The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has reduced the fine imposed on Sociedad Española de Montajes Industriales (SEMI) to 370,000 euros for its participation in the cartel for the electrification of the conventional railway network, down from the 4.25 million established in March 2019.
The adjustment derives from a ruling by the National Court in April 2024, which partially upheld the company's appeal by noting an "undue temporal attribution" in the period of the anticompetitive behaviors attributed to SEMI in this market, according to the latest resolution from the CNMC consulted by Europa Press.
The court limited the company's involvement in the contract distribution agreement to the period from July 2012 to November 2016 (53 months), compared to the 175 months initially attributed by the supervisor.
By narrowing that period, the affected business volume of SEMI was reduced from the 42.9 million euros calculated initially to 5.3 million, which has forced Competition to recalibrate the amount of the fine downwards and proportionally.
Additionally, the CNMC confirms that SEMI paid on April 17, 2026, the other fine included in the same file, amounting to 12.19 million euros, related to another electrification cartel, in this case on high-speed lines, after which it requested the lifting of the bank guarantees provided by the company.
This procedure is part of the macro-file resolved in March 2019 against 15 engineering firms, fined a total of 118 million euros for sharing Adif tenders. Among them were Alstom, Siemens, Fuenteblandor-Telice Control and Montajes Industriales (CYMI), Delejor-Citracc, Electren, Inabensa, Cobra, ACS, Comsa, Inabensa, Elecnor, and Indra.
Other reductions of fines and situation of the companies
After various judicial resolutions related to this case, the CNMC had already cut the fine to Inabensa by 85% (from 3.56 million to 520,000 euros) and by 67% for Electren (from 905,229 to 543,138 euros). The National Court also annulled the fines of companies such as Cobra or Sacyr, although Competition has not yet proceeded to enforce them, while confirming the fines for Siemens (16.8 million), Comsa (2.8 million), Indra (870,000 euros), and Teléfonos Líneas Centrales (600,000 euros).
As a consequence of these resolutions regarding the railway cartels, the infrastructure manager, Adif, launched at the beginning of 2026 a legal defense strategy before the courts to determine the cost overruns derived from the distribution of contracts and to claim compensation for the damages caused by the involved companies.
SEMI was a subsidiary of ACS both when the infractions occurred and at the time when the CNMC imposed the sanction, although it is currently integrated into the French group Vinci, to which ACS transferred its industrial division, in which SEMI was included, in December 2021.