Spain's railway workers have rejected the plans proposed by the Government this weekend, and called for a 24 hour strike to be held across all RENFE operations on the 3rd of August.   :( :( :(

http://www.tumbit.com/news/articles/5743-spain-unions-call-renfe-train-strike.html

Main operator Renfe and two other state railway companies will be restructured to tackle inefficiencies and stem losses, Spain's minister for development, Ana Pastor, said.

These losses amounted to €454 million euros for the three groups in 2011, while their cumulative debt was close to €21 billion.

One of the national companies, Feve, which runs networks concentrated mostly in Spain's northern regions, will be shut down at the end of the year. Some of the services it provides, such as line maintenance, will be reintegrated into the other groups.

RENFE, meanwhile, will be split into four segments overseeing businesses such as mercantile rail operations and maintenance.

Trade unions have raised concerns over whether the reforms would accelerate a privatization of RENFE, which employs about 13,850 people.

However, they said last month that they had assurances from the government that any privatization would take place in line with EU plans to privatize passenger rail networks, which is unlikely to happen before 2014.

Spain's government said that it wanted to improve prices for passengers by allowing private operators to compete in areas such as high-speed lines by next July.

It also said that in 2011 there were 176 stations in Spain without a single passenger getting on or off a train during one given day and that there were 52 middle-distance train services that had occupancy rates of less than 15%.

Interesting.
"These losses amounted to €454 million euros for the three groups in 2011"
That doesn't sound like an awful lot when you consider that most national railways are heavily subsidised (although the debt sounds a bit scary).
"Spain's government said that it wanted to improve prices for passengers"
The prices are amazingly cheap already.  I believe the minimum fare on London Underground is £4.30 (paying cash) for one station to the next whereas here you can go from Tarragona to Barcelona for about £4.80 on the regional trains (not including over 60's discount).
"in 2011 there were 176 stations in Spain without a single passenger getting on or off a train during one given day"
And that's another thing.  All but the most expensive trains (AVANT, TRENHOTEL etc.) take about 1.5 hours for the example journey above because they stop at every little station.  Definitely room for improved efficiency here.

Strike is going ahead on Friday 3rd August with a further strike due to take place on September 17th.   :( :( :(

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