Spain has a long tradition in civil engineering and is able to reach some of the lowest costs per km in multiple infrastructures, despite a difficult landscape, and execute complex projects well. Two things really help:

* Government has an engineering corps that draft really detailed specs for all projects, and ensure compliance

* Laws that allow confiscating land in the name of public interest

The second item tends to be problematic in common law frameworks typical of the Anglosphere.

I'll explain it, since no other local has bothered to.

In the UK, those who know don't call the so-called 'DfT - Department for Transport', we call it Department for Roads, because that's what it is.

But those who actually know are not yet a majority. The majority think 'Dr Beeching' (an mere frontman), destroyed the railways, yet have never heard the name Ernest Marples. Since the Marples creature unleashed carnage decades ago, there hasn't been a single government in Westminster which has not been anti-railways.

Nobody wants 'HS2'. The railway industry does not want it. The PR for it is ridiculous even by Unicorn-chaining HM Gov standards (see: Gareth Dennis), even the contractors admit its a farce.

Not only does 'HS2' reflect the bigotry of UKpolitik against real civilised transport, but it reflects a much greater stagnation and overall decline in the 'yu-kay' formerly Great Britain.