"Since the high-speed line was built, 30-something years ago, we never had any problems, it worked perfectly and was fantastic," says Alberto Montavez Montes, a shop-owner opposite Córdoba city hall, where the Spanish and Andalusian flags have been hanging at half-mast.
Now, though things feel different: "It's not that there's psychosis, but it does make you just a bit reluctant to get on a train, without a doubt."
In just a few tragic days since two high-speed trains collided in this southern region of Spain, with the loss of 45 lives, it has felt that Spain's much-vaunted rail system has been thrown into a sudden, deep crisis.
Second only to China in scale, Spain has 3,900 km (2,400 miles) of high-speed (AVE) rail and until now its national network has been admired for its efficiency and safety.
In 2009, then-US president Barack Obama singled out Spain for praise when he outlined a vision for the creation of a high-speed rail network across America. The line connecting Madrid and Seville "is so successful that more people travel between those cities by rail than by car and airplane combined", he said.
