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Narrow gauge railways in Spain

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Narrow-gauge railways in Spain

In Spain there is an extensive 1,250 km (780 mi) system of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge railways. The majority of these railways was historically operated by FEVE, (Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha, Spanish narrow-gauge railways). Created in 1965 FEVE started absorbing numerous private-owned narrow-gauge railways. From 1978 onwards, with the introduction of regionalisation devolution under the new Spanish constitution, FEVE began transferring responsibility for a number of its operations to the new regional governments. On 31 December 2012 the company disappeared due to the merger of the narrow-gauge network FEVE and the broad-gauge network RENFE.

Contents

Northern Spain

In the north of the country, operated by RENFE and EuskoTren (Eusko Trenbideak, Basque Railways). At the centre of this system is a metre-gauge line which runs for 650 km (404 mi) along the entire length of Spain's north coast.

EuskoTren is the Basque regional government rail company. This company also owns several bus lines.

The Euskotren Tranbia in Bilbao is a network of tramway and light rail systems.

Metro Bilbao started in 1995 on EuskoTren track and has a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge. The Renfe metre-gauge network in Northern Spain and EuskoTren form the longest narrow-gauge network in Europe.

Andalusia

  • FC Granada a Sierra Nevada; 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge, 21.7 km (13.5 mi), 1925-1974

    • Castile–La Mancha

  • FC Valdepenas a Puertollano; 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge, 78 km (48 mi), 1924-1963

    • Catalonia

    Barcelona

  • FGC (Catalan regional government railways), Metro del Baix Llobregat, Llobregat–Anoia line
  • Funicular de Vallvidrera
  • Funicular del Tibidabo

    • Gelida

  • Funicular de Gelida

    • Girona

  • FC de Flassa a Palamos, Gerona y Banolas; 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge, 63 km (39 mi), 1892-1969
  • FC de San Feliu de Guixois a Gerona; 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge, 42 km (26 mi), 1887-1956

    • Montserrat

  • Funicular de Sant Joan
  • Funicular de la Santa Cova at Montserrat
  • Cremallera de Montserrat, a rack railway.

    • Northern Catalonia

  • Cremallera de Núria, a rack railway.
  • Ferrocarril Turístic de l'Alt Llobregat, a 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) gauge tourist line.

    • Valencian community

  • FGV (Valencian regional government railways) around the city of Valencia, as well as along the Costa Blanca from Alicante to Denia

    • Castellón

  • FC de Onda al Grao de Castellon y Villareal-Puerto de Burriana; 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge, 43 km (27 mi), 1888-1963

    • Madrid

  • Near Madrid, on the mountain range of Guadarrama runs a mountain train through a short but extremely sinuous track, operated by Renfe.

    • Majorca

  • SFM (Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca); 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
  • FS (Ferrocarril de Sóller) operates a 3 ft (914 mm) gauge electrified railway and connecting tramway, the Tranvía de Sóller.
  • Palma Metro; 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)

    • References

    Narrow-gauge railways in Spain Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA