Spanish railways
date from 1848. The total route length in 2017 was 15,333 km, of which 9,699 km were electrified. Four different
track gauges are used in Spain. •
Iberian gauge (): 11,333 km (6,538 km electrified at 3 kV DC) •
Standard gauge (): 2,571 km (all electrified at
25 kV AC) •
Metric gauge (): 1,207 km (400 km electrified at 1.5 kV DC) •
Narrow gauge (): 28 km (all electrified) Most railways are operated by
Renfe; some
narrow gauge lines are operated by other carriers in individual
autonomous communities and high-speed standard gauge lines are also operated by Ouigo and Iryo. It is proposed to build or convert more
standard gauge lines, including some dual gauging of
broad gauge lines, especially where these lines link to adjacent countries. A high-speed rail line (
AVE) between
Madrid and
Seville was completed in 1992. In 2003, high-speed service was inaugurated on a new line from
Madrid to
Lleida and extended to
Barcelona in 2008. The same year, lines from
Madrid to
Valladolid and from
Córdoba to
Málaga were inaugurated. In 2010, AVE line
Madrid-
Cuenca-
Valencia was inaugurated.
Cities with metro/light rail systems •
Alicante -
Alicante Tram •
Barcelona -
Barcelona Metro and
Tram •
Bilbao -
Bilbao Metro and
Bilbao tram (
Euskotren Tranbia) •
Castellon -
Trolleybus •
A Coruña -
under construction •
Granada -
Granada Metro •
Jaén -
Jaén Tram -
completed but not operated •
León -
León tram -
completed but not operated •
Madrid -
Madrid Metro •
Málaga -
Málaga Metro •
Murcia -
Murcia tram •
Palma -
Palma Metro •
Parla -
Parla Tram •
Santa Cruz de Tenerife -
Tenerife Tram •
Seville -
Seville Metro and
MetroCentro •
Valencia -
Metrovalencia •
Vélez-Málaga -
Vélez-Málaga Tram -
ceased operations •
Vitoria-Gasteiz -
Vitoria-Gasteiz tram (
Euskotren Tranbia) •
Zaragoza -
Zaragoza Tram Railway links with adjacent countries •
Andorra – no (Andorra has no railways) •
France – yes –
break-of-gauge ()/()/() (new high-speed line without any break-of-gauge) •
Portugal – yes, same gauge •
Morocco – no – proposed undersea tunnel.
break-of-gauge ()/() •
Gibraltar – no (Gibraltar has no railways)
Tunnel across the Strait of Gibraltar . In December 2003, Morocco and Spain agreed to explore the construction of an undersea rail tunnel across the
Strait of Gibraltar, to connect their rail systems.
High-speed rail Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) is a
high-speed rail service in Spain operated by
Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to 330 km/h (205 mph). The name is literally translated from Spanish "Alta Velocidad Española" (Spanish High Speed), but its initials are also a play on the word
ave, meaning "bird". , the Spanish high-speed rail network is the longest HSR network in Europe with and the
second longest in the world, after China's. AVE trains run on a network of dedicated high-speed rail track owned and managed by
Adif. The first line was opened in 1992, connecting the cities of Madrid, Córdoba, and Seville. Unlike the rest of the Spanish broad-gauge network, the AVE uses standard gauge tracks, permitting direct connections outside Spain. Some TGV-derived trains do run on the broad-gauge network at slower speeds, and these are branded separately as Euromed. On the line from Madrid to Seville, the service guarantees arrival within five minutes of the advertised time, and offers a full refund if the train is delayed further, although only 0.16% of trains have been so. In this regard, the punctuality of the AVE is exceptional compared to other non-long-distance Renfe services. On other AVE lines, this punctuality promise is more lax (15 minutes on the Barcelona line). A possible reason for this is that AVE services slow down to 200 km/h for the Sierra Morena section of the journey because of the tight curves and 250 km/h for the Córdoba-Seville section, possibly on account of medium-speed services running on the line, meaning that they have an easy means of recovering lost time if held up earlier in the journey. In 2020, access to the Spanish high-speed network was liberalised, and the AVE has since been joined by private competitors
Ouigo España and
Iryo. The AVE connects the following cities: • Madrid – Valencia • Barcelona – Madrid • Seville – Madrid • Ciudad Real – Madrid • Tarragona – Madrid • Valladolid – Madrid • Madrid – Toledo • Madrid – Cordoba • Madrid – Murcia Since the high-speed route between Barcelona to Madrid was launched in 2008, 75% of travelers now choose the train over the airplane, with flight passengers accounting for 25% of travelers. ==Road system==