“It changes the conversation, and naturally the opposition will use it, just as they used the Adamuz accident,” the lawmaker added.

National pride, public mistrust 

Wednesday’s crash is likely to intensify scrutiny on the government, as questions over safety, reliability and public investment threaten to undermine confidence in a network long celebrated as a symbol of Spain’s technological transformation.

When high-speed rail arrived in Spain in 1992, it reshaped how Spaniards “see themselves … A powerful symbol that Spain was growing, integrating into Europe, with modern technology,” said Ramón González Férriz, a Spanish journalist and analyst who has written about the railway’s place in the country’s national identity.

But by 2015, the picture had begun to change. “Even though the economy started growing again, investment in transport infrastructure stopped being a priority,” he said.

González Férriz said the deterioration of the rail network mirrored “a similar decline of other things that used to work well in Spain,” including “the electricity grid — Spain suffered a national blackout in April 2025 — or the health system.”

After the Adamuz disaster in January, Sánchez pledged to “restore confidence” in the network. But polls suggest faith in Spain’s railways remains shaken, and that the tragedy has helped undermine Spaniard's long-held belief that, even amid political turmoil, the country’s public services keep functioning.