The first steps and choosing the Iberian width

In this mid-century context, the emergence of capitalism and the beginning of industrialization occurred in Spain: the steel industry began in the south with a factory in Malaga; later, it will concentrate in the north. The benefits, both at a social and economic level, that the implementation of the railway had brought in countries such as France or the United Kingdom did not go unnoticed by Spanish leaders. In fact, once the first Carlist War (1833-1839) ended, news, chronicles and reports began to reach Spain that gave an account of the progress achieved as a result of the introduction of the railway in certain European countries, which contributed to the forging of a positive opinion regarding the implementation of the "iron roads" in Spain.[7]​.

The proposal to the Government, by a French engineer, of the construction of a railway line linking Madrid with the port of Cádiz represented a qualitative leap: the magnitude of the project presented exceeded what was previously formulated and done in the national territory in terms of railways, so a series of pressures arose that urged the Government to adopt clearer policies regarding this issue. In this way, Pedro José Pidal, who at that time held the portfolio of the Ministry of the Interior, entrusted the General Directorate of Roads to study the proposal for the Cádiz line, at the same time that he ordered the study of the technical problems, and also financing, that could arise.[7]​.

For this purpose, a commission was established, headed by Inspector General Juan Subercase Krets, as well as engineers José Subercase and Calixto de Santa Cruz. The Subercase Report, named in honor of the surname of the head of the commission, among other things suggested that the Spanish railway network have a track width equal to six Castilian feet, or what is the same, 1,672 mm.[8]​ The arguments given by the engineer for the implementation of what is now known as "ancient Iberian gauge" have been a matter of discussion. According to what can be read in the report itself, the engineers estimated that a greater width would allow greater steam production within the locomotives, which would result in higher speed.[9]​ In fact, the European tendency to create relatively wide tracks is mentioned, especially in Russia and England. Some authors link this concern to the steep orography of the Peninsula.[10]​[11]​ It has also been suggested that the background was the fear of facilitating invasions through the Pyrenees, given that the authors of the report came from Empordà and their family home was destroyed by French troops.[12]​.

The first General Plan was approved in 1851 by the moderate governments. In 1854 the Espartero-O'Donnell coalition government was formed, which convened Constituent Cortes and from which a new General Law of Iron Roads") of June 5, 1855 would emerge. It was in this law where the track width was definitively established at "one meter 67 centimeters (6 Castilian feet)."[13] The new legislation will be key to the development of the railways during the following years.

The era of big companies

Around 1856, the large railway companies began to be created in Spain and the construction of what would be the large railway lines of the time also began. Starting this year, construction of the Madrid-Hendaye railway will begin, which will connect the capital with France. Two years later, the Northern Spanish Iron Roads Company was founded, which would complete the construction of the railway to Irun. Since 1856, the Madrid to Zaragoza and Alicante Railway Company (MZA) also began its activity, directing its railway expansion from the capital to the Mediterranean, Zaragoza and Andalusia. While the Norte company was associated with the Pereire brothers and the Crédito Mobiliario Español, in the case of MZA it was linked to the Rothschild family and the Sociedad Española Mercantil e Industrial.[14]​ Until the time of the civil war, a good part of the Spanish railways will be mainly in the hands of French capital. But at this time the importance of Spanish businessmen is also no less important, especially the Marquis of Salamanca, who has contacts with European businessmen and will be a participant in numerous railway businesses.[15]​.

In the Levant, the businessman José Campo founded the Sociedad de los Ferrocarriles de Almansa a Valencia y Tarragona (AVT), a company that carried out the construction work of the Valencia-Tarragona line and which would be inaugurated in 1868. In Almansa an AVT line joined the MZA network, which went to Alicante. The Almansa-Valencia-Tarragona company would end up disappearing in 1891 after its absorption by Norte.

In Andalusia, several small companies undertook the construction of lines: the Córdoba to Seville Railway Company inaugurated in 1859 a route that linked both cities, dominating the route of the middle valley of the Guadalquivir River. Two years later, the construction of the line between Seville and Cádiz was completed, linking with its port. Córdoba would end up consolidating itself as an important railway junction where several routes converged: the Seville line, the MZA line from La Mancha, the line from Belmez and the Córdoba to Málaga Railway Company line. This last company would also undertake the construction of another route, the Bobadilla-Granada line, inaugurated in 1874. MZA managed to acquire the railway to Seville, in 1875, and a few years later expanded it to reach Huelva.[16]​.

At the beginning of 1866 the first financial crisis in the history of Spanish capitalism broke out. The trigger for this were the railway companies, which dragged banks and credit societies with them. Many investors had directed their capital towards railway companies whose shares experienced a great boom, thus fueling a speculative spiral. But when the lines began to be exploited, it was seen that the profit expectations that investors had were exaggerated - given the low level of development of the Spanish economy, there were few goods and few passengers to transport - and the value of the shares of the railway companies plummeted. due to the close connection that finance and railways had had throughout this era.[18]​ The Revolution of 1868 caused the exile of Queen Elizabeth II and marked the beginning of the revolutionary Sexennium, a period during which the railway crisis deepened even further with the bankruptcy and disappearance of numerous companies. MZA and will manage to resist the adversities of this time, and even formalize an agreement by which they establish the distribution of traffic, zones of influence, etc.[19]​ In fact, they will take advantage of the bankruptcy of small companies to expand their businesses and grow in size until they become the two largest railway companies in the country.[19]​.

narrow gauge railways

At the end of the century, the construction of narrow gauge railways began to spread, especially in the northern area and the Cantabrian mountain range. The reason why metric gauge is chosen for the construction of railway lines is often due to the mountainous terrain that prevails in these areas. Many of these are mining railways, although they are also dedicated to passenger and other freight traffic. The construction of this type of routes proliferated in the Andalusian region. The Peñarroya Mining and Metallurgical Society, with French capital, built a series of railway lines since the 1890s that sought to link its mining operations between the provinces of Badajoz, Córdoba "Province of Córdoba (Spain)") and Ciudad Real. This network ended up giving rise to the so-called railway from Peñarroya to Puertollano and Fuente del Arco. In the province of Huelva, British capital was behind the construction of several mining railways: Buitrón (1870), Tharsis (1871) or Riotinto (1875).

A line of great importance due to its length was the La Robla railway, which allowed the link between the mining basins of León and the industrial area of ​​Vizcaya. This route was built at forced marches and was inaugurated in 1904, currently constituting the longest narrow gauge railway in all of Europe. The Sociedad General de Ferrocarriles Vasco Asturiana is going to be another important railway company, whose railway was created with the objective of transporting coal from the Caudal mining basin to the port of San Esteban de Pravia, where it will be shipped to the Vizcayan steel industry. Other important routes in this area were the Santander-Bilbao railway, the Vascongado Railways, the Vasco-Navarre railway, the Astillero-Ontaneda railway or the Langreo railway, whose first section had already been inaugurated in 1852. Many of these railways continued their existence until the 1960s.

In the Levant and Catalonia, some small narrow gauge lines will also be built, more focused on the local and regional level: in the province of Alicante, the railways from Villena to Alcoy and Yecla, the Alcoy-Gandía railway and the Carcagente-Denia railway stand out, while in the Catalan region the Railway from San Feliu de Guíxols to Gerona will stand out.[21] The island of Mallorca will also reach the train, especially with the famous Sóller railway, inaugurated in 1912, and also the lines belonging to the Mallorca Railway Company. In Aragon, two routes will stand out: the Utrillas railway, which linked Zaragoza with the Utrillas Mining Basins; and the Ojos Negros railway, of an eminently mining nature, which reached the port of Sagunto.

Several metric gauge railways will also be built in Madrid and its province: the Madrid-Alomorox line and the Tajuña Railway. The latter was the most important and was mainly dedicated to the transportation of goods (especially from the Portland cement factory). Although it was originally intended to reach Aragonese lands to link the province of Teruel with the lines of the Central Railway of Aragon, the project ultimately did not prosper. Later in Old Castile, several local narrow gauge lines were also opened, such as the Valladolid-Medina de Rioseco Railway and the lines controlled by the Compañía de Ferrocarriles Secundarios de Castilla. This last company was created in 1932 and it did not take long to take over the Valladolid-Medina line from Rioseco, which by then was close to suspension of payments.

