Pecovasa Renfe Mercancías, the branch of the Spanish national rail freight operator specialised in transporting cars, wants to refurbish 100 wagons to adapt them to the new car models. “A transformation will be undertaken on the lower deck and at the ends of the upper deck to improve their capacity and the loading and unloading processes”, Renfe pointed out.

The wagons, called PM31 and equipped to travel on the Iberian gauge, were manufactured in 2000 and 2001, almost a quarter of a century ago. Over this period of time, cars have gotten longer, wider and heavier, creating a need to adapt the logistics around the automotive industry.

The refurbished wagons will be “used in traffic at the Renault factory between Venta de Baños and Santander, in imports of Asian vehicles through the port of Tarragona and in the Stellantis factory in Madrid for its traffic with Valencia and other destinations”, Renfe added. The initiative will be partly funded through the EU’s Resilience and Recovery Facility for Spain, which will contribute with four million euros.