Spain’s high-speed rail network carried 44.5 million passengers in 2025, twice as many as in 2019, while fares on the main corridors have fallen sharply since the market was opened to competition. But the figures do not necessarily prove that liberalisation alone is responsible for rail’s success.
According to Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), high-speed passenger numbers rose 12% last year, with 14.4 million travelling between Madrid and Barcelona, 6.2 million between Madrid and Valencia, and around 5.8–5.9 million on each of the Madrid to Málaga and Madrid to Seville routes.
Real-terms fares are now around 40% lower than in 2019 on most major corridors, with Madrid–Valencia seeing a 50% reduction. The arrival of Ouigo on the Madrid–Seville and Madrid–Málaga routes in 2025 was followed by a 12% fall in fares.
Public investment laid the foundations
The results have been widely presented as evidence of the benefits of rail liberalisation. But rail commentators point out that the private operators did not build Spain’s high-speed network.
The expansion of high-speed rail, largely funded through public investment, created the infrastructure and capacity that allowed operators such as Ouigo and Iryo to enter the market. As one commentator noted, the shift from air to rail is not simply the result of privatisation: city-centre-to-city-centre journeys and shorter travel times fundamentally changed the market.
The new operators have nevertheless helped fill previously underused high-speed capacity. Renfe remains the dominant operator, but Iryo and Ouigo have taken significant shares on several routes.
That distinction is important because the model is primarily suited to major inter-city corridors with sufficient capacity. It is not necessarily a template for regional or commuter rail, where services have different objectives and economics.
Fears over a fragmented railway
Critics also warn that competition between open-access operators can bring disadvantages alongside lower fares. They point to the risk of fragmented services, competing operators focusing on profitable city pairs and pressure on publicly supported services.
The experience of Great Britain and Germany is frequently cited in the debate, although the regulatory and infrastructure models differ considerably from Spain’s. Some commentators argue that open access can ultimately weaken integrated public transport if operators compete for the most lucrative passengers while less profitable routes remain dependent on public funding.
There are also questions about the financial sustainability of the Spanish model. Renfe, Iryo and Ouigo have all accumulated substantial losses during the period of intense competition, raising the question of whether today’s low fares can be maintained indefinitely.
For passengers, however, the immediate effect has been clear: more trains, more choice and significantly lower prices on Spain’s major high-speed routes.
Rail continues to beat air
The competitive market has coincided with a further shift from air to rail. Trains accounted for 83.1% of the combined rail-and-air market between Madrid and Barcelona in 2025, up from 81.5% in 2024, while rail held more than 89% on several other major corridors.
The lesson from Spain may therefore be less about simply putting private operators on publicly built tracks and more about the combination of heavy investment in high-speed infrastructure, sufficient capacity, fast city-centre connections and competition between operators.
Whether the same formula can work beyond the lucrative high-speed corridors remains a much more difficult question.
