Eco Rail says it was the first Spanish private train operator to be granted a train operating license and safety certificate both for passenger and freight. Globalvía specialises in transport concessions and has a 32-year concession to operate Line 9b of the Madrid Metro. Globalvía operates several Spanish light rail systems, and a peoplemover at Madrid Airport.
Adif originally announced that four companies - Renfe, French National Railways (SNCF), an alliance between Talgo and Globalia, and Air Nostrum rail subsidiary Intermodalidad de Levante (Ilsa) working with Italian national operator Trenitalia - had submitted bids by the deadline of October 31 for the packages to operate on the high-speed network.
However the two additional bids were confirmed after Adif compared its records with the General State Administration (Age). Adif said that volume of data in the applications caused a delay in transferring it between the Age computer system and Adif’s system.
“The interest shown by railway companies to operate on the Spanish network is an endorsement of the work carried out by Adif and Adif High-Speed (Adif AV), as well as the model chosen to manage the liberalisation process, which has facilitated confidence for the candidates to submit their applications,” Adif says. “For this reason, the incorporation of new actors in the provision of rail passenger services will contribute to a more intensive and efficient use of the existing high-speed and conventional and future network, as well as greater sustainability of Adif and Adif AV and the entire rail system.”
While Adif has prioritised the framework agreements as the main way to request access to the network, it reiterated that interested companies can still request capacity on the conventional and high-speed networks, as well as on sections and lines still under construction.
Adif’s board of directors will issue a resolution in December announcing the successful candidates to establish framework capacity agreements. The agreements will be subject to approval from the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC).
