Rail transport in Spain

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  Spain
RN102014MonJPVL.JPG
High-speed AVE train, Madrid-Barcelona line.
Operation
National railwayRenfe Operadora
Infrastructure companyAdif
Major operatorsRENFE, FEVE, EuskoTren, FGC, FGV
Statistics
Ridership636 million (2019)[1]
System length
Total16,026 km (9,958 mi)
Electrified10,182 km (6,327 mi)
Track gauge
Broad gauge
1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in)		11,829 km (7,350 mi)
Standard gauge
1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)		3,100 km (1,900 mi)
Metre gauge
1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)		1,926 km (1,197 mi)
Narrow gauge
914 mm (3 ft)		28 km (17 mi)
Electrification
3000 V DCMain network
25 kV ACHigh-speed lines, recent electrification
Features
Longest tunnelSierra de Guadarrama, 28.4 km (17.6 mi)
hideMap
Red actual de ferrocarriles de España.svg

Rail transport in Spain operates on four rail gauges and services are operated by a variety of private and public operators. The total route length in 2012 was 16,026 km (10,182 km electrified).[2]

Most railways are operated by Renfe Operadora; metre and narrow-gauge lines are operated by FEVE and other carriers in individual autonomous communities. It is proposed and planned to build or convert more lines to standard gauge,[3] including some dual gauging of broad-gauge lines, especially where these lines link to France, including platforms to be heightened.

Spain is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Spain is 71.

History[]

Main article: History of rail transport in Spain

The first railway line in the Iberian Peninsula was built in 1848 between Barcelona and Mataró.[4] In 1851 the Madrid-Aranjuez line was opened. In 1852 the first narrow gauge line was built; in 1863 a line reached the Portuguese border. By 1864 the Madrid-Irun line had been opened, and the French border reached.[4]

In 1900 the first line to be electrified was La Poveda-Madrid.[5]

In 1941 RENFE was created.[4]

The last steam locomotive was withdrawn in 1975, in 1986 the maximum speed on the railways was raised to 160 km/h, and in 1992 the Madrid-Seville high-speed line opened,[4] beginning the process of building a nationwide high-speed network known as AVE (Alta Velocidad España).

The current plans of the Spanish government are to finish the standard-gauge high-speed network by building new sections of track and upgrading and converting to standard gauge the existing line along the Mediterranean coast connecting the ports of Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, Cartagena and Almería, and to link Madrid with Vigo, Santiago and A Coruña in Galicia, and to extend the Madrid-Valladolid line to Burgos and the Basque cities of Bilbao and San Sebastian and Hendaye on the French border, as well as to link Madrid with Lisbon and the port of Sines through Badajoz. Former plans by the Popular Party government under PM Aznar to link all provincial capitals with high-speed rail have been shelved as unrealistic, unaffordable, and contrary to all economic logic as no European funding would be made available for such projects.

Following the opening of the AVE network, the classic Iberian gauge railways have lost importance in inter-city travel, for example, the Madrid–Barcelona railway takes over nine hours to travel between the two cities stopping at every station. With the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line, the longest possible journey is just three hours.[6] This has allowed the conventional lines to increase focus on regional and commuter traffic, along with freight. Some lines, including the Córdoba-Bobadilla section of the classic Córdoba–Málaga railway, have lost passenger traffic completely due to the opening of AVE serving the same destinations.

Many important mainland Spanish towns remain disconnected to the rail network, the largest being Marbella with a population of over 140,000, along with Roquetas de Mar (pop. 96,800), El Ejido (pop. 84,000), Chiclana de la Frontera (pop. 83,000) and Torrevieja (pop. 82,000). Other towns and municipalities are not on the national rail network but linked to light rail or metro systems, such as Santa Coloma de Gramanet, Barcelona (pop. 118,000); Getxo, Biscay (pop. 80,000); Torrent, Valencia (pop. 79,000); and Benidorm, Alicante (pop. 69,000).

Starting in Franco's regime and continuing into the 1980s, multiple lines of the Spanish rail network were closed. Campaigns for reopening former lines exist, including a reopening the branch to the aforementioned Torrevieja from the Alicante–Murcia main line;[7] the former line from Guadix to Lorca via Baza[8] (which would provide a direct rail link from Murcia to Granada); Plasencia to Salamanca[9] and Gandía to Dénia.[10]

Operators[]

  • Renfe Operadora is a state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in) "Iberian gauge", 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge rail networks of the Spanish nationalized infrastructure company ADIF (Spanish: Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias). Both were formed from the break-up of the former national carrier RENFE (Spanish: Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles, "Spanish National Railway Network") and subsequently of FEVE (Spanish: Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha, "Narrow-Gauge Spanish Railways").

