Renfe Commits to Giving Access to Rival Ticketing Platforms

By Nina Kienle

Spanish state-owned rail operator, Renfe, has made commitments to granting rival ticketing platforms access to its content and real-time data, following an antitrust probe by the European Union (EU). The EU’s executive arm and antitrust enforcer, the European Commission, announced on Wednesday that these commitments are now legally binding under the bloc’s antitrust rules.

Renfe aims to provide all current and future content and real-time data to third-party ticketing platforms by February 29. Although there are some limited exceptions, the Commission states that Renfe’s actions signal a positive step towards addressing competition concerns. Renfe declined to comment when approached by Dow Jones Newswires.

“This decision by the European Commission establishes an important precedent for rail services across Europe,” said Jody Ford, CEO of UK-based digital-ticketing platform Trainline.

According to the Commission, Renfe’s commitments effectively address the preliminary competition concerns surrounding the company’s alleged abuse of its dominant position in the Spanish rail-ticket market. These commitments will remain in force indefinitely and will be monitored for a period of ten years.

In April 2023, the European Commission launched a formal investigation into Renfe.