Valencia's new Joaquin Sorolla train station sits near the old Estació del Nord that serves regional commuter trains and the city's subway. Just a few blocks away is the Carrer de Cristóbal Colón, the main street of a bustling shopping district of department stores, boutiques and restaurants.

Maria Jose Martin, who manages the nearby C&A clothing store, said the company typically sends people on the train for business trips because it's cheaper than flying.

"I think it's good," she said through an interpreter. "It brings Madrid and Valencia closer together and allows for more flow of people between the two cities."

And, she added, the trains are good for Valencia's business community because they bring more tourists on day trips.

But Martin acknowledged that "the ticket price is still pretty high" for families on holiday.

On a rainy morning, Jacinto Calvillo is among the passengers waiting at the station to board the train for a business trip. "I have a car for work, but I like to take the train," Calvillo said through an interpreter.

Calvillo said he believes high-speed rail has been a good investment for the nation "to bring together or connect the big cities in Spain, but not necessarily covering the smaller distances."

"The main disadvantage is that they haven't prioritized which lines are most important, so a lot of money has been spent on lines that aren't as important," he said. "But it has created greater movement of business, more connections and more commerce."

The train station in Valencia, like stations in other cities, plays host to various retail stores and restaurants that serve travelers -- including the ubiquitous golden arches of McDonald's. It looks and smells like any other McDonald's -- kids tugging on their parents' sleeves asking for a Happy Meal and people munching on burgers and fries.

A few hours later, aboard an afternoon train back to Madrid, a visit to the operator's cab offers a rare driver's-eye view of the high-speed ride. It's quiet in the passenger cars, but on the way to the cockpit, there is a deafening roar in the locomotive that houses the powerful electric motors.

Jose Jimenez, a 30-year train operator for Renfe, sits at the driver's console of the Spanish-built Talgo AVE Class 112 train, which can carry up to 365 passengers. Jimenez occasionally flips on the windshield wipers to clear the raindrops, giving a clear view of just how fast the train is moving.

The train's speed increases steadily as Jimenez nudges a small joystick throttle with his left thumb and forefinger: 155 mph, then 160, 165, 175. The power lines flash overhead, and the concrete ties of the railroad tracks fly under the train at a dizzying clip if you stare too long.

Now the speed is 180, 183, 184, 185. Finally, Jimenez looks over his shoulder, smiling broadly, and nods with pride as his electronic display flashes 302 kilometers per hour -- 187 mph.

Where to begin?

The Talgo trains -- nicknamed Pato ("Duck" in English) because of their streamlined, elongated noses -- are capable of doing 205 mph, but the maximum operating speed is supposed to be 186 mph.

No doubt that technicians for both Renfe and ADIF, sitting in front of computer consoles in Madrid, knew exactly when and where Jimenez bent the speed limit. Sensors embedded along the rail line and GPS sensors aboard the trains feed a constant stream of real-time information back to the control centers.

Large screens on the walls of Renfe's control center at the Puerto de Atocha station show operators the exact location and speed of each train in the system, duplicating the information on the smaller computer monitors. Video screens also show trains as they enter and leave stations.

The Atocha center monitors more than 90 train trips daily to cities in eastern and southern Spain, said José Espada Rodelgo, manager of Renfe's operations coordination center. With that many trains coming and going, the real-time data is crucial to managing schedules and making sure the trains are running on time, he said.

Renfe managers prize customer satisfaction and on-time performance for their trains. On the Madrid-Seville route, for instance, the company promises to refund passengers their full fare if the train arrives at its destination more than five minutes late.

But at least one scheduled train could not be saved. Earlier this year, Renfe shut down its direct once-daily AVE train between Cuenca, Albacete and Toledo, bypassing Madrid. That lone train attracted only a handful of passengers a day -- not nearly enough to justify keeping the service alive.

"These are small cities, so it is not possible to run a train for only seven or 10 passengers," said Jose Domingo Carreño López, Renfe's manager of technical standards.

While they acknowledge that high-speed rail is an expensive undertaking, officials with Renfe, the train operating company, and ADIF, which manages the infrastructure and tracks, say the system has helped Spain boost its technological capacity, improve its manufacturing efficiency and export its expertise to other countries.

"Our Spanish technology has increased because of the high-speed," said Campo Jori, ADIF's international projects manager. "We started by learning from the French, the Germans and the Japanese, but now we have our own technology. Our companies are benefiting from 1992 to now because of high-speed."

Led by Renfe and ADIF, a consortium of more than a dozen Spanish technology and construction companies recently won the contract to build and operate Saudi Arabia's first high-speed train line from Medina to Mecca. "We have companies that do extensive engineering, telecom, signaling, rolling stock, construction and management," Campo Jori said.

And Spain is among the high-speed nations that hope to participate in construction of California's proposed 520-mile line between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

California officials, armed with about $3 billion in federal stimulus and transportation funds from the Obama administration and $3 billion in money from Proposition 1A -- a 2008 bond measure -- want to start construction this year on a 120-mile stretch from north of Fresno to Bakersfield.

Future sections would extend toward San Francisco or Los Angeles if more money becomes available. But no high-speed trains would operate on the line until it extends to the Bay Area or the Los Angeles basin.

Backers in California tout the potential environmental benefits -- reduced air pollution and less freeway congestion -- of getting people out of gasoline- and diesel-fueled automobiles and onto electric-powered trains.

Even the enthusiastic Spanish officials, however, are curious about the logic of starting in the sparsely populated middle of California. The environmental benefits won't be realized, they said, if the cities along the first line don't have enough people to generate ridership.

"You need to have either Los Angeles or San Francisco," said Pedro Pérez del Campo, environmental policy director for ADIF. "They should build it where it will have an impact so that people will support it."

Building the system in the first place has significant disruptive effects before any benefits can be realized, Pérez del Campo said.

"It can be a failure or a fiasco if it starts in two cities that aren't as well populated or if there isn't as much attraction," he said. "The lesson is to do it right the first time, or extending it will not be possible because the public won't be in agreement. The people here have been in agreement."

This special project is the result of a partnership among California news organizations following the state’s high-speed rail program, including The Fresno Bee, The Bakersfield Californian, California Watch, The Sacramento Bee, The Orange County Register, the San Francisco Chronicle, The (Riverside) Press-Enterprise, U-T San Diego, KQED, the Merced Sun-Star, The Tribune of San Luis Obispo and The Modesto Bee.