Renfe Mercancías has stopped operating international gauge trains from Spain to France, handing over its last service to Transfesa, a subsidiary of DB Cargo.
This train, contracted by Kombiverkehr and connecting Barcelona with Ludwigshafen (Germany), was the only one retained by the public operator, after both Transfesa and Captrain had taken away all the contracts.
LFP confirms to Trenvista that this train’s last circulation with Renfe traction was on 31 December. Thus, the Intercity Valencia-Alicante is the only regular train towed with series 252 locomotives.
As well as competitors, Renfe has lost routes that ceased operations, such as the trains to Duisburg, Germany, and Busto, Italy. This change comes as Renfe expects to receive new standard gauge Euro6000 locomotives to boost (or now recovering) cross-border traffic to France.
For its part, Transfesa is consolidating its position in the international gauge market, now operating two services via the Perthus tunnel. The other one connects the Mercedes Benz factory in Manheim with the Can Tunis terminal in Barcelona.
In addition, with the start of the new year, Transfesa has also snatched the grain train linking Babilafuente (Salamanca) with Santander from its second-largest shareholder (Renfe owns 10% of the private operator’s shares).
