spain's new low-cost train operator launches on Friday
Low-cost train's Iryo is pictured on the day of its inaugural trip at the Chamartín train station in Madrid on November 21, 2022. - Private high-speed train operator Iryo, which is 45 percent owned by Italy's Trenitalia, makes on November 21 a symbolic inaugural trip in Spain, four days before it starts its passenger service between Madrid and Barcelona. (Photo by Pierre-Philippe Marcou / AFP)

Competition in Spain’s high-speed rail market is heating up with a new operator starting passenger services on Friday, making it Europe’s first nation with three players in the sector.

The new firms have pushed down prices and increased passenger traffic on the high-speed network, which at 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) is the second longest in the world after China’s.

Private operator Iryo, which is 45 percent owned by Italy’s Trenitalia, made an inaugural symbolic trip on Monday from Madrid to Valencia on Spain’s Mediterranean coast.

It will begin passenger services on Friday November 25th with 16 daily return trips between Madrid and Barcelona, via Zaragoza.

Ticket prices will vary depending on the different packages offered, but according to Iryio the average cost per one-way ticket is €18.  

READ ALSO: What to know about Iryo, Spain’s newest high-speed low-cost trains

Iryo will compete with French railway company SNCF’s firm in the country, Ouigo, which has been operating since May 2021 and Spanish state-owned rail operator Renfe, which opened its first high-speed service in 1992.

The arrival of a third operator is a “historical step” which is “novel” in Europe, said Carlos Lerida, a rail transport expert at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

“Until now no high-speed rail network has operated with three competitors. Spain could serve as a model,” he told AFP.

GUIDE: How to get free train tickets in Spain

Iryo, which is kicking off its operations in Spain with 20 trains, will in mid-December expand its services to include a Madrid-Valencia route (via Cuenca).

In March 2023 it will start running trains from Madrid to Seville, Málaga, Córdoba and Antequera in the southwestern region of Andalusia. In June, it intends to launch its route to the eastern coastal city of Alicante (via Albacete). 

Ouigo already operates trains along the Madrid-Barcelona and Madrid-Valencia routes and plans to start services to the Mediterranean port of Alicante as well as Andalusia next year.

Low-cost train Iryo’s staff members stand at the trains’ door on the day of its inaugural trip at Chamartín train station in Madrid. (Photo by Pierre-Philippe Marcou / AFP)

‘Democratise high-speed’

Spain’s state rail infrastructure operator Adif in 2019 granted contracts allowing the firms to operate on these routes for 10 years.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government is keen to lower ticket prices for bullet train tickets to make greater use of the high-speed rail network.

Greater competition will “democratise high-speed” rail travel, Transport Minister Raquel Sanchez said last month, calling Spain’s model for the sector “revolutionary”.

Renfe responded to the arrival of Ouigo in May 2021 with the launch of a low-cost bullet train service called Avlo.

The company has also renewed its fleet of trains and improved the service it offers passengers on their journeys.

Renfe has a seat sale underway with prices of a 500-kilometre (300-mile) trip between Madrid and Barcelona for as little as seven euros.

“We see the arrival of competition as an opportunity not as a problem,” a Renfe spokesman said.

Average prices for tickets on high-speed trains between Madrid and Barcelona have dropped by 25 percent since Ouigo started operating last year, according to Spain’s competition watchdog CNMC.

‘Underused’ network

Passenger traffic on the route has jumped by 47 percent, and is up by 14 percent along Spain’s entire rail network since May 2021, according to Adif.

“The network was underused,” the director general of Ouigo’s Spanish branch, Helene Valenzuela, told AFP, adding this meant there was a “limited risk” in entering the market.

The company spent €630 million ($644 million) to launch its operations in Spain.

“Our main rivals are planes and cars, not other trains,” said Valenzuela.

“On a technical level, it is a challenge, because we have to organise the flow (of trains) in the stations. But on an economic level, it is an opportunity,” she added.

Competition in the high-speed rail sector has its limits.

It works on “very busy lines” but it is “much more complicated” on other routes where it is harder for companies to cover their costs and make a profit,” said rail transport expert Lerida.

