Passengers will still need a valid ticket. Photo credit: Maksim Safaniuk/Shutterstock
If you use Spain’s regional trains for work, appointments or travel, you may soon have one less thing to organise before travelling. Renfe is removing the requirement to reserve a numbered seat in advance on selected Media Distancia and Regional services from December 12 this year, allowing passengers to buy a ticket without choosing a specific seat beforehand.
The change will not cover every regional train in Spain as of yet, so passengers will need to check whether their route is included before changing their usual travel arrangements. Renfe says the new system is intended to make buying tickets and boarding simpler, particularly for people making regular journeys between towns and cities. The company says it responds to passengers’ demand for greater flexibility in everyday travel.
Which routes will lose numbered seats?
The change will apply to nine route groups across several regions. In Galicia, it covers A Coruña–Vigo Guixar, including services starting or finishing in Santiago and Vilagarcía, as well as A Coruña–Ferrol. In the east, it includes Valencia–Alicante–Murcia–Cartagena.
Extremadura services affected are Cáceres–Valencia de Alcántara, Badajoz–Villanueva de la Serena, within the Madrid–Puertollano–Badajoz service, and Mérida–Zafra, within the Madrid–Plasencia–Seville service.
The remaining routes are Burgos–Vitoria–Pamplona–Zaragoza, Valencia–Teruel–Zaragoza and Salamanca–Valladolid–Palencia. Renfe has named these specific services; the change should not be assumed to apply automatically to every train along the same broader corridors.
Passengers will still need a valid ticket. The change removes the need for an assigned seat number on the listed services; it does not make journeys free or guarantee that everyone will have a seat. Renfe has not announced changes to fares, train frequency or capacity as part of this measure. For passengers who are used to booking a particular seat, the new system will mean giving up that certainty in exchange for a simpler booking process.
Bicycles and pets will also cost less to take
The new arrangements also remove the supplement for carrying a full-size bicycle without dismantling it on the affected services. Renfe is also removing the supplement for pets weighing up to 10kg when travelling in a carrier, and for dogs weighing up to 40kg. The change for pets is already in place for T1 fares, used on services with more stops and longer journey times, and will be extended to the other relevant services in the coming weeks.
For people who regularly travel with a bicycle or animal, these changes could reduce the cost and hassle of planning a journey. However, removing a supplement does not mean every train has unlimited room for bicycles or animals. Passengers should still check the conditions for their particular service and use the designated spaces where required.
Will Renfe extend the change across Spain?
Renfe has not announced a nationwide rollout or named any additional routes that will lose numbered-seat reservations. Its statement describes the move as part of a strategy to modernise and standardise Media Distancia and Regional services, making them easier to use for everyday journeys. That leaves the possibility of further changes open, but there is no published timetable for expanding the system across the network. The nine route groups listed by Renfe are the ones confirmed for December 12, and passengers elsewhere in Spain should not assume their services will follow suit.
The new model brings these selected routes closer to local and regional rail services in other European countries, where passengers can often travel without booking a particular seat. But Renfe has not said that the December change is a trial, nor has it promised to extend it to the rest of Spain. For regular passengers on the affected lines, the difference is straightforward: they will no longer need to secure a numbered seat before travelling. For everyone else, the existing arrangements remain in place unless Renfe announces further changes.