Spain: CNMC sets conditions for Arriva service between La Coruña-Porto

Spain’s National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has approved a set of economic conditions to decide whether to grant Arriva, a subsidiary of the German group Deutsche Bahn, access to the Spanish rail network for the operation of an international service between A Coruña (Spain) and Porto (Portugal). Arriva announced on May 16 its intentions of establishing a service between these cities.

Renfe Viajeros, ADIF, and the Ministry of Development have a period of up to four weeks to review whether the new Arriva service meets the conditions recently approved by the regulator.

The services for international passenger transport by train have been liberalized since January 1, 2010, so there is the possibility that competitors to national rail operator RENFE can pick up and drop passengers at any of the stations located along an international route, while the national routes will continue to be held by RENFE until 2020.

Full Content: La Vanguardia