    • Zamora station

    • Toledo station

    • Atocha station, Madrid

    • Estació del Nord, Valencia

    • Lleida-Pirineus station

    • EuskoTren (Basque: Eusko Trenbideak, Spanish: Ferrocarriles Vascos, "Basque Railways") operates trains on part of the narrow gauge railway network in the Basque Country.
    • FGC (Catalan: Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, "Catalan Government Railways") operates several unconnected lines in Catalonia. It operates 140 km (87 mi) of narrow gauge, 42 km (26 mi) of standard gauge, and 89 km (55 mi) of Iberian gauge routes, two metre gauge rack railways and four funicular railways.
    • FGV (Valencian: Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana, "Valencian Government Railways") operates several metre gauge lines in the Valencian Community.
    • FS (Catalan: Ferrocarril de Sóller, "Sóller Railways") operates an electrified 914 mm (3 ft) narrow gauge railway on the Spanish island of Majorca between the towns of Palma and Sóller.
    • SFM (Catalan: Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca, "Majorcan Railway Servicies") operates the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge railway network on the Spanish island of Majorca.
    • , a subsidiary of Acciona, operates a coal cargo line between Asturias and the province of León.
    • COMSA Rail Transport, a subsidiary of COMSA, operates a cargo line from the Port of Gijón to Valladolid.
    • is dedicated to bringing materials into the gorges of the high-speed lines in progress.

    Lines[]

    Conventional Iberian gauge lines[]

    High-speed standard gauge lines[]

    Operational[]

    Under construction[]

    Narrow gauge lines[]

    See also: Narrow gauge railways in Spain

    In Spain there is an extensive 1,250 km (780 mi) system of metre gauge railways.

    Metro/light rail systems[]

    Bilbao metro.

    Rail links with adjacent countries[]

    • France – break-of-gauge 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in)/1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) (new high-speed line links without any break-of-gauge)
    • Portugal – same gauge
    • Gibraltar (UK) – no current rail system in Gibraltar, although accessible via buses from La Línea to San Roque station.
    • Morocco – no access to mainland (proposed undersea tunnel)

    Andorra has no rail system

    Subsidies[]

    In 2004, the Spanish government adopted a new strategic plan for transportation through 2020 called the PEIT (Strategic Plan for Infrastructures and Transport). This detailed rail subsidies of around €9.3 billion annually on average from 2005-2020. In 2010, it rolled out a two-year plan to invest an extra €11 billion each year for two years, as a part of a financial stimulus in response to the global downturn.[11] In 2015, the federal budget for the railways was €5.1 billion.[12]

    See also[]

    References[]

    1. ^ "Los usuarios de avión suben un 6,4% en 2019 y los del AVE aumentan un 4,9%". El País (in Spanish). 11 February 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
    2. ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Spain
    3. ^ Verkehrsrundschau, 2007-04-30
    4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Significant events in the history of Spanish infrastructures and railways Archived 2009-09-04 at the Wayback Machine www.fomento.es. See also www.biada.com
    5. ^ Ferrotransmadrid Archived 2013-10-12 at the Wayback Machine
    6. ^ "Horarios PDF - Renfe.com". Renfe. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
    7. ^ "The wait goes on for the Torrevieja Railway". www.theleader.info. 15 May 2019.
    8. ^ "Concentración en Baza para pedir el tren entre Andalucía y Murcia y combatir la España vaciada". Granada Hoy (in Spanish). 31 December 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
    9. ^ "La Junta de Extremadura reclama ahora reabrir la línea ferroviaria sin vías de Plasencia a Salamanca". La Gaceta de Salamanca. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
    10. ^ "Todo el PP de la Marina Alta pacta una estación para el tren Dénia-Gandia que esté en La Xara". La Marina Plaza (in Spanish). 12 March 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
    11. ^ "Global Competitiveness in the Rail and Transit Industry p. 20-21" (PDF).
    12. ^ "Spanish railways battle profit loss with more investment". 17 September 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2016.

    http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2012/feb/03/thomas-sowell-getting-nowhere-but-very-fast-in/?preventMobileRedirect=1 http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell013112.php3

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