Tuesday Brief: Renfe goes to court to block workshop-access order
Plus: Europe’s rail data layer is changing hands / Alstom’s order book grows faster than its delivery machine
Renfe goes to court to block workshop-access order
SPAIN: Renfe has filed a legal challenge against Spain’s competition regulator after it ordered the national operator to open its heavy maintenance workshops to rival Iryo — a move that tests whether liberalisation extends beyond tracks and timetables to the industrial infrastructure that keeps trains running.
Spain’s competition authority ordered Renfe to grant Iryo access to its La Sagra and Valladolid facilities for heavy maintenance of Iryo’s Frecciarossa 1000 trainsets — the only high-speed overhaul capacity available in Spain. Renfe filed proceedings at the Audiencia Nacional in mid-May, contesting an order that followed its own decision to break off eighteen months of commercial negotiations.
The outcome will be watched across Europe. Open-access operators on several mature networks face the same structural gap: liberalisation rules addressed path and slot access but left maintenance dependency on the incumbent unresolved.
Europe’s rail data layer is changing hands
Who owns the intelligence beneath Europe’s rail network? Four deals over two years are beginning to answer that question — and the answer matters to everyone who operates or maintains the network.
By Dan Jensen
Siemens Mobility’s agreement to acquire the core businesses of Italian group Mermec — diagnostics, analytics, wayside signalling and data infrastructure — follows three earlier transactions reshaping the same market: Vossloh’s pending acquisition of British LiDAR specialist Cordel, Mermec’s 2024 purchase of Hitachi Rail’s divested European signalling businesses, and Hitachi’s 2024 close of Thales Ground Transportation Systems.
The Siemens and Vossloh transactions remain subject to regulatory approval. No structural remedies have been announced to date.
Alstom’s order book grows faster than its delivery machine
INDUSTRY: Alstom’s production is falling behind its own order book, and new CEO Martin Sion has ordered an immediate overhaul of how the company executes its contracts.
The backlog stands at a record EUR 104.4 billion. The adjusted EBIT margin for FY 2025/26 came in at 6.1%, below the guided 7%, with lower production volumes and problems on specific rolling stock contracts cited as the cause.
Sion, who took over on 1 April 2026, has committed to tighter project management and reinforced planning discipline. The operational detail will not be public until a Capital Markets Day scheduled for early 2027.
Croatia picks Indian contractor for EUR 677m TEN-T upgrade
CROATIA: HŽ Infrastruktura has selected Indian contractor Afcons Infrastructure to reconstruct and double-track 83 km of TEN-T corridor between Dugo Selo and Novska, moving the project from procurement to delivery.
The contract, valued at EUR 677m excluding VAT, covers full track reconstruction, station upgrades at five locations, new signalling equipment and electrical works. Works are scheduled to run for five years and ten months from mobilisation, placing delivery in the early 2030s.
The EU contribution covers approximately 90% of eligible costs. The selection marks Afcons’ first entry into the European rail market.
Gotthard Base Tunnel gets derailment detectors
SWITZERLAND: SBB has installed derailment detectors at around ten locations on the approaches to the Gotthard Base Tunnel, lifting a speed restriction that has been in place since the tunnel reopened in September 2024.
The detectors, which went live on 10–11 May, are positioned before the portal crossovers where trains pass through high-speed switches at line speed. SBB says the sensors can limit the consequences of a derailment but cannot prevent one — and is calling for liability legislation to be amended so wagon keepers bear greater responsibility for maintenance standards.
Wagon owners have until 31 December 2026 to comply with new Swiss Federal Office of Transport maintenance requirements.
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