Railways in
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 Castilian feet). This was generally adopted for new main
lines in Spain and of course resulted in a break of gauge at the French
border when trains eventually reached it. Neighbouring Portugal had a
slightly different gauge of 1664mm which did permit interoperation;
however with increasing speeds in the late 19th / early 20th centuries
ride and wear became a problem so the systems of both countries were
gradually reconfigured to a compromise gauge of 1668mm, which became known
as Iberian gauge.
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.
As well as the Iberian gauge network, there were also a great number
of narrow gauge lines, mainly metre gauge. Many of these remain in
operation.
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 is not without its own
problems, not least that the new lines required their own infrastructure
into the city centres that they serve. Automatic gauge changing facilities
are provided for trains that run beyond the high speed network onto
existing line.
Mainland Spain
Main line and regional railways
- RENFE main line
passenger and freight operator
- FEVE narrow gauge
ines 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
- ADIF the
principal Spanish infrastructure authority
- Metrovalencia
regional operator in Valencia
- TRAM
regional operator in Alicante
- GISA infrastructure
authority for the Catalan region (Site in Spanish)
- Proposed
tunnel beneath the Straits of Gibraltar, connecting Spain with
Morocco
Tourist railways
- 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 contains no information relating
to funicular)
- Montserrat (Catalunya) a rack railway connects the
FGC rail station Monistrol de Montserrat with the monastery and museum.
From the upper station of the rack railway near the monastery entrance,
two funiculars operate: one ascending to the church of St John at the
summit of the mountain; the other descending to the Holy Cave on the
historic pilgrim route to the monastery
- Tren del
Ciment (Cement Train) 3.5km section of a 600mm gauge former industrial
railway, now used to convey tourists from La Pobla de Lillet (Alt
Llobregat) to the Cement Museum at Castellar de n'Hug (Site
in Spanish)
- Tren dels
Llacs historic steam and diesel trains or modern tourist railcars on
the Iberian gauge FGC line between Lleida and La Pobla de Segur, a distance
of about 89km
- Vall de Núria
rack railway from Ribes de Freser to Núria in the Pyrenees
Metros, trams and urban funiculars
- Madrid
- Barcelona
- Bilbao
- Córdoba proposed trams (No website
located at present)
- Donostia -
San Sebastián Monte Igueldo funicular (Graphic intensive
site, slow to load)
- Granada proposed trams (No website
located at present)
- Jaen trams
- Murcia
trams (Site in Spanish)
- Parla trams
(Site in Spanish)
- Salamanca proposed trams (No website located at present)
- Sevilla Metro and
trams (Site in Spanish)
- Tarragona proposed trams (No website
located at present)
- Toledo proposed trams (No website
located at present)
- Vélez-Málaga trams (Site in Spanish)
- Vitoria - Gasteiz trams (Site in Basque
and Spanish)
- Zaragoza
- Trams
(Site in Spanish)
- Monorail servinf the Plaza Imperial commercial
centre (No website located at present)
- A Coruña
seasonal tourist trams. Service suspended from July 2011 until further
notice
Islas Baleares (Illes Balears)
Mallorca
This small island boasts several railways:
Islas Canarias
Tenerife
