Infrastructure in Spain: a chilling look at an outrageous socialist neglect

The Adamuz train accident has served to highlight the degradation of Spanish public infrastructure.

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After that accident, the government of Pedro Sánchez has focused much of its efforts on evading responsibility for what happened, given the data indicating the deterioration of the track where the accident occurred. However, reports are being published indicating that this deterioration is an isolated incident.

Yesterday afternoon, Antena 3 published a chilling news report about the state of Spanish infrastructure. The article is titled: ""Neglect of maintenance puts railways, roads, and dams in Spain at risk." Here are some quotes from that report:

• Rail networks: "In 2016, Spain allocated 738 million euros to the maintenance of a 2,900-kilometer high-speed rail network used by 20 million passengers. Ten years later, in 2026, spending has fallen to 693 million, despite the network having grown to 4,000 kilometers and the number of users having doubled, reaching 40 million passengers."
• Dams: "According to engineers, Spain should allocate between 500 and 600 million euros annually to their maintenance. In the latest budgets, barely 16 million have been earmarked". (...) "Of the 375 state-owned dams, 160 have inoperative bottom outlets or only one of the two is functioning, which significantly increases the risk in the event of a major flood". (...) "Experts warn that between 120 and 130 dams have structural problems, some very serious. 40% are classified as Category A: their failure would severely affect urban areas."
• The risk of a repeat of the Valencia flood disaster in 2024, but worse: "The case of the Forata dam in Valencia is a prime example. It withstood the DANA storm, but it still lacks a contingency plan more than a year after the tragedy. And yet, since 1994, all dams have been required to have and implement one. Had the dam burst, it would have generated a seven-meter-high wall of water with speeds of five meters per second, capable of devastating everything in its path."
• Emergency plans for dams: "Today, 80% of the dams in the State do not have an emergency plan in place." They should have had one 32 years ago.

You can read the full news story here. Following the Adamuz train tragedy, Óscar Puente called it a "strange" accident, in one of his first attempts to deflect attention from the government's responsibility for what happened. Under these conditions, it's strange that more accidents, and even worse ones, don't happen. In Spain, we have a government that is breaking historic tax collection records, but, simultaneously, public infrastructure is suffering alarming deterioration. It's a clear case of terrible management, but here nobody resigns, and the government acts as if it's never to blame for anything that happens under its responsibility.

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Photo: Efe. The Renfe Alvia train involved in the accident in Adamuz (Cordoba) on January 18, 2026.