Adif

Adif (Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias) is Spain’s state-owned railway infrastructure manager, responsible for managing, maintaining, and allocating capacity on the national rail network, including Spain’s high-speed lines. It was created on 1 January 2005 following the structural separation of Renfe into an infrastructure manager and a train operator.

Adif manages approximately 17,500 km of track and over 1,900 stations. The high-speed network — managed by a dedicated subsidiary, Adif Alta Velocidad — exceeds 3,900 km as of 2026, the longest in Europe. Spain operates two track gauges: Iberian gauge (1,668 mm) on the conventional network and UIC standard gauge (1,435 mm) on high-speed lines, a coexistence that creates specific operational challenges for cross-network rolling stock.

Liberalisation and capacity structuring

Adif’s role in domestic passenger liberalisation is atypical by European standards. When the 4th Railway Package opened domestic passenger markets, Adif Alta Velocidad took an active structural approach: it packaged approximately 70% of the theoretical high-speed capacity into three long-term framework agreements, distributed across competing operators, and reserved the remaining 30% for future allocation.

The result is the only high-speed rail market in Europe where three operators — Renfe, Ouigo España, and Iryo — compete across multiple major corridors.

Adif reports to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility. Track access charges have been managed directly by Adif since December 2022, when responsibility was transferred from the state budget.