Spain
The first railway in Spain opened on 28th October, 1848 between Barcelona and Mataro.
Although the standard gauge of 1435mm had by then been adopted in several European countries,
the new line used a broader gauge of 1674mm (6 Catalan feet). This became the main line
standard throughout the Iberian peninsular and has caused problems ever since.
Unlike the break of gauge situation between Great Britain and Ireland, which involved a
sea crossing anyway, or between Russia and the rest of Europe which historically was never a
heavily used land crossing for political reasons, overland international traffic between
Spain and neighbouring France has always been significant. Elaborate gauge-changing facilities
at Irun and Hendaye on the Atlantic coast, and Port Bou and Cerbère on the
Mediterranean, allow both freight and passenger trains to conduct a relatively uninterrupted
journey across the French border. At one time, there was even a Madrid to Moscow sleeping
car service, which involved two changes of gauge.
The first dedicated high speed line (AVE) between Madrid and Seville opened in 1992
with a gauge of 1435mm. This enabled the project to use essentially off-the shelf French
technology, but may have been done with half an eye to the possible future regauging of
the entire Spanish network. Subsequent thinking has changed, however, and newer high speed
lines are being built to 1674mm gauge. This allows significant cost savings on city
approaches, for example, where the sharing of a suitably modified infrastructure with
existing services allows a much smaller land take with minimal impact on journey times.
Furthermore, it is likely that future high speed lines throughout Europe will have to
share some of their capacity with freight traffic, hence the desirability of sharing the
same gauge as that of connecting lines.
Under EU regulations, train operation and infrastructure costs must be separately
accountable. Spain, like many other European countries, has chosen to implement this
by spinning off a separate infrastructure company (GIF), which has responsibility
for the extensive narrow gauge (1000mm) network as well as the main-line network.
The State Railway company operates international and inter-city passenger trains and
most freight. A separate company, FEVE, operates most of the narrow gauge lines.
Several regional companies have been spun off to operate broad and narrow gauge
passenger trains in their own area.
Mainland Spain
Main line and regional railways
- RENFE Spanish
National Railways
- ADIF the
principal Spanish track authority (Site in Spanish)
- GISA the track
authority for the Catalan region (Site in Spanish)
- FEVE operates an extensive network
of narrow gauge lines in northern Spain (Site in Spanish)
- EuskoTren Basque regional
operator. Also operates steam tourist trains and the Reinata funicular in Bilbao
(Site in Basque and Spanish)
- FGC Catalan regional
operator. Also operates tourist steam trains, and several funiculars
- Proposed
tunnel beneath the Straits of Gibraltar, connecting Spain with
Morocco
Tourist and local railways
- TRAM local railway
between Alicante and Denia (Site in Spanish)
- Bulnes
underground funicular in the Asturias, 2.2km in length with a rise of 400m. Before the funicular
was opened in 2001 the only way to reach to Bulnes was by a steep mule track, there being no road
access. (Site in Spanish, provided by El Camino Real)
- Club Hotel Giverola near Tossa de Mar
has a private funicular linking the hotel with its sports facilities (Site in Spanish,
Catalan, French and German. Flash obligatory. No concessions to accessibility. Slow, cumbersome,
extremely irritating animations and background music. Little information relating to
funicular)
- Montserrat (Catalunya)
a rack railway connects the village and monastery with Monistrol de Montserrat. Two funiculars
serve the area around the village
- Vall de Núria
rack railway from Ribes de Freser to Núria in the Pyrenees
Metros, trams and urban funiculars
- Madrid
- Metro
- Proposed trams (No website located at present)
- Alicante
proposed tram system
- Barcelona
- Metro and the Montjuïc funicular
- Trams
(Site in Spanish)
- Bilbao
- Cádiz proposed tram system (No website located at present)
- Donostia - San Sebastián funicular (No website located at present)
- Granada proposed tram system (No website located at present)
- Jaen proposed tram system (No website located at present)
- Murcia
proposed tram system (Site in Spanish)
- Parla proposed tram system (No website located at present)
- Sevilla new tram system and proposed Metro (No website located at present)
- Valencia Metro and trams
- Vélez-Málaga new tram system (No website located at present)
- Vitoria - Gasteiz proposed trams
- Zaragoza
- monorail (No website located at present)
- proposed tram system (No website located at present)
- A Coruña seasonal tourist tram operation (No website located
at present)
Islas Baleares (Illes Balears)
Mallorca
This small island boasts several railways:
Islas Canarias
Tenerife
- Santa Cruz proposed
urban tramway, with an 85km interurban light rail line serving the south of the island.
(Site in Spanish)
