Burgos is facing a conflict between its demand for better rail connections and Renfe’s commercial criteria. The state-owned operator will not add more AVE frequencies on the route to Madrid, according to Álvaro Gutiérrez, president of the Burgos AVE Users Association, in statements reported by Cope. The association says Renfe has indicated that additional trains would not be profitable.
The group questions that explanation, arguing that on some days this summer it was difficult to find tickets because the available capacity was almost completely sold out. Renfe declined to comment on the matter when contacted by Xataka.
Passengers can currently travel between Burgos and Madrid on up to nine daily frequencies, but only two complete the journey in under 100 minutes. The AVE services departing at 6:40 and 17:21 are the fastest, while most other options take close to two hours. Some Intercity services take more than four hours.
The association is requesting an additional high-speed service, preferably earlier than the current first option, which arrives at Madrid’s Chamartín station at 8:13. Such a timetable would improve the prospects for people living in Burgos and working in Madrid, as well as for those with early appointments in the capital.
Until a few months ago, an Intercity service also departed at 8:06. Its temporary change to 8:50 has shifted many workers and students who used that train toward the earlier time slot.
Gutiérrez described the situation as contradictory, given calls for citizens to use public transport instead of private vehicles while some cities have fewer options than others. The association wants Burgos to become another Castile and León alternative for commuters, alongside the growing role of high-speed rail in the Atlantic corridor.
The same tension has appeared elsewhere. In Sanabria, Zamora, local residents have sought more trains stopping at the station, including an earlier service for people travelling to work, educational centres or medical appointments in Valladolid and Madrid. During the previous summer, 22 trains passed through the station but only eight stopped, according to the report.
Renfe’s position reflects its dual role as a public operator and a company expected to keep its commercial accounts balanced. Unlike Ouigo and Iryo, which can choose where and how intensively to compete, Renfe must also provide services that may not be profitable. However, a service of this kind must be formally defined by the Spanish state as a public service and included in an agreement with the General State Administration. Autonomous communities can also subsidise services if they consider the public provision insufficient.
The Burgos route has an additional infrastructure constraint. The high-speed line’s Venta de Baños branch is single-track, creating a bottleneck that limits the traffic it can handle and can spread delays from one train to subsequent services.
The expected arrival of the Madrid–Basque Country AVE could ease that bottleneck. According to the information cited in the report, the Transport Ministry expects passenger traffic to multiply by ten once more frequent services and more attractive timetables become available.
Sources: Xataka.