Rail transport in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

operates on four

rail gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many ...

s 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). Most railways are operated by Renfe Operadora; metre and narrow-gauge lines are operated by

FEVE Renfe Feve is a division of state-owned Spanish railway company Renfe Operadora. It operates most of Spain's of railway. This division of Renfe was previously a stand-alone company named FEVE (Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha,Law 11/1965 of ...

and other carriers in individual autonomous communities. It is proposed and planned to build or

convert Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

more lines to standard gauge, 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 The International Union of Railways (UIC, french: Union internationale des chemins de fer) is an international rail transport industry body. History The railways of Europe originated as many separate concerns, and there were many border chang ...

(UIC). The UIC Country Code for Spain is 71.

History

The first railway line in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

was built in 1848 between

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the ''comarca'' of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia Autonomous Community, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and ...

.Significant events in the history of Spanish infrastructures and railways
''www.fomento.es''. See also ''www.biada.com'' In 1851 the

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Aranjuez Aranjuez () is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the Community of Madrid. Located in the southern end of the region, the main urban nucleus lies on the left bank of Tagus, a bit upstream the discharge of the Jarama. , the municipality h ...

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. In 1900 the first line to be electrified was La Poveda-Madrid. After the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

, the Spanish railway system was in a state of disrepair due to the damage caused by the conflict. In 1941 RENFE was created by nationalizing the private companies that built and operated the network until then, leading to a state-owned rail network. By the 1950s, the Spanish rail network reached its historical maximum of almost 19,000 kilometers. However, from the mid-1950s onward, the network began to shrink due to the exponential increase in private vehicle ownership in Spain. During the

Spanish economic miracle The Spanish miracle ( es, el milagro español) refers to a period of exceptionally rapid development and growth across all major areas of economic activity in Spain during the latter part of the Francoist regime, from 1959 to 1974, in which G ...

of the 1950s and 1960s, the number of private vehicles in Spain increased more than 14 times from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. This led to a decline in demand for rail transport and the closure of some rail lines that were no longer profitable. By 1993, almost 8,000 km of rail lines were dismantled. 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, 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 Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line is a standard gauge railway line inaugurated on 20 February 2008. Designed for speeds of and compatibility with neighbouring countries' rail systems, it connects the cities of Madrid and Barcelona i ...

, the longest possible journey is just three hours. 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 Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the reg ...

with a population of over 140,000, along with Roquetas de Mar (pop. 96,800),

El Ejido El Ejido () is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It is located 32 km from Almería with a surface area of 227 km2, and as reported in 2014 had 84,144 inhabitants. El Ejido is the centre of pro ...

(pop. 84,000), Chiclana de la Frontera (pop. 83,000) and

Torrevieja Torrevieja (; ca-valencia, Torrevella ) is a seaside city and municipality located on the Costa Blanca in the province of Alicante, in the southern part of the Valencian Community, on the southeastern Mediterranean coast of Spain. Torrevi ...

(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 Santa Coloma de Gramenet () informally simply known as Santa Coloma (in Spanish: Santa Coloma de Gramanet, historically also known as ''Gramenet de Besòs'') is a municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the south-east side of the ...

(pop. 118,000);

Getxo Getxo () is a town located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in Spain. It is part of Greater Bilbao, and has 77,946 inhabitants (2019). Getxo is mostly an affluent residential area, as well as being th ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. ...

(pop. 80,000);

Torrent Torrent or torrents may refer to: * A fast flowing stream Animals * Torrent duck, a species of the family Anatidae * Torrent fish * Torrent frog, various unrelated frogs * Torrent robin, a bird species * Torrent salamander, a family of sa ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

(pop. 79,000); and

Benidorm Benidorm is a town and municipality in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Benidorm has been a tourist destination within Spain since 1925, when its port was extended and the first hotel ...

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in ...

(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; the former line from

Guadix Guadix (; Local pronunciation: aˈðih is a city and municipality in southern Spain, in the province of Granada. The city lies at an altitude of 913 metres, on the centre of the Hoya of Guadix, a high plain at the northern foothills of the Sierr ...

to Lorca via Baza (which would provide a direct rail link from

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

);

Plasencia Plasencia () is a walled market city in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Western Spain. , it has a population of 41,047. Situated on the bank of the Jerte River, Plasencia has a historic quarter that is a consequence of the city's stra ...

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Herit ...

and

Gandía Gandia ( es, Gandía) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, eastern Spain on the Mediterranean. Gandia is located on the Costa del Azahar (or ''Costa dels Tarongers''), south of Valencia and north of Alicante. Vehicles can acc ...

