Everything that went wrong with Spain’s high-speed railways

For decades, Spain’s high-speed rail network had been a source of national pride, symbolizing the country’s rapid modernization and its rise among Europe’s leading economies. But Wednesday’s deadly train disaster — following another mass-casualty rail crash in January — is turning that legacy into a political liability and putting the state of the railways at the center of the campaign ahead of the Nov. 29 snap election. “The deaths of more than 100 people in two train accidents in the span of eight months raise serious questions about the integrity of the railway system,” opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said Thursday, adding that Spaniards “deserve answers.” Those answers are hard to find.