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EES PASSPORT CHECKS

EES border checks could undergo ‘soft launch’, UK says as app concerns mount

The UK government is preparing for a "soft launch" of the new EU border system – the Entry/Exit (EES) system - in October but authorities are still waiting for European Commission to confirm the start date, amid concerns over the delay of a new app.

Published: 4 May 2024 09:30 CEST
EES border checks could undergo 'soft launch', UK says as app concerns mount

The UK government is preparing for a soft launch of the new EU border system – the entry/exit (EES) system – on the assumption that it will go live on October 6th, ministers told a hearing at the House of Commons European scrutiny committee this week.

But the European Commission is expected to confirm the exact launch date of the new biometric checks for non-EU travellers entering the Schengen area at some point this summer, they added.

“We are very much working on a basis whereby this policy will go live on the 6th of October. It is important that we plan for that eventuality. We are expecting to hear definitively from the European Union that ‘go live’ arrangement in the summer,” Tom Pursglove, UK Minister for Legal Migration and the Border told the committee.

The parliamentary committee is conducting an inquiry on the disruptions the system will cause in the UK.

Pursglove also said that “precautionary measures” have been agreed by the EU, that will be put in place in certain circumstances after the start of EES, for example if delays at the borders exceeded a certain length of time.

Guy Opperman, Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Transport, said that in practice this meant a “soft launch” of EES for 6 months before “a full go live”. During that soft launch EU member states and the UK could deploy flexibility measures should problems occur.

“The likelihood is, after multiple delays, that the 6th of October will proceed” and the implementation looks “very different” compared to previous scenarios considering the flexibility allowed in the first 6 months, he argued.

No details were given on what these “flexible” measures would involve however. 

READ ALSO: Your questions answered about Europe’s EES passport checks

He conceded that “a lot of work” still needs to be done but the UK “should be as ready as everybody” and “better be at front of the queue”.

App not ready

During the meeting, it also emerged that a much-anticipated app that would allow remote pre-registration of non-EU citizens subject to the checks will not be available for testing until August “at best”, prompting concerns about the EES launch date.

“You don’t need to be a sceptic about future projects to think that the provision of the app in August for going live in October is optimistic,” Opperman said.

Ministers confirmed that the app will not be ready in time for October and the committee previously stated it might be delayed until summer 2025.

The app will facilitate pre-registration, but photo and fingerprints will still have to be taken at the border in front of a guard, the committee heard.

READ ALSO: How do the EU’s new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

Several MPs asked whether the entry into operation of the EES should be delayed again if technology is not ready. But Under-Secretary Opperman said the app “is not going to be a panacea to fix all problems”.

The main aim of EES is to increase security and to ensure that non-EU nationals visiting the Schengen area for a short-term do not stay more than 90 days in any 180-day period.

The entry into operation of the system has already been delayed several times and there have been calls from certain travel companies and national authorities to delay it again.

Under the new scheme, non-EU/EFTA travellers who do not need a visa will have to register their biometric data (finger prints and facial images) in a database that will also record each time they enter and exit the Schengen area.

Instead of having passports manually stamped, travellers will have to scan them at self-service kiosks before crossing the border. However, fingerprints and a photo will have to be registered in front of a guard at the first crossing and there are concerns the extra time needed will generate long queues, especially in Dover, Folkestone and St. Pancras station in London, where there are juxtaposed French and UK border checks.

Progress in preparations

Minister Pursglove also updated MPs on ongoing preparations. He said some testing of the system will take place within days, 5 kiosks have been installed at St. Pancras station and are available for testing. “You are beginning to see the physical infrastructure appear,” he said.

Kiosks and extra lanes are also being created at the port Dover and it was agreed with the EU passengers travelling by coach will be checked away from the Eastern dock, where controls usually take place, allowing to gain space. The vehicles will then sealed and drive on the ferries.

MPs also discussed the infrastructure cost linked to the introduction of the EES. Opperman said all EU countries will have to make “huge investments” in their ports. In the UK, he argued, this will help “address problems that have existed for some time”. Because of this “massive investment”, in a few years time “Dover will be totally transformed,” he said.

This article is published in cooperation with Europe Street News.

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