Dénia Dénia ( es, Denia) is a historical coastal city in the province of Alicante, Spain, on the Costa Blanca halfway between Alicante and Valencia, and the capital and judicial seat of the ''comarca'' of Marina Alta. Denia's historical heritage ...

. Since 2007 the operation of freight lines was liberalized and has been open to private operators. RENFE was split in two companies ( RENFE Operadora, public company that operates freight and passenger lines, and ADIF, a public company that manages the infrastructure for all public and private operators). In 2020, long-distance passenger lines were likewise opened to private operators.

Ouigo España Ouigo España is an open-access operator, that operates high-speed services between Madrid and Barcelona in Spain. It is a subsidiary of SNCF, the French national railway company, and uses its trademark Ouigo. History The company was founded o ...

began service on the Madrid–Barcelona route in 2021, joined by

Iryo Iryo is a brand of Intermodalidad de Levante S.A., a private high-speed rail operator in Spain. The company is jointly owned by Trenitalia, Air Nostrum, and the infrastructure investment fund Globalvia. Trains began operating on the Madrid–Bar ...

in 2022. From 1 September to 31 December 2022 Spain has made free train tickets available under certain conditions. A €10 to €20 deposit must be placed and the scheme is only available on multi-trip tickets or season tickets, rather than singles. 16 or more train journeys must be made between the aforementioned dates in order to receive a full refund. The full refund is available on commuter journeys and medium-distance journeys of under 300 km (186 miles). The initiative is being funded via a

windfall tax A windfall tax is a higher tax rate on profits that ensue from a sudden windfall gain to a particular company or industry. There have been windfall taxes in various countries across the world, including Mongolia, Australia, and on wind power i ...

on banks and energy companies that have made profits from interest rates and energy prices. The tax will be introduced in 2023 and is estimated to raise up to €7 billion in two years. Money raised from the tax will also be used to build 12,000 new homes and fund youth scholarship programmes.

Operators

* Renfe Operadora is a

state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public owne ...

company which operates freight and passenger trains on the "

Iberian gauge Iberian gauge ( es, ancho ibérico, trocha ibérica, pt, bitola ibérica) is a track gauge of , most extensively used by the railways of Spain and Portugal. This is the second-widest gauge in regular use anywhere in the world. The Indian gauge, ...

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...

and rail networks of the Spanish nationalized infrastructure company ADIF ( es, 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

( es, Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha, "Narrow-Gauge Spanish Railways"). File:Train station, Zamora (Spain).jpg, Zamora station File:Toledo railwaystation 01.jpg, Toledo station File:Atocha Station, Madrid.jpg, Atocha station, Madrid File:Valencia dworzec.jpg, Estació del Nord, Valencia File:Estacio Lleida-Pirineus.jpg, Lleida-Pirineus station *

is a subsidiary of the French company

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic ...

that operates long range passenger trains in high-speed lines. *

is the brand of ILSA, a Spanish-Italian company formed by

Air Nostrum Air Nostrum, legally incorporated as ''Air Nostrum Líneas Aéreas del Mediterráneo, S.A.'', is a Spanish regional airline based in Valencia. It currently operates as a franchisee of Iberia as Iberia Regional and an affiliate member of the On ...

and

Trenitalia Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government, the company was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulation of rail transp ...

that also operates long range passenger trains in high-speed lines. Both Renfe, OUIGO and Iryo compete on several hight-speed lines owned by ADIF after the liberalization of long-range passenger rail transport. *

Euskotren Euskotren, formally known as Basque Railways ( eu, Eusko Trenbideak, es, Ferrocarriles Vascos), is a public railway company controlled by the Basque Government and officially established in 1982 to operate several narrow gauge railways insid ...

( eu, Eusko Trenbideak, Spanish: ''Ferrocarriles Vascos'', "Basque Railways") operates trains on part of the narrow gauge railway network in the Basque Country. * FGC ( ca, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, "Catalan Government Railways") operates several unconnected lines in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

. It operates of

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

, of

, and of

routes, two metre gauge

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with th ...

s and four funicular railways. * FGV ( ca-valencia, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana, "Valencian Government Railways") operates several metre gauge lines in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wi ...

. * FS (Catalan: ''Ferrocarril de Sóller'', " Sóller Railways") operates an

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

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 metre gauge

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

network on the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

island of Majorca. * Acciona Rail Services, a subsidiary of Acciona, operates a coal cargo line between

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensiv ...

and the

province of León León (, , ; ; ) is a province of northwestern Spain in the northern part of the Region of León and in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. About one quarter of its population of 463,746 (2018) lives in the ca ...

. *

COMSA Rail Transport COMSA Corporación is a Spanish global group focused on infrastructure development, industrial engineering and services, whose main business historically has been railway infrastructure work. History Comsa The groups beginnings can be trac ...

