LUSA 10/11/2024

Lusa - Business News - Portugal: Incumbent train operator to ask for certification to operate in Spain

Lisbon, Oct. 10, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's minister for infrastructure and housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, announced in parliament on Thursday that the government had authorised spending so that CP - Comboios de Portugal could be certified to operate in Spain as part of an internationalisation strategy.

"We have already authorised the expenditure so that CP can be certified to operate in Spain," said Miguel Pinto Luz in parliament, adding that the government has been “encouraging studies to be carried out now for the operation in A Coruña”.

"It's obvious to us: if Renfe is preparing to operate in Portugal, CP must also prepare to operate in Spain. That's how it is in an open market, that's how it is in a CP with ambition," defended the minister.

Miguel Pinto Luz explained that the government believed that, in addition to an international operation, the railway company should also operate public services and high-speed trains.

In the field of High Speed, he pointed out that CP will be provided with the necessary conditions "to acquire the rolling stock that it considers necessary to operate High-Speed connections".

Miguel Pinto Luz was summoned to parliament by a question from Livre about the National Rail Pass and investment in the railway in Portugal.

Earlier, Livre's parliamentary leader, Isabel Mendes Lopes, claimed paternity of the National Rail Pass, pointing out that the party presented the measure two years ago "not only as a proposal for ecological transition but also as a measure to combat inflation".

"Minister Miguel Pinto Luz described the National Rail Pass as a "revolutionary measure", capable of democratising access to the railway for all citizens. Yes, Minister. Livre knows it's a revolutionary measure, and that's why it presented it two years ago," she said.

Isabel Mendes Lopes said that "good ideas are to be stolen". She then added that, since the government has taken advantage of the idea of the National Rail Pass, it can now "give a lift" to several other Livre ideas, "which are equally revolutionary and democratise mobility".

"Some of them we have already put forward, and the PSD voted against, such as the resumption of night trains, which are essential for international mobility and even for long journeys within the country," she emphasised, also calling for investment in the National Rail Pass to be accompanied by “strong investment in mobility”.

"And here we come back to the railway. A national mobility system is based on heavy transport on its railway. The railway in Portugal has suffered greatly in recent decades. Where we should have invested, renovated, improved, we disinvested and closed lines," she said, adding that it is necessary to “strengthen the supply” in order to provide “more trains to meet demand”.

'Do the almost €19 million with which CP will be compensated by the Rail Pass provide for the reinforcement of supply to meet demand?" she asked, also calling for this pass to be a path towards the creation of a National Mobility Pass, i.e. "one that gives access, throughout the country and throughout the territory, to the public transport network".

JO/ADB // ADB.

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