First steering committee of the year of Mafex, the Spanish Railway Industry Association
On January 31, the engineering and consultancy firm of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Ineco, hosted the first steering committee of the year of Mafex, the Spanish Railway Industry Association, which discussed the future of a key sector for the country's competitiveness. The representatives of the 20 member companies highlighted the more than 220 actions organised and/or coordinated by the association in the previous year and laid the foundations for the industry's roadmap to maintain the leading position of Spanish companies in the world.
The Spanish railway industry has positioned itself as a world reference. By 2027, the sector, which currently has a market volume of approximately 177 billion euros per year, is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 3%. In Spain, MAFEX member companies alone account for more than 6,000 million euros of railway turnover, employing more than 30,000 people and representing 83% of the national industry's railway exports.
One of the key characteristics of the Spanish railway industry is its clear commitment to research and innovation (4% of turnover is invested in R&D) and technological development. This contribution has had a very positive impact on the promotion of state-of-the-art, efficient and sustainable transport networks.
Joint challenges in addressing the roadmap
Spain has a highly competitive, highly professional and highly integrated industrial fabric. Still, society's growing mobility needs and demands, as well as technological developments in other sectors, pose important challenges for the sector that need to be addressed.
The rail sector is undergoing a transformation in its operations, systems and infrastructure driven by the adoption of new services and digital solutions, increasing the attractiveness of the sector, making it a more convenient mode of transport and positioning it as an efficient and reliable option for freight transport.
Talent is another key issue on the railway scene. The shortage of vocations in the engineering sector represents one of the greatest difficulties for the growth of the sector.
These are some of the challenges addressed within the framework of the Spanish Railway Association, which already integrates 113 members from all the subsectors of a leading industry that is making its way around the world, and which accumulates 83% of the country's railway exports.