The emergence of trams and suburban railways

At the turn of the century, suburban railways arrived in cities, further complemented by the emergence of electric trams and even metropolitan railways. On the other hand, since the end of the century it has been taking place with the construction and proliferation of animal-drawn tram lines. The first city to introduce electric tram service was Bilbao, with the first electrified line in 1896. Madrid's trams began operating in 1871, while Barcelona's trams began operating in 1872. In the heat of Barcelona's industrial growth and development, several local and suburban railways were developed in Barcelona. In 1901, the Tibidabo Funicular and the Blue Tram were inaugurated, linking the urban center with Tibidabo. On December 30, 1924, the first Barcelona metro line was inaugurated, known as Gran Metro "Line 1 (Barcelona Metro)"), which ran between Lesseps and Plaza de Cataluña, with a length and 4 stations.[22] Catalonia was also a pioneer in the installation of "rack" trains, with the inauguration in 1892 of the Montserrat Rack Railway and in 1931 Nuria zipper.

The Madrid Metro began operating in 1919 with the inauguration of its first line "Line 1 (Madrid Metro)") between Puerta del Sol and Cuatro Caminos, with a length of 3.48 km and composed of 8 stations. The success of the new means of transport is such that in the first year it is used by more than 14 million users, and by 1926 the network has already expanded to 3 lines, totaling 14.8 km of tracks.[23]​.

Starting in 1885, the Valencian Tramway Society was responsible for the construction of an important network of lines to the north and south of the Valencian capital, especially the Trenet de Valencia, a work that was joined in 1898 by the Compagnie Génerale des Tramways de Valence-Société Lyonnaise_Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_Lyonnaise "Compagnie Génerale des Tramways de Valence (Spain) Société Lyonnaise"). The routes went outside the urban area and reached Grao "Grao (Valencia)") or even other municipalities such as Bétera, Burjasot, Liria or Torrente "Torrente (Valencia)"). Starting in 1917, the Valencia Tram and Railway Company will absorb all the previous companies and for almost five decades it will have control of the city's trams and suburban railways.

Zaragoza had a tram network since 1885, initially powered by animals, and from 1902 with the first electrified line. At that time the city already had five main lines and one secondary line and the network, which is expanding rapidly, has a radial distribution centered on the current Plaza de España. The tram network reached its maximum splendor in the 1950s, although from that time on it began to decline after the appearance of the first bus lines until its definitive disappearance in the 1970s.

In 1905, the Ferrocarriles Suburbanos de Málaga company was founded, which established several narrow gauge lines that originated in Málaga and reached other points in the province, such as Fuengirola, Coín or Vélez-Málaga. Most of these lines closed during the 1960s with the exception of the railway to Fuengirola, which in 1975 was converted to Iberian gauge. For many years suburban railways were also complemented by the Málaga Tram network, especially after the founding of the Belgian company Tramways de Málaga Société Anonyme.

The first electrified lines

In 1911, the inauguration of the first electrified line in Spain took place, specifically the section between Gérgal and Santa Fe de Mondújar of the Linares-Almería line. Due to the steep slope that exists for trains, the Company of the Iron Roads of Southern Spain decided to undertake its electrification, completed in 1911-1912 and which was a pioneering work in Spain.[24]​.

Starting in 1914, the Northern Iron Roads Company began to consider the possibility of electrifying the Pajares ramp line, with a sloping ramp throughout the entire route and 70 tunnels, it is one of the toughest in Spain and its transit almost always requires several locomotives. For this reason, the decision was made to electrify this section, given that electric locomotives could handle traffic in better conditions and offering more power. On July 24, 1918, a law from the Ministry of Development approved the electrification of the Pajares ramp, although the objective was not to electrify the entire line but only the 62-kilometer section between Ujo and Busdongo. After studying the various proposals presented by the main American and European firms, in the end the one presented by General Electric was chosen. The contract with it was signed in 1921, and commissioning took place on January 1, 1925.

On February 22, 1926, King Alfonso In 1927, due to the good results obtained in the Port of Pajares, "Norte" decided to carry out the electrification of the Irún-Alsasua, Barcelona-Manresa and Barcelona-San Juan de las Abadesas sections. A year later the different lines entered service in their new configuration, while the Irún-Alsasua section did so on June 7, 1929. In 1935 work began on the electrification of the lines from Madrid to Ávila and Segovia, although the start of the Civil War left them paralyzed.

Since then, lines have continued to be electrified and the electrification of the entire network is intended in the near future.

Railway crisis

After the outbreak of the First World War (1914-1918) the country would end up being affected by the conflict, despite the fact that Spain remained neutral. Due to the increase in commercial exports and the increase in the number of orders from Spanish industries, the railway is saturated in its services and capacities. The war situation made the import of coal very difficult, while at that time the obsolescence of railway equipment and the lack of investments made by private companies became evident. There was also high labor conflict. In this context, the possibility of nationalizing the railways was raised for the first time, an idea that the politician Francisco Cambó had already considered during his time as Minister of Public Works. Cambó advocated this idea due to the poor performance of the railway companies, some of which maintained an outdated fleet and sometimes a railway line in poor condition.[25]​.

