The Derailment of Europe: Implications from the Spanish Tragedy on the EU railway network

Cotos Station in 2023, 2nd December

©Finales de otoño by CARLOS TEIXIDOR CADENAS. Licensed by CC BY 4.0

Spain: the land of tourism, olive oil, and jamon. Apart from its unmatched cuisine and stunning Mediterranean beaches, Spain is also renowned for its excellent railway infrastructure. It has the second largest high-speed railway system in the world, with approximately 4000 kilometres of high-speed rail. The only country ahead of Spain is China, which is 19 times larger. For decades, Spain was a stellar example of public transportation development and investment. Yet this January, that image was shaken.

A tragic incident occurred on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line, where a train derailed and collided with another, claiming the lives of 42 people. Two days later, another derailment occurred involving a commuter train near Barcelona; the operator was killed, and 37 more people were left seriously injured. Within the same week, 2 more trains went off the tracks, one near Barcelona and another one in Southern Spain. As a result Catalan regional train service was suspended for over 2 days. Immediately after, the Spanish Railroad Engineers and Trainmen’s Union declared a 3-day nationwide strike, stating safety concerns as the main reason. How did a country known for its efficient rail system end up in this situation, and, more importantly, is this problem limited to Spain, or is the EU “derailing”?

The Causes Behind the Incidents

The investigations are still ongoing. So far, the official version for the derailment on the Sevilla-Madrid line is an infrastructure failure: most likely a fractured rail or defective track component. On the other hand, the incident in Gelida was caused by thea collapse of a retaining wall on the tracks following heavy rainfall, which destabilised the soil and supporting structure.

In all of these instances, the tragedies were caused by infrastructure-related factors, rather than human error. Over the last four years, Spain has spent EUR 1.5 billion annually on its high-speed railway, more than any other country in the world. The issue is that the vast majority of these funds were directed to expanding the rail system, while only 16% went to repair and maintenance of the existing lines. This reflects a clear trade-off between expansion and upkeep. New lines are often more attractive politically, as they are more visible and bring greater political credit, while maintenance is less noticeable despite being economically crucial in the long term. In August, SEMAF warned the national railway operator that certain lines were overused and required immediate repairs. In a way, Spain is a victim of its own success. Its extensive high-speed railway system has become increasingly popular, serving more than 40 million passengers last year alone, while conventional rail systems handled another 400 million. Despite the conventional commuter rail being older and more heavily used, Spain has consistently neglected it and overinvested in high-speed rail.

In the case of Spain’s autonomous regions, especially Catalonia, politics plays a role. In Catalonia, the rail system is split between the central government in Madrid through ADIF is controlled by the central government in Madrid through ADIF, which is responsible for infrastructure, and RENFE, which runs the trains. While the regional government, Generalitat, controls service planning. The Catalan government argues that the Spanish government underinvests in Catalonia and prioritises high-speed rail in other regions. This is despite Catalonia having one of the largest economies among Spain’s regions. The Spanish government states that investment in Catalan railway infrastructure has actually increased in recent years and blames the Generalitat for poor planning. This fragmented governance structure limits effective decision making on the ground and contributes to poor infrastructure outcomes, as responsibility is divided while maintenance and upgrades are delayed. As a result, millions of Catalans are left with subpar service that not only experiences frequent delays, but also faces growing safety risks from decaying infrastructure. Following the end of January’s train service cancellations, regional minister Silvia Paneque described the Catalan train service as deplorable.

Beyond Iberia: The Case of Germany and the wider EU

The issue of rail underinvestment stretches way beyond Spain and can even be found in the EU's biggest economy. One of the benevolent stereotypes about the German people is their efficiency and punctuality. However, for years now, these 2 traits have been absent in the German railway system. The national railway company has been operating at a loss for a considerable time. The issue of delayed or cancelled trains became so prevalent that Germany’s neighbouring countries, such as Switzerland and Austria, have reduced train traffic with Germany and even prevented many delayed German trains from entering their respective countries. Last year, only 60% of German trains arrived on time. The reasons for the delays are quite similar to the causes behind the train accidents in Spain. 80% of all train delays are caused by outdated and overburdened infrastructure. Decades of underinvestment in railways, combined with increased strain from greater population usage, left the infrastructure without proper maintenance and repair, as cost-cutting was prioritised. The Merz government has promised a 150 billion euro investment in rail infrastructure, but there are signs that the German government will back away from its promises. Furthermore, experts have stated that even a 100 billion euro investment will not be enough to make German trains be on time again. German officials stated that the railway system has entered a backlog of renovation requiring massive reconstruction programs, which will now cause further delays as overdue maintenance is finally carried out.

Similar trends can be seen across the EU as a whole. Following the 2008 financial crisis, spending on rail infrastructure has dropped significantly as governments sought to balance budgets and pursue austerity. In France, the national audit body reported that while significant investment was directed at the high-speed rail network, conventional rail infrastructure had suffered years of underinvestment, much like in Spain. In Italy, infrastructure decay is especially severe in the south of the country, to the point that the government was forced to commit tens of billions of euros under its National Recovery and Resilience plan to modernise neglected rail corridors. Across Eastern European member states, underinvestment in the rail system is a decade-long issue originating in the 1990s transition period from communism, and infrastructure decay has been particularly severe, requiring extensive EU funding. Here in the Netherlands, infrastructure manager ProRail has warned that the rail network is operating close to maximum capacity, with ageing infrastructure requiring sustained long-term investment to prevent reliability deterioration despite the country’s strong maintenance performance. To understand the severity of the issue, the EU estimates that approximately EUR 546 billion in additional investment is needed to modernise and expand the rail network to meet transport and climate objectives by 2050. Climate goals play an important role in this equation, as usage of public transport, including trains, by the population helps to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and aids countries in achieving their carbon neutrality goals. 

Dresden train station sign in 2022, 16th of August

©Dresden train station sign by Cavaliere grande. Licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

Where is this Train Heading?

It is still difficult to determine how far the issue of underinvestment and decaying rail infrastructure will go. The spokesperson for Deutsche Bahn, in the most recent comment, has stated that there is no reason to expect rapid improvement in service; to what extent this statement can be applied beyond Germany remains open to debate.

There are, however, some positive signals. While there are reports that the German government is providing less assistance than promised, Germany has ramped up its infrastructure spending, pledging an allocation of EUR 100 billion for rail infrastructure between 2025 and 2029. After the January disaster, Spain announced an additional EUR 1.7 billion for commuter rail, with the secretary of state of transport saying this figure will reach EUR 8 billion by 2030 to alleviate the infrastructure deficit. Elsewhere in Europe, similar messages can be heard, with Italy and France increasing their rail investment by tens of billions of euros. The EU as a whole allocated EUR 2.8 billion in grants in 2025 to modernise rail systems across all member states. Furthermore, the EU plans to more than double transport funding from EUR 33.7 billion between 2021 and 2027, to EUR 81.4 billion between 2028 and 2034.

These developments suggest that the governments are beginning to recognise the cost of prolonged rail underinvestment. As this article has argued, the problem is not limited to Spain, but reflects a wider European pattern in which governments either prioritised politically attractive rail expansion of rail lines or outright severely underinvested in rail maintenance. The cost may now prove far more expensive than sustained upkeep would have been. Delayed repairs, weaker reliability, safety risks and host productivity all raise the eventual cost of restoring the system. The real question is therefore not whether Europe can afford to invest more in rail, but whether it can afford not to.