How do you clarify in a few words the assignment of the Business Unit of Regionals?
The Business Unit of Regionals from Renfe is, such as official definition, the one which offers a community, intercommunity and intracommunity service around 200 kilometres. But really covering all the country, vertebrating and joining the most important villages with the big cities.
Regional Trains seem that are between Great Lines and Nearness Trains.
In Renfe is thought that this Business Unit was the sandwich with the ham and, really, at first was in this way. But this has changed in the last five years. With Regional Trains, Renfe does a regional transport at each autonomous region, spoke around the raillines as Andalucian Expres, Catalonia Expres, Galicia Regional, Aragon Expres, Castilla-Leon Expres,... There are raillines which run into each autonomous region, giving an exclusive service to each autonomous region. All of this has been in relation to the Contract-Programme 1994-98. In the next one I hope that the jump in Regional Trains would be to pass to the regional high speed. Independently of the high speed trains of Great Distances, will be regional railwaylines in high speed, complemented with other raillines, also regional lines, into each autonomous region and in Renfe width. We have made the studies in Catalonia for doing a regional transport of high speed between Lerida and the frontier. The travellers possibilities for the year 2010 in this kind of transport, that could join the four catalonian capitals and other small cities, like could be Reus, could oscillate between 10 or 14 millions of passangers. We would be talking about frequencies very high of the trains, even each fifteen minutes, which could put Tarragona to 30 minutes from Barcelone and Lerida around 50 minutes.
Then you want to have your own high speed trains
No, we don't; we are sure that we are going to obtain. I think that would be a big lost that Regional Trains haven't got that regional high speed. Is necessary that would be a high speed transport different to the one we today know as AVE, which includes services on the train to make journeys in two hours and a half, different classes,... We think the transport with an only class, cheaper and with the same speed, for which the traveller could stay on the train between half an hour and an hour and a half, but for distances around 180 to 200 kilometres.
Well, in the actual AVE that is just doing with the "lanzaderas" Madrid-Puertollano, which would be a regional service... but this service is done by AVE...
Really, but the service is being done by a vehicle which it isn't okay. The AVE has three classes and in two of these is given a lunch, and have television... the elements to do long travels, of two hours and a half or three hours. We think in a train of half an hour, completly different and cheaper. A social and public transport for using daily.
If the politics trends continue such as today, the infrastructures are going to give to the GIF and Renfe will be an operator. In this context is probably that the railway autonomous companies of rarrow line try out changing to the wide rail, and even that would appear new enterprises...
We've never been afraid of the competition, we know do that, we have a lot of years from experiencing and we are prepared to compete if they give us the things to do that. I'm not afraid of the competition with the other operators that could go out from the regional field.
In 1997 Regional Trains had traffic entries around 15,606 millions, in 1998 a traffic entries of 16,547 which supposes an increase of the 6%, what does Renfe wait for 1999?
We wait at least other 6%. This is that we have done between 1994 to 1998: keeping up the entries increase, we don't want an spectacular increase, but we want to mantain constant and always above the waited in the Contract-Programme. I think that the regionalization has been used for establishing, obtaining bigger entries and more passangers, because the travellers increase has been constant and consolidated such as the entries. Since 1995 also have consolidated an important part of the entries -different of the traffic entries and around 3,000 millions of pesetas- which come all the years from the autonomous regions because of the rents of the trains for the regional services.
It seems that the Regional Trains has had an important place in doing return to the train to a kind of traveller who was very difficult of recuperating, that it's to say, that has just known use a addecuated social situation, but it wasn't easy to put in service into the field which covers the Business Unit, where has that been planned to? how has the miracle taken place?
I don't think that would have been a miracle, I think that the trutful miracle has been the spectacular change of Renfe image last years. Renfe was a delay company and today the 90% of the spanish people speak with respecting about Renfe, because it is an enterprise that functions. Today we have the idea that all the Renfe trains are punctual, safe, reliable, comfortable and funny. This is in this way because we have done a great general effort, because Nearness Trains have modernizated all its trains, Great Distances have done the same, we also have started a modernizarion process, but we have transmited to the people the miracle. There has been a arousal to our users of a serious company. In this context, we have 25 millions of travellers who think that it's an alternative transport, comfortable, reliable and cheap. I think that this is the big secret. We have bet on a train modernization that we had and that is felt by the passangers and is grateful and, at the end, is used by them.
