Spanish authorities endorse reducing TACs

According to the requests posed by the potential new entrants on the railway market, the Spanish Minister for Public Works, Ana Pastor, promised to take measures in order to reduce the value of track access charges (TACs) levied by ADIF, the Spanish rail infrastructure manager, for high-speed trains. Currently, the TACs in Spain worth 60% of the operating costs for high-speed trains. However, the Spanish authorities did not decide yet the proceeding for TACs reducing. The Council of Ministers decided for now to waive the charges for connecting to the railway infrastructure, which amounts to 4% of the total track access charges. Private operators support a new model for the assessment of TACs, which would not take into account the number of seats offered per km, but the number of passengers per km.