Situation of the Spanish railway system in the field of high-speed: threats and future prospects of an infrastructure converted into an instrument of territorial structuring

The high-speed rail network is one of Spain's great infrastructure achievements. This network is in turn an important instrument of territorial cohesion that economically backbones the different regions in a country that is increasingly suffering from the imbalances that occur between large cities and the so-called "emptied Spain". However, this infrastructure, which began in 1992 and currently has more than 4000 km, has been suffering in recent years from various management problems derived from an evident lack of investment in maintenance and poor planning of the liberalization process of the operators that operate it. These problems have generated in recent months various situations of railway chaos in long-distance and commuter services. This paper analyzes the causes of the current threats that loom over this basic instrument of social cohesion of the country, and the future prospects that may occur in the short and medium term.