page_title: Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya / History
context_page_description: Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, or FGC, is a railway company which operates several unconnected lines in Catalonia, Spain.
  The lines operated include metro and commuter lines in and around the city of Barcelona, tourist mountain railways, and rural railway lines. They include 3.5 kilometres of 600 mm gauge route, 140 kilometres of 1,000 mm metre gauge route, 42 kilometres of 1,435 mm standard gauge route, and 89 kilometres of broad gauge route, making the FGC one of the few railway companies to operate on four different gauges.
  Whilst most lines are conventional adhesion railways, the FGC also operates two rack railways and four funicular railways.
  In 2018, the network carried 87.2 million passengers.
context_section_description: FGC was founded on September 5, 1979 to manage lines whose ownership was transferred from the state-owned FEVE to the Generalitat of Catalonia in 1978 as part of the process of regional devolution under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. Its oldest line, the standard gauge Línia Barcelona-Vallès however dates back to 1863 which was built and operated by Companyia del Ferrocarril de Barcelona a Sarrià from 1863 until 1874, and Ferrocarril de Sarrià a Barcelona (FSB) (with Ferrocarrils de Catalunya (FCC)) from 1874 until financial difficulties forced FSB and FCC to be acquired by FEVE in 1977, which operated it until FGC took over the line in 1979. The second oldest line the Llobregat–Anoia line was opened in 1892 as an interurban tram using metre gauge tracks, which was taken over by the Companyia General dels Ferrocarrils Catalans (CGFC) in 1912 and transformed it into a train line; CGFC being later taken over by FSB and FCC, followed by the broad gauge Lleida – La Pobla de Segur line in 1951 and operated by RENFE until it was transferred to FGC in 2005-2010.
caption: Ticket vending machines
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