INTERVENTION BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT, PEDRO SÁNCHEZThe train trip that we have just made represents, as the president and also the minister have said before, one more milestone in the history of high speed in our country.A story that does not stop renewing itself and gaining new impulses.As of tomorrow, the AVE between Madrid and Burgos will begin to operate, as you know, on a regular basis.The almost 90 kilometers that we have inaugurated today between Venta de Baños and Burgos of the Madrid-Burgos line, what they do is consolidate Spain as the world leader in sustainable mobility.And that is what I would like to share with all of you in the first place.We are the first country in Europe, the first country in Europe and the second in the world only behind China, in high-speed kilometers.And, in addition, we are proud of having carried out this gigantic transformation in record time.Because this year marks three decades since the first high-speed line between Seville and Madrid came into service.In just 30 years, the network has multiplied almost eightfold, reaching 4,000 kilometers of high-speed rail lines, with accumulated investments, so that we take into account the figures, which exceed almost 57,200 million euros.In other words, we are talking about truly important figures, from the point of view of the contribution of the public sector to that territorial cohesion to which reference was made earlier.That first AVE not only changed our way of travelling, but something even more important, and that is the perception we had of our territory.Suddenly, the distances between cities were reduced to a time that in 1992 seemed almost like fantasy, but that still amazes us today when we take the AVE.Consequently, no one can doubt that Spain's commitment to high speed is a great success story.It has been shown that it now constitutes a powerful instrument to connect, structure, and dynamize large territories of our country;It also contributes decisively to reducing our dependence, as the minister said earlier, on polluting fossil fuels, promoting much cleaner, much more efficient mobility, and it also forever transforms the cities where it is based, opening up new opportunities for growth, economic, social and cultural development.This is what happened in Seville 30 years ago.This has happened in each and every one of the capitals and towns that we have been adding to this network since then.And so I am convinced, dear mayor, it will happen today in Burgos, which is also called to play, as was mentioned before, a crucial role in all the following phases of the deployment of high speed in our country.Now it will be possible to travel between Burgos and Madrid in just an hour and a half, 45 minutes less than it used to take until now.And not only that: this saving in time is going to be accompanied by a large increase in service, because we are going from 15 weekly frequencies to 32 weekly frequencies;that is, more than double the number of trains between the two cities.And in addition to the increase in capacity, regularity, comfort, there is an aspect that I would also like to underline in this intervention, and it is especially the one related to safety, something essential in a line designed to reach maximum speed of exploitation of 300 kilometers per hour, as we have been able to enjoy on this trip.For this reason, this service has state-of-the-art technologies in signaling, traffic control, and telecommunications, in accordance with the highest European standards, in addition to the mandatory fencing on both sides of the platform.But the importance of this line that we are inaugurating today, as President Mañueco commented before, goes far beyond the arrival of the AVE to Burgos.Because this city represents a key step in a project, a long-awaited project, such as being able to cross Spain from end to end;that is, from south to north, at high speed.Burgos, consequently, is today going to become an essential gateway to finally bring one of the most advanced railway networks in the world to the Basque Country and, from there, to the border with France.A demand that I would judge to be historical and also essential, which is getting closer to becoming a reality.Just so you know, this week what the Council of Ministers has done has been to approve the tender to draw up the projects for all the subsections between Burgos and Vitoria, with a budget of more than 27 million euros.And thanks to this new line, according to the planning, the journey between Burgos and Vitoria will take just half an hour, which means that it could take just over two hours to travel from Vitoria to Madrid.And the third milestone that I would like to share with all of you in this process is going to be, obviously, the execution of the sections, as we have seen in the video, pending the Bilbao-Vitoria branch of the Basque Y, the procedures for which we are streamlining.We have already awarded the contract for the basic project of the Arkaute node, with its integration in Vitoria-Gasteiz.And I would also like to announce here today, in Burgos, that thanks to the protocols signed in February, we will shortly launch the call for the provisional arrival of the High Speed ​​to Basauri, and the definitive one to the new Abando station. .Because in the end what we are talking about is big capitals like Burgos, like Madrid, like Valladolid, like Vitoria, like Bilbao.But we cannot forget that the deployment of high speed to the north will also favor cities such as Miranda de Ebro, such as Tolosa, such as Irún, such as Llodio, and also a large number of medium and small towns in the radius of influence of infrastructures like the ones we are inaugurating today.In short, as was mentioned before, this is a very important inauguration for Burgos, but it is a country project, a project that forms the backbone, that unites, because, as these 30 years have shown, to which I previously referred from the opening of this line to Madrid-Seville, improvements in connectivity as radical as those represented by the AVE, translate directly into new employment opportunities, greater social cohesion, greater territorial cohesion, sustainability, energy independence.And even also in a decisive boost to our powerful tourism industry, as has been recalled before.I would like, to conclude, to particularly thank Her Majesty for her presence, with a company I have the pleasure of having already covered a few inaugural kilometers of high speed in recent days.But look, sir, recently, I saw precisely a photo of the inauguration of the Seville AVE in 1992, in which you were present and you were then, if I'm not mistaken, sir, -will you allow me to share it- with 24 years old.Many of us who are here belong, sir, to that generation that has seen first-hand the deployment of high speed in Spain and that we are very aware of the enormous transformation that high speed has meant for our country.What began as a dream of modernity, a chimera for many skeptics, is today a daily reality for new generations.They are the ones who most forcefully ask us to keep moving forward, with new lines and with new connections.And that is something that gives a good measure, not only of the evolution of our society, but also that its network of progress remains intact and, therefore, responding to that demand I think is the obligation of every government and I can assure you that, on behalf of the Government of Spain, we are going to do it with the greatest enthusiasm.And finally, I would like to end by also expressing my satisfaction and appreciation for meeting here today, at this station that bears the name of a great person, a great woman, the woman who did so much for democracy, modernity and equality in our country like Rosa Manzano.Because when a country knows how to unite technical advances with advances in values, it simply becomes an unstoppable country.That is the progress that the vast majority of our society wants for Spain.And that is precisely the commitment of the Government of Spain: that our country continues to advance.Nothing more.And thank you.Congratulations to Burgos.Moncloa Complex, Avda. 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