Renfe forms part of the public-private Saudi-Spanish Al-Shoula consortium which was awarded a 6.74 billion euro ($9.3 billion) contract for the second phase of the high-speed Haramain railway project by the Saudi Railways Organization in late October.
Teofilo Serrano, chairman of Renfe, said winning the contract had won the company international recognition and added that it would now pursue franchises in other countries.
He said Renfe was interested in High Speed 1 and High Speed 2 — the British government’s plans to build a 32 billion pound ($51 billion) high-speed rail network from London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds — and added Renfe would bid for British rail franchises such as Greater Anglia and East Coast when they expire.
“The UK is the most important railway market which is completely open to competition, which is not the case in other countries in Europe so being an open market is very interesting to operate in ... it’s the market with the most competitive future perspectives,” he said.
Winning international franchises could help the company cushion the impact of an economic downturn in Spain, where growth has been anemic since the country emerged from a year-and-a-half recession in the first quarter of 2010 as the euro zone debt crisis and fallout from the collapse of the country’s construction sector weighed on industry and confidence.
“Most people traveling using high speed trains in Spain use them for business and work reasons. Since the economic situation is not very brilliant now, there are less people are using our services now,” he said.
Spain has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union, with one in five workers currently out of work.
Projects in the US, South America, Australia, Russia, Brazil, Germany and the Nordic countries are also on Renfe’s radar, Serrano said, adding that the company was prepared to bid in any country which has an open market.
“We are prepared to be part of consortia that will be set up to bid for these projects as part of our policy of internationalization because the global market is going to be opened in the future,” he said.
“If you have people competing in your country, you have to go to other countries to make up for and to get your business running.”
Serrano said Renfe was also looking into projects in the Middle East and would bid for them in due course.
“It’s quite clear that being present in this geographic area will be an advantage for future projects.”
Serrano said Renfe stood to gain 2 billion euros in fees over 12 years from the contract to operate the Haramain Railway which will link Makkah and Madinah to Jeddah and to King Abdullah Economic City, which is currently under construction.
