The Government publishes the long-awaited subsidy plan to revive the railway sector
The draft, which is now open for public comment, approves a new aid program that combines eco-incentives and compensation for network outages.
The Mercantile Barcelona
August 24, 2026
Transport has opened its new aid plan for the rail freight sector to public comment . This framework, which the industry had been eagerly awaiting, aims to alleviate the complex situation it has faced in recent years. Among other aspects, the draft published on Monday, August 24, confirms the government's commitment to consolidating the two existing aid programs—railway eco-incentives and the SAPET ( State-Owned Rail Freight Transport Program)—into a single scheme . In fact, the new plan provides continuity for the former within a new framework and definitively resolves the latter, as the Ministry and Adif (Spain's railway infrastructure manager) had previously indicated on several occasions. Its implementation will effectively eliminate these previous subsidy systems. The draft will be open for public comment until September 21.
As anticipated by its proponents, the aid plan will take a similar form to the railway eco-incentives, with successive calls for proposals covering a previous period of activity. While the Ministry channeled Next Generation EU funds to subsidize the sector until its last call for proposals in 2024, this time it proposes that the aid come from its own coffers, meaning the new subsidy program will depend on the General State Budget. The plan specifies that potential beneficiaries can only be railway companies "in accordance with Article 48 of Law 38/2015, of September 29, on the railway sector," that is, exclusively companies that provide rail traction services for freight transport. Companies will compete for the aid.
The only potential beneficiaries can be railway traction companies.
The eligible activities fall into two categories: those that, during the eligibility period of each call for proposals, have demonstrated “environmental and socioeconomic merit,” in line with previous eco-incentives; and those that have been affected “by a temporary restriction of activity with a significant impact,” that is, by network works, according to the spirit of the SAPET (Spanish Public Transportation System). However, and for the first time, these two eligible categories will be included in the same call for proposals.
In cases of track closures due to construction work, the draft also stipulates that beneficiaries may include companies that did not operate the affected service but have allocated capacity (track slots) or can demonstrate that they regularly provided services on the closed section. Similarly, traction companies that have had to use an alternative route for their service due to the closure of their original section may also apply. Under no circumstances may these companies have received any other additional aid from the railway manager Adif for the same route or service during the same period.
The amounts will be published with each call for applications
The draft guidelines do not specify amounts, as these will be published in each call for proposals. Among other aspects, they specify that the eligible costs for railway companies "correspond to the reduction in external costs of the eligible activity compared to road transport."
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF FREIGHT RAIL “IN SIGNIFICANT DECLINE”
In the preliminary draft, the ministry headed by Óscar Puente acknowledges that rail freight transport in Spain is far from achieving the target of a 10% modal share by the end of the decade, and recognizes that its “relative importance continues to decline sharply,” a situation that benefits road transport. The aid package, the document continues, openly seeks to “reverse this trend.”
These current problems are compounded by the structural difficulty of transferring cargo from road to rail.
The sector itself had recently described its current situation as a “state of survival ,” given the series of crises, some more cyclical than others: on the one hand, disruptions due to planned works on the network, which is undergoing a period of intense renewal, significantly affected the continuity of its services; on the other hand, the series of accidents and unexpected disruptions that began in early 2026 , with various causes, hampered the start of the year for the business. Both problems are compounded by the more structural difficulty of transferring cargo from road transport to rail in a national market that has traditionally favored trucks.