ON JUNE 22 Spanish national operator Renfe put into service the first of its Series 103 high speed trainsets on the routes from Madrid to Sevilla and Camp de Tarragona. This follows over 300?000 km of test running on both lines with the sets that are equipped for both Ertms and LZB signalling.

By the end of this year Renfe expects to have all 26 Series 103 trainsets in service, supplied by Siemens at a cost of €650m. Maintenance will be undertaken by the Nertus joint venture of Renfe and Siemens, while Btren formed with Bombardier will be responsible for maintaining 16 Series 102 trainsets and 100 Class 253 electric freight locos.

Renfe has also formed Actren with CAF to maintain 12 Series 120 trainsets, and Erion with Vossloh that will be responsible for 28 Class 334s and maintain other diesel locos for open-access freight operators.

Under its strategic agreement with Talgo and Bombardier, Renfe has completed the fitting-out of the first 40 of 100 hotel train cars at its Los Prados workshops in Málaga. Work to assemble seven Series 130 high speed trainsets is expected to begin in the second half of this year, followed at the end of 2008 by 14 Series 102 trainsets.

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