Spain’s Minister for Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has said he is willing to transfer responsibility for Cercanías to the regions. He had offered a transfer to the Community of Madrid and the Junta de Andalucía , he said in an interview with Europa Press. Madrid’s regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso criticises the state over shortcomings in the service but “doesn’t want” to take it over, Puente said.
The minister stressed that the central government did not want to monopolise local transport. The state is responsible for Cercanías across almost all of Spain through Renfe , although in Catalonia it operates under a shared structure with the Generalitat. Following recent progress in transferring Rodalies to the Generalitat, other regions could integrate their networks into a unified regional system. Puente presented this option as a response to repeated criticism of the commuter trains’ punctuality and reliability, arguing that regional coordination could also benefit areas such as planning, maintenance and passenger information.
Puente said he had already put the proposal to Isabel Díaz Ayuso and the head of the Andalusian government. He placed the debate within a broader reform agenda: municipalities and autonomous communities should better integrate buses, metros and trams with rail services run by the state. There had so far been no political will to bring these systems together consistently, including their fares, he said. In his view, transferring responsibility would also make it possible to organise timetables, investment and operations as a single system. Whether the regions accept this responsibility, and under what financial terms, is for their respective governments to decide.
Puente also announced that Renfe would operate in Portugal . This follows difficulties getting onto the rail network in France. He gave no details of routes, timing or approval procedures. International expansion is part of Renfe’s strategy to establish itself in liberalised European markets; specific contracts or service launches remain undecided for now and will depend on regulatory decisions in neighbouring countries.
No immediate change of position by the regional governments concerned had been reported by the time the interview was published. Puente’s proposal places responsibility squarely with the autonomous communities: in his view, those seeking greater control over local transport can have it – along with the duty to run Cercanías.
Editor: Daniel Mayer (Article created with AI assistance).