Red Nacional De Los Ferrocarriles Españoles

Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (RENFE) was a Spanish state-owned company that operated the national Iberian-gauge railway network between 1941 and 2005. For more than six decades and as a monopoly, it was exclusively responsible for the transport of passengers and goods on its lines, as well as for the management of its infrastructure.

It was founded in Spain at the beginning of 1941, after the end of the Spanish Civil War, and existed for almost 64 years until its dissolution on December 31, 2004. In compliance with European rail transport regulations, RENFE was divided into two new entities: Adif, the largest managing entity of Spanish railway infrastructures, and Renfe-Operadora, the company that took over the operation of the publicly owned railroads. Subsequently, as of 2013, the same would happen with FEVE, the counterpart state-owned company in charge of the narrow-gauge railway network.

History

Background

The foundation of RENFE took place in the context of the Spanish Civil War, with a large part of the Spanish railway network severely damaged during the war. However, the question of the nationalization of the railroads was already a long-standing one, as Francesc Cambó, during his ministerial period, had already advocated this idea due to the poor performance of the private railway companies, which maintained an outdated rolling stock and sometimes even a railway line in poor condition. With the outbreak of the civil war on July 18, 1936, the railway companies were seized by the state in the State Decree of August 3, 1936. Although in the "uprising" or "nationalist" zone the railroads continued their independent existence, the actual control was exercised by the military and not by the Boards of Directors. After the war, thousands of kilometers of railway lines were unusable, and 40% of the rolling stock was destroyed and the rest was in need of repair. Faced with this situation, the new Francoist state in 1939 managed the railway companies that were unable to carry out their work, prior to the creation of RENFE in 1941.

1941-1959

On January 24, 1941, the Government approved the ''Ley de Bases de Ordenación Ferroviaria y de los Transportes por Carretera'' by which all the Iberian-gauge companies operating in Spain were reunited in a single state company, the ''Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles'', RENFE. Among the most important nationalized companies were the ''Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de'' ''España'' (1858-1941), the ''Compañía del Ferrocarril de Madrid a Zaragoza y Alicante'' (1856-1941) and the '' Compañía Nacional de los Ferrocarriles del Oeste'' (1928-1941). The '' Compañía de los Ferrocarriles Andaluces'', due to its dismal economic results, had already passed under State control in 1936, through its integration into the ''Compañía de los Ferrocarriles del Oeste''. The next step taken by the state was the difficult task of calculating the amount of compensation to be received by the former companies. At the head of the priority of the collection of the ransoms paid by the State (which would end up being quite high) were the bondholders, followed by the shareholders and, lastly, in the event that there was something left to be distributed, the participating companies. Thus, RENFE became for almost 64 years the dominant company in Spanish railroads.

At the time of its creation, RENFE had 12,401 km of track as well as a varied and already outdated rolling stock from the old companies. In the first years of its existence it had to respond to shortages of all kinds and the pressing need to reconstruct the damage caused by the recent Civil War, a difficult task due to the scarcity of economic resources. The lack of spare parts and wear and tear of the material was the cause of many serious accidents, such as the one that took place in Torre del Bierzo in January 1944, the most serious in the history of Spain. In 1949 the ''General Plan for Reconstruction and Urgent Reforms'' (known at the time as the ''Guadalhorce Plan'') was approved with the aim of solving the most important needs. Among other things, it foresaw 5,000 million pesetas for the renovation of the network and the development of an extensive program. The Plan also included the renewal of material: the acquisition of 200 locomotives, 5000 wagons and 400 passenger cars was foreseen to complete the initial orders since 1941.

In the fifties, the results of the Guadalhorce Plan began to be seen and to recover, in part, the pre-war situation, but Spain was an impoverished country and the improvements and beginnings of modernization were very timid. In spite of everything, some steps were taken that would be the timid symbol of the intended reforms. In the same year, 1950, the first commercial Talgo services between Madrid and Hendaye

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