Cristina Peña and Carlos Cubillo
Carlos Cubillo, Manager of the Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania Land Account Deputy Directorate, and Cristina Peña, Manager of the Work Winning Deputy Directorate, gave a speech at Rail Live 2024, in which they highlighted the factors that have consolidated Spain as a leader in high-speed rail, as well as the opportunities that are opening up in international markets.
In their speech, they highlighted that with 4,000 km of network, Spain is the second country with this type of infrastructure, only behind China. Among the keys to success, they highlighted the technical capacity of public company entities, the collaboration between companies and public bodies, and the continuity of the projects.
Finally, they concluded that the Spanish industry is in a privileged position to lead the international expansion of high-speed rail, as it is a model that can be replicated in other markets. In the short term, 13,000 kilometres of high-speed lines are currently in the planning phase, 4,000 in China, 1,500 in North America, almost 5,000 in Europe and 1,300 in Africa.
Last year, Ineco developed a report on the efficiency of the Spanish sector in the development of high-speed railways, which highlighted that our country had managed to develop the most extensive high-speed network in the EU with the lowest average construction cost. Furthermore, it emphasised that it had been done with very high design and quality parameters, at the forefront of the sector, in a relatively short timeframe and without significant budget overruns.
