Narrow-gauge railways in Spain

Electric unit 3500, operated by FEVE, arriving at Muros de Nalón station, on its way to Gijón

In Spain there is an extensive 1,250 km (780 mi) system of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 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]

  1. ^ "Heads roll in- Spain over trains too wide for tunnels". Stuff/Fairfax. 2023.