My poor Ave

I was there, at the María Zambrano, on inauguration day, in December 2007. In fact, it's been called that ever since, when Magdalena Álvarez [Minister of Public Works at the time] took it upon herself to name stations after illustrious women from Malaga. And I think it was wonderful that she did so.

Before that, it was just the Renfe station and it had a wrought iron canopy that was also very beautiful and I believe is still stored away in a warehouse. Someday it should be recovered for something, because it had its charm.

Back then, with the brand-new infrastructure, with the shiny tracks and railways, we dreamed of being able to get to Madrid even faster, and the leap in quality achieved then, compared to the Talgo 200, was revolutionary.

Everything ran perfectly, meshing like a Swiss watch, and many times the official travel time, which was around two hours and 25 minutes, no hiccups, actually came down to 2:15. You'd go to the cafeteria and before you knew it you were already arriving in the other city, something that was quite impressive. So much so that once Magdalena got a bit annoyed because I asked her when travel time between Malaga and Madrid would be reduced to two hours, and she told me she had never committed to such a thing, which was true.

It can be done perfectly well, as long as the infrastructure is in good condition and energy is cheap, because these contraptions use an incredible amount of electricity.

My God, from dreaming of two-hour journeys, practically 20 years ago, to settling for three-hour trips... And hoping that the train, if possible, arrives in one piece after bouncing around a thousand times. From strict punctuality, where if you arrived 15 minutes late they'd refund half your ticket, to accumulating continuous delays, cancellations and breakdowns. And having to put up with the fact that being stuck for hours trapped in a carriage in the middle of nowhere is no longer even newsworthy...

It's true that not everything has been bad: high-speed rail has stopped being a luxury and now there are many more seats and daily frequencies, and prices are cheaper.

But I won't accept that both ideas should be considered opposed, that is, that service quality is supposedly at odds with an abundant supply of seats at reasonable prices, especially because the infrastructure must be maintained in perfect condition, whether one train passes through or 25 a day.

That's what it seems someone isn't understanding, and if they don't understand it, we have a very serious problem.