Renfe changes its executive leadership: it hires a new manager in Avanza to compete with Iryo and Ouigo and looks for a new boss to resolve the Cercanías crisis

The new times of the railway in Spain have led Renfe to make a change in the management leadership with the appointment of a new general director of Viajeros – the division that is in charge of competing on the recently liberalized high-speed network with the new competitors. Ouigo e Iryo. High-speed travelers are growing at double-digit rates from 2022. This year, until the second quarter, the 10.2 million registered an increase of 21%, thanks to the drop in ticket prices, as reported by the Commission National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC).

Specifically, according to the latest report from the railway sector, more than 141.7 million travelers used the train between April and June 2024, 5.6% more than in the previous quarter and 6.3% more than in the previous quarter. second quarter of 2023, while commercial high-speed travelers exceeded 10.2 million, with an increase of 21% quarterly and year-on-year.

The operator chaired by Raul Blanco He is also looking for a new person in charge for another hot seat, that of promoting Cercanías services.

Both are positions that have great importance for the public company, which is under strong pressure due to the commercial aggressiveness of Ouigo and Iryo in high speed; due to the punctuality problems that it accumulates in relation to its new fleet of Talgo and the incidents in the infrastructure managed by Adif and, with an increasing profile, the deterioration of Cercanías services.

To a large extent, these same problems cost the previous president of Adif his head this September, Angel Contrerasand, below the minister, no one feels safe if the incidents continue to erode the image of Oscar Puente.

Thus, Blanco has had no qualms about going out on the market to sign a new general director of Viajeros, a position that has never before been occupied by anyone who was not a Renfe employee. The call meant an earthquake in the public company and has led, according to internal sources, to the next selection of Rafael Cortesuntil now Director of Avanza in Catalonia, almost certainly. The appointment must still be validated by an executive committee in the coming days. Avanza, owned by the Mexican group Mobility ADO, is the largest private urban public transport operator in Spain, with a workforce of 5,400 professionals, a fleet larger than 2,400 buses and trams that move more than 250 million travelers in stations that he also manages.

Unlike rail transport, land transport in Spain is more familiar with the competition, It has been organizing for decades through concessions in certain areas, so its companies are more accustomed to a type of management that differs from what the train has been up to now. An engineer by training, Cortés’ professional experience has been linked to road transport services first in Malaga and then in important towns in Catalonia before assuming responsibility for all mobility in the region. Cortés replaces Javier Pérez, who held the “acting” position since the previous director, Sonia Araújo, was appointed Director of Innovation and Sustainability last January.

In his new position, the scale of Cortés’ operations will be much larger, as well as dynamic, since the Government has pending continue liberalization of rail transport, which although according to Puente has brought this mode to the “best moment in its history” shows signs of deterioration due to the continuous incidents in the networks and, judging by the pointing out the Bridge itself to Ouigo for dumpinghas plunged prices excessively.

In any case, Blanco wants to soon have a new Cercanías coordinator to organize the arrival of the new fleet next year and the National Commuter Plan which has its most critical point in the renewal of lines in Madrid. On the agenda there are major works with which Transport aspires to modernize a network that will gain in appearance with the new Renfe fleet, but with punctuality problems. The Transportation budget is more than 7,000 million euros, of which 900 have already been executed and there are 4,000 in works “in progress”, according to the Ministry. In a city where the works are going to once again be a nightmare for citizens and an electoral asset for political leaders, the new Cercanías coordinator, who must be a civil servant, preferably an engineer, with 15 years of experience in the area of ​​public transportation, will have among its tasks “to ensure that the actions proposed by Renfe and Adif are aligned with the ministry’s priorities“, according to the job announcement.

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