Honestly, if you follow Spanish infrastructure even a little bit, you've heard the name Isabel Pardo de Vera. For a while, she was the "golden engineer," the woman who actually got things done in a world of red tape. Then, everything kinda fell apart.
She was the first woman to lead Adif (Spain's rail infrastructure giant). She climbed all the way to Secretary of State for Transport. And then, in early 2023, she was out. The reason? A bizarre "trains too big for tunnels" blunder that felt like something out of a bad sitcom. But as we move into 2026, the story has gotten way more complicated than a few measurements gone wrong.
What Actually Happened with those Tunnels?
People love to joke about the Renfe scandal. It’s an easy headline: "Spain builds trains that don't fit." Basically, in 2020, an order was placed for 31 narrow-gauge trains to serve the Asturias and Cantabria regions. Total cost? Roughly €258 million.
But there was a massive oversight in the technical specs. The tunnels in those mountainous northern regions are old and non-standard. The new trains, as designed, were too wide.
Here is the thing most people get wrong: the trains weren't actually built yet when the error was caught. No metal had been twisted into the wrong shape. However, the delay was catastrophic for public trust. It pushed the delivery date back from 2024 to 2026.
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Pardo de Vera wasn't even at the helm of Renfe (the operator); she was the Secretary of State. But the political pressure was immense. She resigned in February 2023 alongside the head of Renfe, Isaías Tabóas. It felt like a "fall on your sword" moment to save the ministry from further embarrassment before the elections.
Life After the Resignation: The 2025-2026 Shift
You’d think a scandal like that would end a career. It didn’t. Pardo de Vera is a highly skilled civil engineer, and the private sector knows it.
By early 2024, she had already joined the advisory board of Cylus, a massive player in rail tech cybersecurity. It makes sense. If you spent years running Adif, you know exactly where the digital vulnerabilities in a rail network are.
Then came the big move in 2025. She reportedly started working for Grupo ACS, the construction behemoth led by Florentino Pérez. This caused a bit of a stir in the Spanish press because of the "revolving door" optics—high-ranking government officials moving into the exact industries they used to regulate.
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The Koldo Case and Legal Hurdles
The last year hasn't been all high-powered boardrooms, though. In mid-2025, Pardo de Vera’s name started popping up in the "Koldo Case" (Caso Koldo). This is a sprawling corruption investigation involving alleged irregular contracts during the pandemic and beyond.
- The Indictment: In July 2025, the National Court summoned her as a suspect.
- The Allegations: Investigators looked into whether she facilitated contracts for certain companies at the request of Koldo García (an advisor to former Minister José Luis Ábalos).
- The Defense: She has consistently denied any wrongdoing, asserting that all Adif contracts under her watch followed strict technical and legal protocols.
As of early 2026, she's still navigating these legal waters. It’s a sharp contrast to her reputation just a few years ago as the transparent, no-nonsense face of Spanish engineering.
Why She Still Matters to the Industry
Despite the noise, you can't erase her impact on Spanish rails. She was a huge advocate for the Mediterranean Corridor and pushed hard for the liberalisation of the high-speed rail market. If you’re now able to buy cheap Ouigo or Iryo tickets in Spain, that's partly thanks to the groundwork laid during her tenure at Adif.
She also broke a lot of glass ceilings. Engineering in Spain is still very much a "boys' club," and she didn't just join it—she ran it.
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What’s the situation today?
If you're looking for the "new" trains in Asturias and Cantabria, they are finally starting to arrive this year. The "comparative method"—basically measuring existing trains that do fit and using them as a blueprint—was the fix that finally worked.
Actionable Insights for Following This Story
If you're tracking infrastructure or Spanish politics, keep an eye on these three things regarding Isabel Pardo de Vera:
- Court Rulings: The resolution of the Koldo Case in 2026 will determine if she can continue in high-level corporate roles or if her career faces a permanent stall.
- Infrastructure Success: Watch the performance of the new FEVE trains in Northern Spain this year. Their success (or failure) will be the final word on her legacy at the Ministry.
- The Cybersecurity Angle: Her work with Cylus suggests she’s pivoting toward the "smart rail" future. This is a huge growth sector as rail networks become more digitized and vulnerable to hacking.
It’s easy to boil someone down to a single mistake or a headline. But Pardo de Vera's story is really about the messy intersection of high-level engineering and the brutal world of Spanish politics. Whether she's a scapegoat or a participant in a flawed system is something the courts are still trying to figure out.
Regardless, she remains one of the most influential figures in the history of Spanish transport. You don't manage a high-speed rail network and just disappear.
Next Steps: To get the full picture of the current state of Spanish rail, you should look into the recent delivery schedules for the 38 new trains in Cantabria and Asturias, which are expected to be fully operational by the end of 2026. Additionally, checking the latest updates from the Audiencia Nacional regarding the "Koldo Case" will provide the most recent legal context on her standing.