Standing room only trains, hydrogen engines, and an end to security queues – Minister Oscar Puente’s grand ideas for Spanish travel

Love him or hate him, no one can accuse Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente of not having ambitious ideas. He has revealed several radical proposals to increase train capacity, cut costs, and improve the passenger experience on Spanish railways, including the sale of standing-only tickets on busy routes, the introduction of hydrogen and battery-powered trains, and the complete removal of security controls for AVE high-speed services.

The announcements were made during an interview on the Cadena SER podcast Hora Veintipico and have already sparked intense uproar across social media and among rail users.

Standing-only room train tickets for Renfe services

In a move already common across Europe, Renfe is seriously considering selling tickets for passengers to travel standing up on short- and medium-distance routes where seats regularly sell out.

“We are looking at it very seriously,” Minister Puente confirmed. He highlighted that the measure would allow more people to travel on overcrowded services while making it clear to buyers that they are purchasing a no-seat ticket.

“The idea of travelling standing on trains is common in Europe. There’s something we don’t do here, which is sell train travel without a seat.” – Óscar Puente, Minister of Transport

The president of Renfe, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, is reportedly “very much in favour” of the initiative, which would primarily target short journeys where demand regularly exceeds seated capacity and where no-shows are frequent.

Similar standing tickets are already sold by national operators in countries such as Germany (DB), France (SNCF), Italy (Trenitalia), and the United Kingdom.

Hydrogen and battery trains to avoid expensive electrification

Copper is currently extremely expensive, and Spanish train lines have been suffering a spate of cable thefts, collapsing train services, especially on AVE routes. Minister Puente also confirmed that Renfe and the Ministry are studying the deployment of hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric trains on regional lines where full electrification with catenary wires would be prohibitively expensive. The approach has already been successfully piloted in Germany and is under trial in several Spanish regions, including Extremadura and Galicia.

End to mandatory security checks for AVE high-speed trains

There’s nothing worse than arriving at Atocha Station in Madrid 20 minutes before the train departs for your return journey, and the queue of passengers snakes around the station concourse looking like it will never end. Will you miss your train? And, what for? So a security guard can take a halfhearted chance to see what you have inside on the X-ray machine. The security is nothing like the intensity at an Airport, but it can give rise to missed trains.

Perhaps the most controversial proposal is the potential elimination of airport-style security controls (metal detectors and baggage scanners) currently required to board AVE high-speed trains in Spain.

Puente argued that Spain is the only country in Europe that imposes such checks on high-speed rail passengers, even though conventional long-distance, regional, and commuter trains (Cercanías) have never required them.

Puente’s ambitions to revolutionise Spanish travel

From €1 billion investments in Renfe and the maintenance of its trains, to speeding up the train from Madrid to Barcelona to 350 km/ph, it seems every week he has another grand idea to improve travel within Spain. Let’s hope is given the budget for it all.