The development carried out in the last decades is degrading the ecosystems, damaging the existing biodiversity. One of the elements that is having the most impact on the deterioration of natural areas is the construction of transport infrastructures, among which are high-speed routes. These linear infrastructures are contributing to the deterioration of biodiversity enclaves, which contribute to providing highly relevant ecosystem services. Among these deteriorations are the processes of fragmentation and alteration of the landscape. This chapter analyses a situation that occurs in Spanish territory related to high-speed railways. This transport system began in Spain on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of Seville 1992. By this transport activity, the changes suffered in the landscape are calculated and analysed through Corine land cover data since its inception until the last report of 2018.
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The Seville-Madrid high-speed rail line began to be built in 1989, with the intention of being able to open in 1992, coinciding with the Universal Exhibition of Seville that same year. On April 14, 1992, the line was inaugurated and on April 21, 1992, the service was opened to the public (García, 2006), thus becoming the first high-speed line of international width in Spain.
There is a debate on the socio-economic benefits of high-speed lines in Spain, given that their economic and social impact is very complex to measure, as it affects many sectors and there is little scientific literature on long-term studies, focusing the majority on the first years of opening (Pinos Navarrete, & Mínguez García, (2017). However, Preciado, Arilla, Uribeondo, and Yanci (2006) highlights the success of this line with respect to air travel and social benefits, especially in the cities closest to Madrid.
Independently of the Spanish case, linear infrastructures consisting of roads and railways, and to a lesser extent canal, form artificial corridors, which have direct economic benefits (Bruinsma et al., 2008; Banister, 2011; Hickman, Bonilla, Givoni & Banister, 2015; Vickerman, 2015). But as a counterpart contributes to the environmental deterioration of the territory causing polluting effects (Borrego Tchepel, Barros & Miranda, 2000; Galera Sudnik-Wójcikowska, Wierzbicka & Wiłkomirski, 2011); acting as barriers to the mobility and spread of species (Forman & Alexander, 1998; Tikka, Högmander & Koski, 2001); or increase fragmentation and edge generation (Bohemenhd, 1998; Daniel & Dennis, 2001).
The development of communication infrastructures is marked by the urban centres being connected. These centres create a web of communications that suffocate the natural environment, so in Europe, more than 50% of its territory is less than 1500 meters from a communication route, in the USA that distance is reduced to less than 400 m and finally in the case of Spain is below 900 m (Riitters & Wickham, 2003; Torres, Jaeger & Alonso, 2016). These will suffer the positive or negative impacts that these communication paths entail and that affects in particular the natural environment located between the populations that it connects (Torres, Jaeger & Alonso, 2016; Miao, Yang & Song, 2021).