Spanish national rail operator Renfe says it achieved a profit of 66 million Euros profit between January and September this year. Renfe´s revenues reached 2.59 billion Euros during the nine months, seven per cent more than the previous period.

The company says these positive figures were due to a notable fall in its rail freight service’s losses, and successful activity in its high-speed passenger service. Its rail freight division cut its losses by 39 per cent to 39.8 million Euros from January-September 2017 compared to the previous period. Renfe added that this result is a consequence of the saving plan designed in the 2017-2019 Plan.

Digesting the effects

Renfe´s rail freight division is still digesting the effect of the 64.9 million Euros fine that it had to pay after the Spanish anti-trust authority’s (CNMC) sentence in March 2017. CNMC also imposed a 10.5 million Euros sanction on DB Cargo’s Spanish rail freight division in the same sentence, conditional on its development plans for 2017.

Conversely, the high-speed and long-distance passenger division increased revenues by 4.7 per cent to 1.06 billion Euros from January to September. The short- and middle-distance, which are considered as social services and are subsidised, increased revenues by four per cent to 333.1 million Euros. Finally, Renfe managed to contain the impact of the fees paid to National Rail Network Administrator (Adif) for using Spanish rail tracks. It paid 620 million Euros from January-September, a 35 per cent fall on the previous period.