, a subsidiary of

COMSA COMSA Corporación is a Spanish global group focused on infrastructure development, industrial engineering and services, whose main business historically has been railway infrastructure work. History Comsa The groups beginnings can be trac ...

, operates a cargo line from the Port of

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the cent ...

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

. * Continental Rail is dedicated to bringing materials into the gorges of the high-speed lines in progress.

Lines

Conventional Iberian gauge lines

Alcázar de San Juan–Cádiz railway The Alcázar de San Juan–Cádiz railway is an important Iberian-gauge railway line in Spain. It branches from the Madrid–Valencia railway at Alcázar de San Juan and terminates in Cádiz. It was once the only line linking Madrid to Seville, b ...

* Algeciras-Bobadilla railway *

Barcelona–Cerbère railway The Barcelona–Cerbère railway is a railway line linking Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain to Cerbère in France. History It was built between 1858 and 1878 and electrified between 1981 and 1982 . Gallery File:Estació de França Barcelona Catalo ...

* Casetas–Bilbao railway * Chinchilla–Cartagena railway * Córdoba–Málaga railway *

León–A Coruña railway The León–A Coruña railway is an Iberian-gauge railway in Spain, providing the main route from Madrid to Galicia. The Adif designation for the line is Line 800. Route The line runs through the provinces of León, Ourense, Lugo and A Coru ...

Linares Baeza–Almería railway The Linares Baeza–Almería railway is an Iberian-gauge railway line in Spain. It branches from the Alcázar de San Juan–Cádiz railway at Linares and terminates in Almería. It is currently the main line linking Madrid to Almería. Route The ...

* Madrid–Barcelona railway * Madrid−Aranda−Burgos (mostly non-operational) *

Madrid–Hendaye railway The Madrid–Hendaye railway, also known as the Madrid-Irún railway, General del Norte Line or Imperial Line, is a 641.6 km railway line linking the Spanish capital of Madrid with the French border at Irún and Hendaye, serving important northe ...

Madrid–Valencia railway The Madrid–Valencia railway is the conventional railway line linking the Spanish capital Madrid with the country's third largest city of Valencia in the Valencian Community. It now primarily serves local commuter rail services and regional tr ...

* Madrid−Valencia de Alcántara railway *

Valencia−Sant Vicenç de Calders railway The Valencia–Sant Vicenç de Calders railway, also known as the Valencia–Tarragona railway is a railway line in Spain, beginning at Valencia Nord and ending at Sant Vicenç de Calders. Route The line links Valencia to Tarragona and onward to ...

Venta de Baños–Gijón railway The Venta de Baños–Gijón railway is a Spanish railway linking Gijón, Asturias to the rest of the mainline Spanish rail network. Route The line branches from the Madrid–Hendaye railway at Venta de Baños, and serves Palencia, León and Ov ...

* Huelva–Seville railway

High-speed standard gauge lines

Operational

Antequera–Granada high-speed rail line The Antequera–Granada high-speed rail line opened in 2019, linking the Spanish city of Granada to the AVE network via a branch from the existing Madrid–Málaga high-speed rail line at Antequera. Background The line from Antequera to Granad ...

Atlantic Axis high-speed rail line The Atlantic Axis high-speed rail line, also called Atlantic Corridor high-speed rail line, is a high-speed railway line that links A Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, Pontevedra and Vigo in Spain. The Atlantic Axis was inaugurated in April 2015. ...

Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line The Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed line is an international high-speed rail line between France and Spain. The line consists of a railway, of which 24.6 km are in France and 150.8 km are in Spain. It crosses the French–Spanish bord ...

(Figueres-Barcelona section) *

Madrid–León high-speed rail line The Madrid–León high-speed rail line (Spanish language: ''Línea de Alta Velocidad Madrid - León'') was inaugurated on 29 September 2015. The line is built to standard gauge and gauge changers are provided at strategic points to allow inte ...

* Madrid–Levante high-speed rail line (Madrid–Valencia, Madrid–Alicante) *

Madrid–Málaga high-speed rail line The Madrid–Málaga high-speed rail line is a standard gauge High-speed rail line of in length that links the city of Madrid with the city of Málaga in Spain. The line was inaugurated on 24 December 2007. At the time the service opened, Re ...

Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line The Madrid–Sevilla high-speed line (NAFA or ''Nuevo Acceso Ferroviario a Andalucía'') is a Spanish railway line for high-speed traffic between Madrid and Seville. The first Spanish high-speed rail connection has been in use since 21 April 19 ...

