Renfe Mercancías wants a slice of a fruit and vegetable export business worth more than €4 billion a year, and it is prepared to build a rail highway to get it.

The Spanish national rail freight operator is preparing to connect Almería — Europe's greenhouse capital on Spain's southern coast — to the Mediterranean Corridor, the TEN-T artery that runs up the country's eastern seaboard toward France and Central Europe. The plan hinges on a new railway under construction from Almería north to Murcia, which would give the region its first fast link to the corridor and open rail-based export lanes for perishables.

Imanol Leza, general manager of Renfe Mercancías, has already sat down with COEXPHAL, the association representing Almería's fruit and vegetable producers, to map out the commercial possibilities. Also present at the meeting were a local government representative and a rail association representative.

Three days to Central Europe

The commercial pitch is straightforward. Once the Almería–Murcia line is in place, Renfe Mercancías expects to launch a freight corridor carrying semi-trailers and refrigerated containers on standard-gauge tracks — a genuine intermodal alternative to the trucks that currently move the overwhelming majority of Spain's perishable exports. Transit time to Central Europe: three days.

That is the number that matters for produce shippers. Refrigerated road haulage from southern Spain to markets in Germany, France and the Benelux currently dominates the trade, and any rail product that can match truck transit times while offering reefer container capacity could shift meaningful volumes off the road.

Leza left little doubt about the operator's intent. "The Almería fruit and vegetable sector is of great interest to us because it represents a significant business opportunity for Renfe," he told local media.

The parties agreed to organise a working day before the end of the year to promote rail freight and intermodal operations in the region. COEXPHAL says Renfe, infrastructure manager Adif, logistics operators, ports and local businesses should all attend — a signal that the association wants the full intermodal chain at the table, not just the carrier.

Rail highways become Spain's default model

The Almería project fits a pattern. Rail highways — intermodal services carrying piggybacked semi-trailers and containers over long distances — are increasingly the template for Spanish rail freight, particularly on lanes where conventional wagonload traffic has struggled against road competition.

One such connection already runs from Valencia to Portugal via Madrid. Another is slated to launch on the Algeciras–Zaragoza route once infrastructure works are completed. Last summer, operators piloted a rail highway between Huelva and Córdoba. The Port of Santander, for its part, is eyeing its own rail highway connection to Madrid.

For carriers and forwarders, the proliferation matters because each new corridor adds standard-gauge capacity where Spanish broad-gauge constraints have historically fragmented services and forced transshipments. For shippers in perishables — a segment defined by tight delivery windows and cold-chain costs — the Almería scheme could mark the first credible rail option for one of Spain's largest export sectors by value.

Much depends on construction timelines for the Almería–Murcia line, and neither Renfe Mercancías nor COEXPHAL has put a launch date on the corridor. But with the working day scheduled before year-end and Adif due at the table, the operator has signalled it intends to be ready to move produce the moment the tracks are.