ZAMORA, Spain (AP) — For decades, Spaniards have been avid users of the country’s touted high-speed trains, choosing the Ave, Spanish for “bird,” over driving or flying for work trips or holidays each year.

But two devastating collisions in nine months that killed more than 100 people have shaken confidence in a rail network long hailed for its speed and safety.

Two days after a train collision in central Spain killed 69 people and stunned the nation with horrific images of shredded carriages and bloodied survivors, an Associated Press journalist spoke to travelers who had decided to keep traveling by train.

“I have to travel for work and am taking the train because I don’t have another option, but I have colleagues who are going by car and won’t take another train until something really changes,” Carla Fuentes, a 37-year-old economist, said before boarding in Madrid for Alicante, in southern Spain.

Fuentes’ train was canceled on Thursday due to a strike by train workers to demand improved rail…