Rail Transport in Spain - History

History

The first railway line in Iberia was built in 1848 between Barcelona and MatarĂ³ 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The last steam locomotive was withdrawn in 1975, in 1986 the maximum speed on the railways was raised to 160 km/h, and in 1992 the Madrid-Seville high speed line opened, beginning the process of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.

The current plans of the Spanish government plans to link all the provincial capitals with high speed rail, with a total estimated length of over 9000 km of high-speed railways for 2020.

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