RENFE President José Salgueiro has unveiled the Spanish national operator’s 2005-09 strategic plan, which forecasts revenue to grow by 79·6% and passenger traffic to increase by 19·3% by 2009.

The €5·5bn investment programme for 2005-09 includes €4·05bn for new trains, €746m for rolling stock refurbishment and €322m for maintenance facilities.

A total of 280 trains are to be ordered for the Suburban business unit, where traffic is expected to increase by 15·9% to reach 9·28billion passenger-km by 2009. Regional traffic is expected to grow by 39% to 3·59billion passenger-km, and 159 new trains are to be acquired. The High Speed passenger business is expected to see traffic grow by 178% to 5·8billion passenger-km in 2009, when the conventional services of the Main Line business should be recording 7·88billion passenger-km, up 24% on 2004.

The Freight business is aiming to achieve break-even by 2009, and the strategic plan sets a target of increasing traffic by 15·7% to reach 13·25 tonne-km in 2009. Improvements in productivity and service quality are required, and across Renfe Operadora a total of €202m has been budgeted for improving business processes in 2005-09.

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