page_title: History of rail transport in Spain
section_title: Kingdom of Spain
hierarchical_section_title: History of rail transport in Spain / Kingdom of Spain
caption_attribution_description: Talgo III in Irun railway station (Spain).
context_page_description: The history of rail transport in Spain begins in the 19th century. In 1848, a railway line between Barcelona and Mataró was inaugurated, although a line in Cuba connecting Havana and Bejucal had already opened in 1837. 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 1911 the first line to be electrified was the Gergal-Santa Fe line
  In 1941 RENFE was created.
  The last steam locomotive was withdrawn in 1975, in 1986 the maximum speed on the railways was raised to 160 km/h, and in 1992 the Madrid Seville high speed line opened, beginning the process of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.
context_section_description: Following the decentralization of Spain after 1978, those narrow gauge lines which did not cross the limits of autonomous communities of Spain were taken out of the control of FEVE and transferred to the regional governments, which formed, amongst others, Eusko Trenbideak and Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Madrid (Madrid Metro), Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao (Metro Bilbao) all have autonomous metro services.
  In 1986/7, many radial routes were closed: thousands of kilometres of passenger lines were axed.
  The Railway Sector Act of 2003 separated the management, maintenance and construction of rail infrastructure from train operation. The former is now the responsibility of a new public company, Administrador de Infrestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), while Renfe (full name: Renfe Operadora) owns the rolling stock and remains responsible for the planning, marketing and operation of passenger and freight services (though no longer with a legal monopoly).
  Spanish railways have been a target of sabotage and attacks by ETA, and once in the March 11, 2004 Madrid attacks by Islamist terrorists.
caption: Tail end of a Talgo III train, designed in the late 1960s
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