Madrid–Galicia high-speed rail line The Madrid–Galicia high-speed rail line is a high-speed railway line in Spain that links the city of Madrid with the region of Galicia via the cities of Olmedo, Zamora, Ourense and Santiago de Compostela. The line also connects the Atlant ...

Under construction

Basque Y Basque Y is the high-speed rail network being built between the three cities of the Basque Autonomous Community, in Spain; Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Donostia-San Sebastián. Route It will transport cargo and passengers. The cargo trains ...

Murcia–Almería high-speed rail line The Murcia–Almería high-speed rail line is an under-construction railway in the Region of Murcia and Andalusia in Spain. History Murcia and Almería were once linked by rail from Lorca, Spain, Lorca to Guadix via Baza, Granada, Baza, however t ...

Narrow gauge lines

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

Metro/light rail systems

( Alicante Tram) *

(

Barcelona Metro The Barcelona Metro (Catalan and Spanish: ) is an extensive network of rapid transit electrified railway lines that run mostly underground in central Barcelona and into the city's suburbs. It is part of the larger public transport s ...

Tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

) *

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

(

Bilbao Metro The Bilbao metro ( es, Metro de Bilbao, eu, Bilboko metroa) is a rapid transit system serving the city of Bilbao and the region of Greater Bilbao. Lines 1 and 2 have a "Y" shape, as they transit both banks of the river Ibaizabal and then comb ...

) *

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

(

Cádiz Bay tram-train The Cádiz Bay tram-train is a tram-train/ light rail system in the Spanish city of Cádiz and the surrounding area. The system opened in October 26, 2022. Background The new tram-train line has been described by the European Commission as be ...

) *

( Granada Metro). * Jaén (

Jaén Tram The Jaén Tramway (Spanish: ''Tranvía de Jaén'') is a tramway system constructed in the city of Jaén, Spain (Andalusia), which was built in 2009–2011 but operated only very briefly for passenger service, never opened for full regular service ...

) built in 2011 but without service for political reasons. *

( Madrid Metro) * Málaga (

Málaga Metro The Málaga Metro ( es, Metro de Málaga) is a semi-metro network in Málaga, Spain. It was proposed during the 1990s to ease the crippling congestion when the Ministry of Public Works and Transport commissioned a study in 2001 into the feasibi ...

) *

( Murcia tram) * Palma (

Palma Metro The Palma Metro ( ca, Metro de Palma, es, Metro de Palma []) is a Medium-capacity rail transport system, light metro system in Palma, Majorca, Spain. The initial line of the system, M1, is long and has nine stations. It was constructed between ...

) *

Parla Parla () is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain. It is located in the southern part of the region, approximately 20 km from the capital, Madrid. History Origins Earliest evidence of human occupation includes stone tools m ...

( Parla Tram) * Santa Cruz de Tenerife ( Tenerife Tram) * San Sebastian ( San Sebastián Metro) *

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

(

Seville Metro The Seville Metro ( es, Metro de Sevilla) is an light metro network serving the city of Seville, Spain and its metropolitan area. The system is totally independent of any other rail or street traffic. All 22 stations were built with platform s ...

) *

( Metrovalencia) *

Vélez-Málaga Vélez-Málaga () is a municipality and the capital of the Axarquía comarca in the province of Málaga, in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the most important city in the comarca. Locally it is referred to as Vélez. Vélez ...

( Vélez-Málaga Tram) opened in 2006, closed 2012 *

Vitoria-Gasteiz Vitoria-Gasteiz (; ), also alternatively spelled as Vittoria in old English-language sources, is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country and of the province of Álava in northern Spain. It holds the autonomous community' ...

( Vitoria-Gasteiz tram) *

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

( Zaragoza Tram)

Rail links with adjacent countries

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

–

break-of-gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...

/ (new high-speed line links without any break-of-gauge) *

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

– same gauge Andorra has no rail system (the closest station to Andorra is the French station of

Andorre-L'Hospitalet station Andorre-L'Hospitalet (before 2008: ''L'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre'') is a railway station in L'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre, Occitanie, France. The station is on the Portet-Saint-Simon–Puigcerdà railway and was opened on 22 July 1929. The stati ...

). The British overseas territory of Gibraltar has no rail system either. The Moroccan rail network is not connected neither to the Iberian Peninsula (although an undersea tunnel has been proposed) neither to the Spanish autonomous cities of Melilla and

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...

(respectively closest to the Moroccan stations of Beni Ansar and

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

-Med).

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 Many countries offer subsidies to their railways because of the social and economic benefits that it brings. The economic benefits can greatly assist in funding the rail network. Those countries usually also fund or subsidize road construction, an ...

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. In 2015, the federal budget for the railways was €5.1 billion.

References

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