Tragic chapter on the trains sends rail superpower Spain into crisis

“We haven’t had any problems since the high-speed line was built 30-odd years ago, it worked perfectly and was amazing,” says Alberto Montavez Montes, a shop owner opposite Córdoba’s city hall, where the Spanish and Andalusian flags are flown at half-mast.

Now, although the situation seems different: “It’s not that it’s psychosis, but it does make you a little reluctant to get on the train, no doubt.”

In just a few tragic days since two high-speed trains collided in Spain’s southern region, killing 45 people, it felt like Spain’s much-vaunted railway system had been plunged into a sudden and profound crisis.

Spain, second only to China in scale, has 3,900 km (2,400 mi) of high-speed (AVE) rail, and so far its national network has been praised for its efficiency and safety.

In 2009, then-US president Barack Obama singled out Spain for praise when he outlined a vision for the creation of a high-speed rail network across America. “The line connecting Madrid and Seville is so successful that more people travel between these cities by rail than by car and plane combined,” he said.

At the time, a Spanish-led consortium had just begun work on a high-speed link across the Saudi Arabian desert, confirming the country’s rail superpower status.

That reputation has been degraded this week.

Last Sunday, the rear three carriages of a train operated by private Italian operator Iryo derailed at high speed, moving in a straight line into the path of an oncoming train operated by national railway operator Renfe, which bore the brunt of the accident.

Two days later, a trainee driver was killed when a wall collapsed on a commuter rail line near Barcelona in the north-east following heavy rainfall, derailing a train.

On the same day, another local train crashed into a rock in Catalonia, but no one was injured.

On Thursday, many passengers on a narrow-gauge train were slightly injured when the crane crashed into the wagon.

Train drivers in Catalonia refused to work and demanded safety guarantees following a crash near Barcelona, ​​contributing to two days of disruption of local rail services in the region.

Separately, train drivers’ union Semaf called for a three-day nationwide strike in February over what it called “the continued deterioration of the rail network”.

Additionally, speed limits on some high-speed lines have been temporarily reduced due to safety concerns.

Throughout the week, delays, stoppages and other incidents that have affected the rail system in recent months have been scrutinized in the media, while members of the public have also posted complaints about disturbing or worrying travel experiences on social media.

“I think the trains are not as safe as they used to be,” says Olga Márquez, another resident of Córdoba. Her husband regularly travels to Madrid for work over the line where the high-speed collision occurred, and she says he often mentions vibrations and noises during the trip that suggest to her that the track is not in ideal condition.

“I’m happy to get on the train, but when it comes to my husband, all this makes me think twice,” she says.

The long delay between the high-speed crash and the railway and rescue services realizing that two trains rather than just one were involved has cast doubt on the immediate response to such tragedies.

The government, civil guard and an independent commission continue to investigate the Andalusian crash, although the possibility of sabotage and human error appears to have been ruled out.

Meanwhile, politicians, commentators and ordinary Spaniards are discussing the possible cause and also highlighting weaknesses in Spain’s overall railway system.

The amount of investment received by the railway network has come under special scrutiny. The Socialist-led government has tried to leave such questions unanswered, stating, for example, that €700 million (£605 million) has been invested in the renewal of the Madrid-Andalusia line in recent years and that the road where the accident occurred was included in this renewal.

“We’re not looking at a problem caused by lack of maintenance, we’re not looking at a problem that’s obsolete. [infrastructure]”We are not facing the problem of lack of investment,” Transport Minister Óscar Puente said.

A preliminary report by the rail accident investigation commission (CIAF) has found that gouges found in the wheels of the derailed Iryo train and three earlier trains suggest that a break in the track occurred before the Iryo train passed over it.

Urging caution, Puente said he suspected “a problem we’ve never seen before on our network.”

Figures released by his ministry show a sharp increase in rail system maintenance spending since Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took office in 2018. But other data tell a different story: Spain ranked at the bottom of the index published by the German rail association Allianz pro Schiene in terms of per capita spending on rail infrastructure by 14 European countries in 2024.

Salvador García-Ayllón, head of the civil engineering department at the University-Polytechnic of Cartagena, described the high-speed network as “the jewel in the crown of Spain’s infrastructure.”

However, the liberalization of the rail sector in 2020 and allowing France’s Ouigo and Italy’s Iryo to offer high-speed services may have increased competition and reduced ticket prices, but it has also put more pressure on the system.

Around 22 million passengers currently use Spain’s high-speed trains every year; This figure is approximately twice the number before liberalization and 17 times the number of users in 1992, when the Madrid-Sevilla line was opened.

Salvador García-Ayllón also points out the new lines built in recent years – a new route under construction across the Mediterranean, including the northwestern region of Galicia and the northern city of Burgos, is challenging to maintain. All of this, he said, had led to the Spanish railway being “bursting at the seams”.

“The challenge is not just buying a Ferrari, you have to get the Ferrari to the garage,” he said. “You should invest in maintaining the infrastructure you have.”

The reliability of high-speed rail has declined noticeably in recent years. According to data provided by Renfe, trains were delayed by an average of 19 minutes in July 2025. Local rail has also seen an increase in incidents such as delays, cancellations and technical problems, which have more than tripled since 2019 on Madrid’s local Cercanías network.

There have been long-standing and well-documented shortcomings in Catalonia’s suburban Rodalies network, which suffered a double crash on Tuesday, fueling political tensions with Madrid over the past decade.

Perhaps inevitably, recent tragedies have already spilled over into the deeply divided political arena.

Far-right party Vox, “Traveling in Spain [by train] It’s a claim that dovetails with his persistent insistence that the country resembles a failed state. Meanwhile, the main opposition People’s Party (PP) accused the government of withholding information about the high-speed accident.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez acknowledged that the crash in southern Spain caused “irreparable” damage. But he also insisted that the high-speed network was “a source of pride for the country”. A long time ago, few Spaniards questioned this claim. Now many people will find it difficult to agree.