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.
In 2023 transport officials in RENFE in Spain resigned when it was found that narrow-gauge passenger rolling-stock ordered in 2020 for the northern regions of Asturias and Cantabria would be too wide for the tunnels and were to be redesigned with delays of a year or two in delivery.[1]