Spain enters Vietnam’s ‘AVE’ project: Ineco and Renfe win the initial contract for a project worth more than 57.5 billion euros

Article By: elEconomista.es

* The high-speed rail project will link Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City along a 1,541-kilometer route.
* The Spanish public engineering firm has formed a consortium with the French company Artelia and the local firm RCIC for the preparatory phase.
* The initial contract is key to defining the technical and economic aspects of the future corridor.

Engineering firm, with the operator’s collaboration, wins the initial preparation contract

Spain is taking a new step in the international projection of its capabilities as a developer of high-speed rail infrastructure. Ineco, the engineering company of the Ministry of Transport, has been awarded one of the main initial contracts for Vietnam’s future line—the first in the Asian country—which has a planned investment of USD 67 billion (more than EUR 57.5 billion at the current exchange rate).

Specifically, according to information obtained by elEconomista.es, the firm chaired by Sergio Vázquez will be responsible for acting as the project management consultant for the preparation phase of Vietnam’s North–South High-Speed Rail project, which will connect the capital, Hanoi, with Ho Chi Minh City over a distance of 1,541 kilometers.

Ineco is part of the winning consortium, which also includes the French engineering firm Artelia and the local company RCIC. Spain’s involvement goes further, as this alliance has Renfe Proyectos Internacionales—the public operator’s subsidiary for overseas development—as its main collaborator.

The contract won by the consortium involving Ineco comes after the State visit by the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, to Vietnam in April. Following this, the public engineering firm stepped up its commercial activity in the country. The award forms part of the project’s initial works, which will be key to defining the technical and economic aspects that will enable the Government of Vietnam to decide whether to move on to the next phases of the project, which has been declared a priority by the Vietnamese National Assembly.

Ineco, Artelia—participating in the consortium through Artelia Vietnam—RCIC, and Renfe, as a collaborator (not a formal member of the consortium), have a period of more than 10 months to carry out the contracted work. This includes studying the project’s technical, economic, and operational feasibility, as well as developing the basic engineering needed to precisely define the scope, technical requirements, and construction costs.

International presence

Within this framework, Ineco will play a central role in the contract, leading essential technical disciplines for configuring the future rail corridor. These include alignment design, civil works, tunnels, structures, energy supply, architecture, electromechanical systems, and BIM methodology.

For Ineco, the award represents a strategic milestone in its international activity and once again positions Spain’s public engineering sector as a reference in the development of high-speed rail corridors. Both Ineco and Renfe were part of the consortium that previously secured the contract to build and operate the Desert High-Speed Rail line between Medina and Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

The engineering firm has made internationalization a growing generator of business and currently has 134 contracts underway outside Spain. It has a consolidated presence in the Middle East—sometimes with Renfe as a partner—and a more incipient presence in Asia, with an office in Singapore, some work in Malaysia, and interest in Japan and Thailand. The firm highlights its role as a driving force for the Spanish engineering sector by opening markets to Spanish companies—currently collaborating with 14 national private firms on its overseas projects—and by associating the Spain brand with emblematic infrastructure projects around the world.

Renfe, for its part, is positioning itself through this collaboration for a potential tender to operate Vietnam’s high-speed rail line. The railway group aims for 10% of its revenue to come from international markets by 2028. In addition to Saudi Arabia, it owns the Czech company Leo Express, participates in Italy’s Arenaways, and is working on initiatives in Mexico, France, and the United States. In Asia, Renfe and Central Japan Railway established a strategic alliance in 2025 to compete together on international high-speed rail projects.

[Original article España entra en el ‘AVE’ de Vietnam: Ineco y Renfe ganan el contrato inicial para una obra de más de 57.500 millones at eleconomista.es. Translation by ChatGPT.]