What is the buying politics in this way in a short and long term?
When the high speed arrives at Zaragoza, it must be a regional trains service of high quality which could carry travellers to Huesca, Teruel and other villages that would be around these. This is in Regional Trains we called it the star , consistent in trains which leave in radial form from a central point where arrives the high speed train. This is which are proving in this moment in Andalucian, where we have a lot of trains that do the journey between Cadiz and Seville. There are also Great Lines trains which circulate by high speed line to Seville, as the Talgo, but with an only service or two daily. In the other side we have 14 modernizated regional express trains, with a good quality, which are doing the journey between Seville and Cadiz in an hour an 40 minutes. It means that anyone who would come from Madrid could do an unit in Seville and plus the two hours and a half of the AVE we must add our one hour and 40 minutes and has arrive at Cadiz... That is being doing since three years ago and each time increases more the number of travellers with a combined ticket who use this system with Cadiz, Puertorreal, Puerto de Santa Maria, Jerez, or even with Dos Hermanas. That idea is the one that we want to go extending to other places when would be opened high speed lines. But if also the connection is given by ourselves with a regional high speed train, Regional Trains will have a good level of business. All of this is going to condition the material buying in medium term and we are writing specifications tenders. But we have necessities of the material in short term, that are into the Contract-Programme which had been prepaired for 1999-2003 (nowadays will be 1999-2000). We have to do a buying of 23 diesel trains of three boxes for being replacing that we have, and with which we could count with a fleet of 46 TRD: the 23 that have nowadays engaged of the TRD2 and other 23 of the TRD3. In the same time, we want to modernizate since nowadays to the year 2005 all the trains belonging to the model 432, which are being finished their used life; but we can't forget that the model 444 should be changed in two or three years and that the model 470 (the old 440 which have been modernizated) has a used life of five or seven years. We know that the material must be entrusted two years before and it means that during the next two or three years we have to do important buyings of material. Into the Contract-Programme before was done an important buying of merchandise trains and I think that during this year Regional Trains must buy. In fact, we wanted to buy during the period 1999-2000 around 50,000 millions of pesetas in diesel and electric trains.
The TRD seems have been an important success.
Yes, the TRD has been the first train designed into the Business Unit and, in this way, well adapted to our necessities. Our trains aren't like the Neraness Trains, we are talking about trains which carry a mean between 80 or 90 passangers in each train. Because of we didn't want a big train, but we want a fast train. Nowadays is being complied with this and the mean of annual kilometres that the TRD travel through was near the 300,000 kilometres per year. The train working is very good, the reliability is very high, its systems are very easy, although new in its technology, and, during the years that are in service, the results are very good. Because of was enlarged the model during other seven years more.
Also, we have just done a test with CAF, consistent in endowing one of the trains from the first model of tippering, and the results have been spetacular. Nowadays want that the seven trains which miss to finish the model would be dumper. In this way we would have a fleet with eight tippers and we would study the possibilities of reconverting the 16 trains from the old model in tippings.
And the electric Regional Train, the TRE?
We have a specifications tender for doing a train with similar characteristics to the TRD, but electric. Really, the rails by which circulate electric trains aren't so difficult as the ones that cover the diesel trains, and because of we don't think that would be tipper, although we reject it either. We want that would be a high speed train. The ones we have now, reach maximum speeds of 160 km/h and we want that the new train could reach the 220 km/h. The same that we did in diesel, where from the 120 km/h of the camels jumpped to the 160km/h of the TRD.
Which one has the key of advance been in Regional Trains?
All of this has been obtained with a hard work. Nowadays we are 1,400 people, but when we started were 500, most of us supervisors because we hadn't got engine drivers. We convinced us of which this wasn't a Business Unit imprisoned between Nerness and Great Distances, but we had own life and we must show it. We have practised a politics of opened doors with all the world, have incorporated engine drivers,... The human element of the Business Unit has been very important for pulling to the future and I'm very happy when people write me cards -although there are also complaints- talking about the character of our commercial people, who are supervisors. The supervisor is the person who spend all the day on the train, the person who is with the travellers; and the passangers have understood very well that is there for helping them and attending to them. All of this mean more entries and travellers, and we must continue giving them a good service to follow keeping that credibility that has been given.
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