Since the high-speed line was built, 30-something years ago, we never had any problems, it worked perfectly and was fantastic, says Alberto Montavez Montes, a shop-owner opposite Córdoba city hall, where the Spanish and Andalusian flags have been hanging at half-mast.
Now, though things feel different: It's not that there's psychosis, but it does make you just a bit reluctant to get on a train, without a doubt. In just a few tragic days since two high-speed trains collided in this southern region of Spain, with the loss of 45 lives, it has felt that Spain's much-vaunted rail system has been thrown into a sudden, deep crisis.
Second only to China in scale, Spain has 3,900 km (2,400 miles) of high-speed (AVE) rail and until now its national network has been admired 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 those cities by rail than by car and airplane 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 status as a rail superpower.
That reputation has been humbled this week. Last Sunday, the back three carriages of a train run by private Italian operator Iryo derailed at high speed, along a straight stretch of track, into the path of an oncoming train run by national rail operator Renfe which bore the brunt of the crash. Two days later, a trainee driver was killed when a wall collapsed on to a suburban rail line near Barcelona in the north-east after heavy rainfall, derailing a train.
The same day another local train in Catalonia hit a rock, although nobody was injured. And on Thursday, several passengers on a narrow-gauge train suffered minor injuries when a crane struck a carriage.
Train drivers in Catalonia refused to work in the wake of the accident near Barcelona, demanding safety guarantees and contributing to two days without local rail services in the region. Separately, train drivers' union Semaf has called a nationwide strike for three days in February over what it has described as the constant deterioration of the rail network.
In addition, several high-speed lines have had their speed limits temporarily reduced, due to safety concerns. Throughout the week, delays, stoppages, and other incidents affecting the rail system over recent months have been pored over in the media, while members of the public have aired grievances on social media about uncomfortable or alarming travel experiences.
Figures released by his ministry show a sharp increase in maintenance spending on the rail system since Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took office in 2018. However, other data tells a different story: Spain was bottom of an index published by German railway association Allianz pro Schiene of spending per capita on rail infrastructure by 14 European countries in 2024.
The high-speed rail system's reliability has dropped noticeably in recent years. In July of 2025, its trains were 19 minutes late on average, according to data provided by Renfe. Local rail has also seen a rise in incidences, such as delays, cancellations, and technical problems, which have more than tripled since 2019 on the Madrid local Cercanías network.
Perhaps inevitably, the recent tragedies have already spilled into the deeply divided political arena. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has acknowledged that the accident in southern Spain caused irreparable damage. Yet he also insisted that the high-speed network is the cause of pride for the country. Not so long ago, few Spaniards would have queried that assertion. Now, many will find it hard to agree.
