The question after the Adamuz accident is whether he is investing in maintaining them

On May 7, 2021, rail transport in Spain entered a new dimension. For the first time, a train that was not owned by Renfe stepped on our lines to operate between Madrid and Barcelona. It was the maiden voyage of Ouigoowned by the French SNCF in Spain. Objective: to offer a cheap alternative to the most famous high-speed service in our country.

Shortly after, Renfe itself launched a new service to safeguard their backs. The first service AVLO (High Speed ​​Low Cost) arrived on Spanish roads a month later. In November 2022, Iryo It kicked off its operations with a Madrid-Valencia trip as its inaugural trip.

In a year and a half, Spanish roads had gone from supporting the weight of Renfe to that of three companies (Renfe, Ouigo and Iryo) and four services (Renfe splits into AVE and AVLO). Over time, operations have increased and the competition that had been initially restricted to Madrid-Barcelona has also reached Levante and the Andalusian corridors. The plans go through continue expanding competition to the Galician corridor and the branches to Asturias and Cantabria, as well as the Madrid-Cádiz/Huelva.

To have a clear picture of the increase in traffic volume in the Andalusian corridor, Óscar Puente, Minister of Transport, pointed out last summer that “in the 90s six trains circulated a day between Madrid and Seville (…) today 289 trains circulate”, referring to the drop in Renfe’s punctuality but the increase in complexity in traffic management.

However, Renfe has been receiving numerous reviews for their lack of punctuality and their cancellations. But it is not the only company that has suffered significant inconveniences. In May, a cable theft and a coupling of an Iryo train with a catenary caused the collapse in the Andalusian corridor with more than 10,000 affected. Weeks later, a concatenation of incidents originated by an Ouigo train ended up causing a fire on a Renfe train and hundreds of lost passengers for more than 13 hours in the middle of the line spending the night outdoors.

Facts that have been accumulating, that have been used as a political weapon (such as Renfe compensation in case of delays) but above all, they have put a recurring question on the table: what happens with investments?

Investments in high speed

To keep the roads and infrastructure in good condition, Adif (the company in charge of this) receives funds from the State and the European Unioncharge some fees to operators who use their channels to do business and issues bonds. However, the bulk of the money for road maintenance and future investments continues to come from the State.

Whether these investments are sufficient or not is something that has been questioned for some time. Operators have long pointed out investments in the roads as insufficient. Ouigo did it when the July case left the Andalusian corridor paralyzed. Since July, Renfe, Adif and Talgo have been living a kind of triangle of love and hate in which they blame each other for the cracks caused in AVRIL trains that covered Madrid-Barcelona, leaving Renfe without this service in the corridor and with trains running at a lower speed as expected as a temporary patch at that time.

In an article published in The World Last November it was pointed out that high speed in Spain has experienced three clear phases since the first Madrid-Seville was covered in 1992. The first points to the first years, with sustained investments between 1992 and 2005. The last refers to the liberalization of roads, active since 2021 in practice.

In the middle, an explosion and a stagnation that marks our daily life. Between 2005 and the crisis of 2008 and the years to come, investment in Renfe and Adif skyrocketed. And it is in those years when high speed is extended to Córdoba and Málaga, to Valladolid after passing through Segovia and to the Levante area. High-speed investments in Extremadura or the Galician corridor and expansions to the north of Catalonia are also underway.

But the years of crisis hit hard and investment falls. Once the budgets that have been approved in the years before the crash have been concluded, between 2014 and 2020 investments plummet. According to the Railway Observatory In its 2023 edition (last available), the real brutal investment fell from 6,558 million in 2009 to 2,312 million in 2018. Since then, it has grown and in 2023 it touched 4,000 million euros.

But those numbers hide another perspective. If railway investments in Spain were reduced by a third in less than a decade, it is also a consequence of a stoppage in the construction of infrastructure. And, as we have seen, the years before the crisis saw a boom in the opening of high-speed stations and new corridors. Since then, expansions have been minimal.

