Renfe (, ), officially Renfe-Operadora, is the national passenger railway company of Spain.
It was created in 2005 upon the split of the former Spanish National Railway Network (Renfe) into the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), which inherited the infrastructure, and Renfe-Operadora, which inherited the railway service.
History
The name "Renfe" (acronym of Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles) is derived from that of the former Spanish National Railway Network created on 24 January 1941 with the nationalisation of Spain's railways. As per EU Directive 91/440, Renfe was divided into Renfe Operadora (operations) and ADIF (infrastructure) on 1 January 2005. At the same time, the existing Renfe logo (nicknamed the "galleta", Spanish for biscuit), first introduced in 1971, was replaced by a dark purple lower-case wordmark designed by Interbrand. Separate logos used by the other sectors were also replaced, but the old Renfe logo remains in use in some stations in Spain and on maps to indicate an ADIF station.
The Railway Sector Act, 2003 separated the management, maintenance and construction of rail infrastructure from train operation. The first activity is now the responsibility of Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), while the newly created Renfe-Operadora (also known as Grupo Renfe or simply Renfe) owns the rolling stock and remains responsible for the planning, marketing and operation of the passenger and freight services.
Renfe no longer has a monopoly on domestic passenger services due to Ouigo España launching in 2021, followed by Iryo in 2022.
Structure
Renfe-Operadora inherited the management model of the old Renfe, which made Renfe-Operadora responsible for the operation of the passenger and freight services. In January 2006, Renfe-Operadora restructured the main business units into four general directorates:
Dirección General de Servicios Públicos de Cercanías y Media Distancia (General Public Utilities Directorate for Suburban and Medium Distance): responsible for commuter services (Cercanías), medium-distance high-speed rail AVE services and medium-range regional services (:es:Regionales and :es:Media Distancia). However, control of some Cercanías services were transferred to Spain's Autonomous communities. Dirección General de Servicios de Larga Distancia (General Directorate of Long Distance Services): responsible for long-distance intercity and high-speed rail services (except medium-distance AVE services and Media Distancia, which is managed by the above business unit). Dirección General de Servicios de Mercancías y Logística (General Directorate for Freight and Logistics Services): responsible for freight services. Dirección General de Fabricación y Mantenimiento (General Directorate of Manufacturing and Maintenance): responsible for rolling stock maintenance and manufacture (also known as Integria)
They are currently engaged in a transformation and modernisation project. Key to this was a major overhaul of their out-dated ICT systems through an ICT renewal project completed at the end of 2010 under the responsibility of Corporate Director of Information Systems Óscar Gómez Barbero. It introduced improvements how tickets could be bought online and adopted new ICT management practices within a "more industrial" organisational model, though Gomez publicly acknowledged the difficulties in transforming what remained a very hierarchical organisation.
In June 2013, Renfe's board agreed to restructure the organisation into four separate companies, responsible for: Operating passenger trains; Freight; Rolling stock maintenance; Train leasing.
The four companies would be grouped under a single holding company.
Figures
Operations
The company operates some of railways, of them electrified. Most of the tracks are constructed to the broadIberian gauge of , the same as that used in Portugal but wider than the international gauge of which is standard in most of the rest of the world. The newer high-speed (AVE) network has been built to the international standard gauge of for the connection to the rest of the European railway system. For this reason, the gauge is generally termed "European gauge" in Spain.