Renfe spent 1.4 billion euros on trains it doesn't need

Yet another headache for the Ministry of Public Works. As multiple mid-distance train lines show low profitability and a third of long-distance routes shut down, the Spanish train company Renfe Operadora, a team made up of Ana Pastor and Ineco, the government consultant that is analyzing Renfe's viability, should underscore in red pen just one more problem: too many high-speed trains aren't running.

Being rather charitable, at least a third of the AVE high-speed train fleet is not needed at this time according to sources familiar with this business. Of the 217 trains that travel faster than 250 kph and earn the title "high-speed," around seventy are parked in Renfe's hangars.

If the average investment in each machine is around 20 million euros, then the Ministry of Public works has spent a minimum of 1.4 billion euros in high-speed trains during the past few years. Unfortunately, it doesn't need them now, nor has it needed them for the past several years.

On a normal day, the system averages 140 one-way legs. For example, the high-speed trains can make 26 trips between Barcelona and Madrid daily. On average the entire AVE train system completes 280 one-way legs per day.