The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, met in Brussels with the First Vice-President of the European Commission for the Clean, Fair, and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera, to discuss the most pressing challenges of European and Spanish transport. One of the central topics of the conversation was the need to establish a common position that allows for the acceleration of train manufacturing processes in Europe.
During the second meeting of this week with senior representatives of the European Commission, Puente emphasized the importance of optimizing the European railway industry to improve its competitiveness. In this regard, the minister called for a multilateral approach in which all EU countries collaborate to find solutions that allow for reducing manufacturing times, thus improving both prices and product quality.
Puente highlighted that Europe currently faces longer manufacturing and delivery times for trains compared to powers like China. This delay is attributed, according to the minister, not only to the slowness in certification and authorization processes but also to other aspects of the industrial process. “It is crucial to open a broader debate on the efficiency of the European railway industry, as bottlenecks occur at various stages, from manufacturing to project management and equipment availability,” he stated.