TALGO made its debut on the Madrid stock exchange on May 7 with shares trading at €9.25, the lower end of the price range, setting the company's total market value at €1.265bn. Only institutional investors were allowed in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of 45% of the company's capital.

THE board of Spanish operator Renfe this week approved its plan to select an industrial partner for its subsidiary Renfe Freight. The Spanish train operator wants to transform its freight unit into a logistic operator in an effort to curb losses which in 2014 totalled €54m, and to increase rail's modal share, which is currently less than 5%.

THE Spanish National Commission of Markets and Competence (Omie) has authorised Talgo to proceed with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of 45% of its shares at a price of €9-11.5, which values the rolling stock manufacturer at between €1.232bn and €1.574bn.

SPAIN added a further section to its already extensive high-speed network on April 18, with the opening of a new section of the Atlantic Corridor between Santiago de Compostela and Vigo, in Galicia. The A Coruña – Santiago section opened in 2009 and was electrified in 2011.

Initial reports into the causes of Spain's deadliest train accident, which occurred nearly two years ago in Santiago de Compostela, cited driver error as the sole cause. But now a deeper study of the accident by a judicial investigation says lack of a functioning onboard ETCS system was a crucial factor, as Fernando Puente reports from Madrid.

THE European Commission has pledged €136m in matching funding from its Cohesion Fund for the development of the standard-gauge freight line from the Portuguese port of Sines to the border town of Elvas.

NEW doubts over the economic feasibility a new high-speed railway test centre in southern Spain have surfaced after the European Commission (EC) launched an in-depth investigation to determine if the €359m project violates European Union state aid rules.

TP FERRO, the build-operate concessionaire for the international high-speed line between Figueres, Spain and Perpignan, France, has sought judicial protection in a final attempt to avoid bankruptcy proceedings.

SPAIN's high-speed network infrastructure manager, Adif AV, has awarded a €29.6m contract to a consortium of Thales and Bombardier to install ETCS Level 1 on the 210km Valencia - Vandellós section of the Valencia - Barcelona Mediterranean Corridor.

PUBLIC services began operating on the latest addition to the metre-gauge Valencia metro network on March 6, with the inauguration of Line 9.