The European Commission (EC) has ordered the government of Spain to recover aid granted to the state-owned railway operator Administrador de Infraestructura ferroviaria (ADIF) for the development of a high-speed train test centre near Malaga in Andalusia.

Following an investigation conducted by the EC, the committee has concluded aid granted by the government was incompatible with European Union (EU) rules and does not promote a sustainable development in the region.

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The investigation revealed Spain already paid €140.7m to ADIF from 2011 before receiving the decision of EC, which is a violation of EU rules.

The government of Spain planned to finance the full investment costs of €358.6m for the test centre Centro de Ensayos de Alta Tecnología Ferroviaria (CEATF).

"The committee concluded the aid was incompatible with European Union (EU) rules and does not promote a sustainable development in the region."

CEATF is a railway circuit where trains can run at very high speeds of up to 520km every hour with additional installations for testing, approval, and tuning of mobile rail equipment, infrastructure, and superstructure elements.

Developing products running at such high speeds are not commercially profitable, and will lead to a lack of market demand for such services.

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Practically, the CEATF facility will be used only to test trains and equipment running up to the commercially viable speeds of 320-350km per hour, for which testing centres are already available in the EU.

Though CEATF has received public funding, no private investor showed any interest in funding the facility, which is expected to generate losses throughout its entire period of operation.

The report also highlighted the project will not contribute to the government’s aim of promoting a sustainable development of the Andalusia region, proving it to be incompatible for the country.

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