The order has been controversial in Spain for two weeks after the error was made public. This is a contract for 31 regional trains for the mountainous north of the country worth 258 million euros, awarded in June 2020 to the Spanish manufacturer CAF. However, the ordered aircraft turned out to be too large for some railway tunnels on their intended routes.
Already in March 2021 – before the trains went into production – CAF had pointed out that the dimensions that the railways had included in their tender were incorrect. Renfe emphasizes that this is why trains have never been made with the wrong dimensions.
The blunder did lead to the order being delayed. The new trains will not be put on the rails in 2024, as previously announced, but “in the course of 2026”. There are also fears that costs will derail.
On January 6, the Spanish Ministry of Transport already decided to dismiss Renfe’s head of material management and a senior official at rail network operator Adif. Today Renfe boss Isaías Taboas kept the honor to himself and resigned. State Secretary of Transport and former Adif chairman Isabel Pardo de Vera also did so. Transport Minister Raquel Sánchez Jiménez thanked the two for their services in a short response.