Optimal Route Finding and Rolling-Stock Selection for the Spanish Railways

The Spanish railway network managed by the Adif company has two different track gauges, two electrification systems, and four families of signaling systems. The simulation package presented here takes these variations into account, making it easier to decide about routes, rolling-stock selection, and future infrastructure or vehicle investments. According to the European Union’s laws, the former Spanish railway company Renfe had to be split into an infrastructure company called Adif and an operating company that kept the trademark Renfe Operadora (there’s a separately run narrow-gauge network in Spain that won’t be addressed here). The infrastructure also had to be opened to other operating companies, following the aeronautical model. Despite these efforts, medium- and longdistance passenger services are still a monopoly of Renfe. Yet the Spanish railways are facing exciting times for other reasons: They’ve just become the longest high-speed network in Europe and third in the world (only behind China and Japan). 1,2 Nevertheless, operating the Spanish railway network is quite complex, for a variety of reasons that include two different track gauges, two electrification systems, and four families of signaling systems (we provide greater detail in the sidebar