The Partido Popular has gone to the European Commission to ask it to investigate the execution of a 93 million euro contract awarded by Adif in 2021 to modernize the signaling and protection systems of the Madrid-Seville high-speed line.
The Conservatives question that the Government has declared certain commitments of the Recovery Plan as fulfilled when, as they set out in their parliamentary initiatives, some activities were still not fully operational. The request comes after the railway accident inUrda, in Toledo, which left 69 dead.
The Spanish delegation of the European People’s Party has registered a battery of questions addressed to the Commission so that it examines both the destination of the Community funds and the supervision mechanisms for railway investments. The initiatives are promoted by Dolors Montserrat and Borja Giménez Larraz, together with Raúl de la Hoz and Isabel Benjumea on issues related to European financing.
The MEPs want Brussels to determine whether the investments declared as executed correspond to completed actions and available for use, and also to check whether Spanish railway safety procedures meet Community requirements.
A 93 million euro contract whose deadline ended in January
One of the central issues in the parliamentary questions is the contract awarded by Adif to Thales in September 2021, for 93 million euros, to renew the signaling and protection systems of the Madrid-Seville line, including the replacement of the LZB system.
According to the Popular initiative, the execution period ended in January 2026, but 10 months later the system LZB continued operating. For this reason, the PP asks the European Commission to check the real degree of execution of the works and determine whether the new equipment was installed, tested, and available for railway operation.
The request refers specifically to the milestone 87 of the Recovery Plan, whose fulfillment was communicated by the Government to access European financing disbursements. The Conservatives want to know whether the actions associated with that commitment were effectively completed when Spain declared them as fulfilled.
The continuity of the LZB is one of the elements that the PP uses to request verification, although its operation does not, by itself, prove that the contract as a whole remained unexecuted.
Brussels receives questions about rail safety protocols
The initiatives also address the procedures that apply when rail traffic protection systems fail, an issue that has gained special relevance after the Urda accident.
Popular MEPs ask that the Commission check whether Spanish rail traffic protocols under degraded conditions comply with European regulations and whether the oversight mechanisms make it possible to guarantee safety when automatic systems stop working.
They also ask whether Brussels considers it necessary to issue provisional recommendations to the Spanish authorities to strengthen rail protection measures while the investigations move forward.
Contracts investigated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office
Another block of questions refers to the rail contracts examined by the European Public Prosecutor's Office following the accidents in Adamuz and Urda. The PP requests information about the volume of EU funding allocated to those awards and the checks carried out to verify the proper execution of the work.
The popular party wants to know whether the Commission plans to promote specific audits on rail investments and whether it would require the repayment of EU funds in the event that the investigations establish irregularities in their use.
The initiatives also refer to shortcomings in Adif’s management and control systems warned about by the Court of Auditors, whose oversight they ask that the Community institutions review.
The PP asks about another 1,196 million pending execution
In addition to the signaling contract, the popular delegation requests explanations about the degree of use of the EU funds assigned to the Ministry of Transport.
According to the data collected in its questions, at the close of 2025, 1.196 billion euros of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism remained pending execution, equivalent to 61.8% of the funds assigned in the scope to which the initiative refers.
The PP calls on the Commission to examine the controls applied to these investments and verify that the Community resources have been allocated to the projects for which they were granted.
Parliamentary questions now open a channel for requesting information before Brussels. It will be for the European Commission to respond to Members of the European Parliament and determine whether any further action is warranted regarding the implementation of the funds or the railway oversight mechanisms.