Por Redaccion The Minister of Mobility and Digital Transformation laments and rejects this attack on rural citizens who are deprived of necessary services for their daily lives.
May 22, 2025
Castilla y León |
Ministry of Mobility and Digital Transformation
The Minister of Mobility and Digital Transformation of the Junta de Castila y León, José Luis Sanz Merino, has shown his total rejection of Renfe’s unilateral decision to eliminate stops in the railway services in Castilla y León.
In a meeting with Renfe’s president, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, Sanz Merino has lamented the harm that will be caused to users who use the Galicia-Madrid connection, especially to the citizens of Sanabria, Segovia, and Medina del Campo starting on June 9. The regional government has urged RENFE not to eliminate these stops, emphasizing the maintenance of the early morning frequencies that connect Sanabria with Madrid, and vice versa with Galicia, which will also no longer stop at Medina del Campo and Segovia.
Renfe’s announcement, which promised improvements in the Galicia-Madrid connection from June 9 with more seats, trains, and reduced travel times, entailed substantial changes for Castilla y León. This is why Sanz Merino has requested from Fernández Heredia the need, first, «to have specific information about the changes affecting the Community» and, second, to resume that «institutional collaboration» that has not existed when implementing these modifications despite requests for information for a week. «This is a lack of prior dialogue on this reorganization, making a decision that affects mobility, territorial cohesion, and the fight against depopulation in Castilla y León.»
The Minister of Mobility and Digital Transformation has regretted and informed Renfe’s president that «confusion has been created among citizens due to the lack of communication to users and to the regional government.» Thus, he has requested that the detailed changes Renfe intends to implement from June 9 be sent in writing without a defined timeframe.
Sanz Merino has rejected the attempt to reduce travel times between Madrid and Galicia by eliminating intermediate stops «purely for economic profitability reasons, as claimed by the railway operator’s team.»
Increase in AVANT seats and trains
In another vein, the Minister of Mobility and Digital Transformation has also urged Renfe to increase the number of seats on AVANT services, as they are often unavailable, hence the request for an increase in frequencies and seats to provide service to the citizens of Castilla y León who use these railway connections for work or studies and have their residence in the Community. «The situation on the Segovia-Valladolid-Madrid line is critical, it is the most used corridor and tickets are sold out more than 15 days in advance due to Renfe’s inaction,» Sanz Merino pointed out.
The Junta de Castilla y León strongly supports a 25% discount on 23 railway relations declared as OSP (Public Service Obligation), financing up to 204,658 vouchers in 2024, with an investment included in the agreement signed between the Junta de Castilla y León and Renfe close to 18 million euros.
More railway services
In addition, he has requested the reinstatement of railway services, as well as the long-awaited fifth and sixth frequency with Salamanca that was promised in the past, and the adjustment of schedules in expeditions from Zamora to Madrid. Or the arrival of narrow-gauge rail to the center of León and the improvement of its rolling stock.
On the other hand, he has indicated to Renfe the need to maintain the suburban railway corridor between Palencia-Valladolid-Medina del Campo as definitive and its extension to Arévalo and Ávila, and the improvement of railway services on conventional lines such as Soria-Torralba, Ávila-Madrid, or Ávila-Medina del Campo-Valladolid, among others. But also the need for ‘AVE Shuttles’ for population centers like Sanabria, Segovia, Burgos, or Medina del Campo and the maintenance of the Soria-Calatayud shuttle permanently to connect to the Madrid-Barcelona AVE.
The Minister of Mobility and Digital Transformation has stated that the Junta de Castilla y León «will continue to work from institutional loyalty to request the improvement of railway connections in Castilla y León as an element of territorial cohesion and equity.»