The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) shows how the opening of new lines has a direct impact when preparing budget plans. Thus, 88.6% of investments in high-speed railways between 1987 and 2018 were taken by the allocation dedicated to the construction of new lines.

The rebound in investments that we have experienced since 2020 is closely linked to this way of acting. In recent years Full high speed has arrived in the Galician corridorwhich includes new gauge trains variable, the AVRILs, and great progress has been made in the Asturian and Cantabrian high speed.

Those numbers are skyrocketing again but they will do so in a different way. Although in 2024 The Government has allocated 4.5 billion euros to the trainof which 2,500 million euros were made in high speed and that the investment in Adif AV (high speed) should reach 12,000 million euros between 2022 and 2026, the announcement for the future is somewhat different.

Because in its future investments the Ministry of Transport has confirmed a investment of 1,000 million euros for the modernization of Renfe workshops. The company is in a comprehensive renovation process, looking for new trains (to replace vehicles that have been in operation for 30 years) and real investments in the maintenance of said vehicles. Besides, Renfe is obliged to provide service to its competitors in these spaces.

The bulk of these new investments are taken, again, by the creation of new infrastructures (such as carrying out the Mediterranean corridor) but the Madrid-Seville line is in the midst of a renovation process, so in this case the investment is focused directly on maintenance.

In that investment we find the 700 million euros to which Óscar Puente referred in his statement to the media shortly before midnight on January 18, when an accident between an Iryo and an Alvia shook the Andalusian corridor. Puente mentioned investments in the detours that make it possible for trains to leave the track and that, precisely, it is one of the major interventions that are being carried out on the track. The rest of the budget is dedicated, above all, to the waterproofing of the deck on nine viaducts.

On this Madrid-Seville line, in addition, actions are taking place to jump from the outdated LZB signaling system designed specifically for Spain in the 90s by the European standard ERTMS 2 (European Rail Traffic Management System) that will not be fully active until this year and that changes the electrical circuits with beacons for control using radio signals to improve safety. This is the reason why Ouigo had to delay its expansion to Andalusia and adapt their trains.

These maintenance interventions are covered, according to Geotrain with the money that Adif acquires through fees for the use of its roads. The portal specialized in railway traffic highlights that investments in maintenance have grown year after year. In 2005, 137.2 million euros were invested in high-speed maintenance. In 2024 the figure reached 469.8 million euros in an item that has been growing uninterruptedly since 2011.

If we update the data for inflationthis investment of 137.2 million euros corresponds to an expense of 215.04 million euros in 2025. Of course, the high-speed network was much less extensive, so maintenance spending per kilometer has fallen significantly.

In 2024, Spain spent 118,129 euros/kilometer on high speed. In 2005 the investment was 116,329 euros/km, which is equivalent to 182,636 euros/kilometer. The expense 20 years ago, therefore, was 154% per kilometer built compared to 2024.

That is to say, when we look at investments in the Spanish railway infrastructure we run the risk of pointing to large figures but it is not there, in the billions of euros, where the state of the infrastructure is correctly palpable. We run the risk of distorting the image dragged down by large investments in new infrastructure or the purchase of rolling stock.

It is in maintenance and its expense per kilometer where we can best observe how much money is directly dedicated to keeping the roads in good condition. And that tells us that we spend much less money per kilometer on maintenance just when More travelers than ever pass through the same train tracks.

However, another melon opens up that is difficult to answer: is this money really being made a bad investment or would it be necessary to increase the expense by another 70,000 euros/km to match the 2005 amounts?

It must be taken into account that investments in maintenance also increase with the passage of time and wear. There are no elements to ensure that the Adamuz accident occurred due to lack of money poorly invested. It is also not possible to verify whether this extra expense is really necessary since the most modern roads should also require more maintenance. However, it is in Madrid-Seville, the oldest line, where the most involvement is being put.

Photo | Xataka and Adif

In Xataka | Between delays and breakdowns, we could not imagine that Renfe would break a new record in 2025: having more customers than ever.