Isabel Pardo de Vera

Pardo de Vera began working in 2007 for Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), the state-owned railway company. She had positions in the management of the Madrid–Galicia high-speed rail line. In 2015, she took leave from ADIF to be Director of Mobility and Infrastructure for the provincial deputation of the Province of Pontevedra, returning in 2016.^[3] In June 2018, Pardo de Vera became the first woman to be president of ADIF.^[5] In July 2018, she was named Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing in the government of Pedro Sánchez of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).^[3]

Pardo de Vera resigned on 20 February 2023, as did Isaías Tabóas [es], the president of state railway operator Renfe. The trigger event for the resignations was the €258 million order of 31 trains for the mountainous northern autonomous communities of Asturias and Cantabria. The trains were ordered with dimensions too wide for the regions' tunnels; though these trains were not manufactured, the error put their estimated completion date back from 2024 to at least 2026.^[6][7]

• Monforte Railway Award (2018)^[8]
• Gold Medal of the City of Vigo (2022)^[9]