The board of directors of Renfe Internacional, the new subsidiary of the Spanish operator that brings together all businesses abroad, has given the green light to its landing in Italy with the purchase of a relevant stake in Longitude, the holding company of the Arena family that controls the Arenaways train brand.
It is a new rival of the state-owned Trenitalia in regional transport that also aspires to compete in the long haul with Italo, the private operator participated by the giant MSC and the GIP investment fund.
Sources from the Spanish state group confirm the transaction that must be completed with the signing of the shareholders’ agreement. The operation is very similar to the one deployed in the Czech Republic with the purchase of Leo Express, which Renfe manages after acquiring 50%. The arrival of Renfe to Arenaways occurs just when the new Italian private operator enjoys European railway safety certifications to operate throughout Italy, an authorization valid until 2029.
The founder of Arenaways is the local businessman Giusseppe Arena, who has handed over the management baton to his son Matteo Arena, current CEO of the company. The new Renfe subsidiary begins with the operation of two lines in Piedmont, two of the services that Trenitalia stopped providing in 2012 and which, now, the regional government has reactivated after the proposal made by Longitude.
These are the corridors that connect the towns of Ceva-Ormea and Savigliano-Saluzzo-Cuneo. Regarding the second route, Arenaways will resume service with between 10 and 20 circulations per day, depending on the time of year, starting in January 2025. The connection between Ceva and Ormea will be delayed to 2026.
To launch the project, The promoters demand an annual subsidy of about 3.5 million euros (US$3.8 million) from the Piedmontese Administration. with which you can offer an attractive daily rate, with the option of weekly, monthly and annual subscriptions.
In the business plan until 2034, Arenaways carries more than 271,000 passengers per year from 2025, until reaching almost 350,000 travelers at the end of the period.
Renfe’s Italian proposal is not isolated and the objective is to continue growing both in regional traffic and in medium and long distance connections (intercity). The project presented to the Piedmont Mobility Agency, in addition to expanding frequencies and creating additional services such as tourist trains, proposes the reopening of other lines such as Santhià-Arona, Novara-Varallo Sesia and Alessandria-Ovada.
Arenaways also aspires to long haul and international traffic. According to local media, the Italian transport regulatory authority granted Longitude access to the national rail network to run on six national routes and one international: Rome-Reggio Calabria, Turin-Lecce, Turin-Venice, Rome-Genoa and Milan-Innsbruck-Munich with passage from Bolzano, on the Brenner line. These are circulations that should enter service in 2026 and in which Renfe could offer its partner the references and the material means to launch them.
In principle, Arenaways will begin operating with a rented fleet. The operator has units from the Polish Pesa to provide services in Piedmont. For its part, Renfe continues to increase its train fleet after the 5,000 million euros (US$5,514 million) invested in recent years for the acquisition of high-speed, medium-distance and suburban units.
With the landing in Italy, Renfe has an operations base in three EU countries. Through its French subsidiary, Renfe has been operating in the neighboring country since July 2023. On its first anniversary in France with the AVE brand, Renfe transported 620,000 passengers on the two routes that link 15 destinations between Madrid and Barcelona and Marseille and Lyon.
In the Czech Republic, Leo Express achieved a turnover of 24.4 million euros (US$26.9 million) in 2023, which is more than doubling that of the previous year. With more than 1.7 million travelers per year, the ebitda was just over 5.7 million, 175% more.
An Avanza executive will direct Renfe Viajeros
Renfe has appointed the until now director of the Avanza bus group in Catalonia, Rafael Cortés, general director of Renfe Viajeros, replacing Javier Pérez, who held this position since the beginning of the year after the arrival of its new president to the group, Raül Blanco. While Cortés comes from outside the group, Pérez was from the house at the time of his appointment as acting director (a position he combined with his position as director of Alta Velocity and Commercial Services), like his predecessor, Sonia Araujo, which he replaced, after her transfer to the general directorate of Innovation, Sustainability and Digital Transformation. The appointment occurs in a scenario of growth in the number of high-speed passengers, where Renfe competes with two other operators, Ouigo and Iryo, whose entry into the liberalized Spanish railway market has led to a price war between the three rivals that is affecting to its profitability. The position of director of Renfe Viajeros is “key” within the company’s structure for the management and operation of passenger transport. Cortés will be the person most responsible for defining the general policies aimed at the commercial exploitation of AVE, medium distance and suburban services.
Technology from the Polish company Pesa, Talgo’s partner in Europe
Arenaways plans to begin operating its two routes in Piedmont starting next January 7. It will do so, initially, with rolling stock manufactured by the Polish company Pesa, the company that has just signed an agreement with Talgo to develop a joint high-speed product to be used in the new corridors in Poland and other Eastern European countries.
Renfe operates with its own approved fleet in France, while in the Czech Republic, Leo Express has trains manufactured by the Swiss company Stadler and the French company Alstom.
In Saudi Arabia, Renfe operates with the S112 (duck) platform manufactured by Talgo and Bombardier (Alstom) adapted to the conditions of the Saudi desert.
In Italy, Arenaways trains will have free high-speed WiFi connection and screens to follow the route, see the weather or entertainment. The Italian company has designed its own online ticket sales system with technology from the Swiss company Fairtiq. The application will allow you to start the trip by activating the smartphone and will recognize the route with geolocation. Once the trip is finished, the customer can pay manually, or allow the application to do so automatically when they get off the train and complete the ticket payment.