The shortage of coal and the problems derived from it prompted the construction of the Ponferrada-Villablino railway, a project that was also encouraged by the administration.[26] This narrow-gauge mining railway sought to provide an outlet for the enormous coal riches of the Villablino basin. The line, more than 60 kilometers long, was officially inaugurated on July 23, 1919.

With the establishment of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship in 1923, the new regime sought to resolve the railway issue through state interventionism: With the promulgation of the Railway Statute of 1924, the government agreed to grant public aid and subsidies to private companies in exchange for them undertaking improvements to the network and modernizing the material. The dictatorship also promulgated the so-called "Guadalhorce Plan" (1926)"), which provided for the construction of new railway lines: Cuenca-Utiel, Zamora-La Coruña, Soria-Castejón, Jerez-Almargen, Baeza-Saint Girons or Madrid-Burgos, etc.[27]​.

In 1926, the State Railway Exploitation (EFE) was created, a public body in charge of exploiting state railway lines or those abandoned by their former owners.[28]​ Thanks to state aid, there was a notable improvement in the service, although there were some exceptions. In 1928, the National Western Railway Company was created,[29]​ of a semi-state nature. The creation of this new company sought to bring together small companies in the Spanish northwest that were bankrupt or incapable of continuing to operate railway services and maintain railway facilities. The integrated network also included some minor routes that had been administered by the State, such as the Betanzos-Ferrol, Ávila-Salamanca lines, etc.

On July 18, 1928, the Canfranc International Station was inaugurated after five years of work, with the presence of the King of Spain, Alfonso Another important architectural work of this period will be the France station in Barcelona, ​​built by the MZA company and inaugurated in 1929, coinciding with the International Exhibition "International Exhibition of Barcelona (1929)") that was held in the city. Also known as "Barcelona-Término", it was the last large monumental station to be built in Spain.

At the beginning of the Spanish civil war in 1936 and the division of the territory into two sides, a good part of the 4,000 locomotives and 100,000 passenger or merchandise wagons that existed in the country at that time were in the republican zone. For both contenders, the railway became a decisive means of transport for troops and supplies. At the beginning of the war in Catalonia, the railways began to be directed by committees of the CNT and UGT labor unions,[35]​ in a scheme that was repeated in republican Spain. Faced with the new situation, the republican government decreed a nationalization of all the railways that were in its area to ensure its control, although in practice they were collectivized by the workers and railway committees. Thus, by the Decree of August 3, 1936, the companies were expropriated and their lines integrated into what was called "National Railway Network".[36]​ In the Franco zone the old companies will maintain their existence, although it will be the military authorities that will really direct and administer everything related to the railways, as this was crucial for the war.[36]​.

It should be noted that on August 9, 1936, with the war already started, line 3 "Line 3 (Madrid Metro)") of the Madrid Metro was inaugurated - between the Sol and Embajadores "Embajadores (Madrid Metro)" stations. During the period of the war, the metropolitan networks of Madrid and Barcelona were used extensively as air raid shelters by the civilian population or also as warehouses for war material.

Despite the republican success during the defense of Madrid, after the battle of Jarama the rebel forces cut off the capital's railway communications with the south and the east. To maintain the supply line and Madrid's resistance, the republican government of Juan Negrín decided to build a new railway link that would border the Franco front and allow the capital to be reached again. What was popularly called the forty-day train or "via Negrín" would end up being built in 100 days and was inaugurated in 1937, being operational until the end of the war.[37]​[38]​ The rebellious side, for its part, undertook the construction and completion of the Gibraleón-Ayamonte railway to allow the arrival of war material from Portugal. While the Battle of the Ebro took place, the rebels also carried out the construction of the Val de Zafán railway as a key element for the arrival of supplies to the battle front.[5]​.

During the war, the railways suffered serious damage: By 1939, 1,309 locomotives had been destroyed (42% of the locomotives that existed in 1936), 30,000 freight cars (40% of those in 1936), 3,700 passenger cars (70% of those in 1936), and added to this was the destruction of a good part of the network's infrastructure. (railway lines, bridges, stations, etc.).[39] Thousands of kilometers of tracks were destroyed or in need of major repairs.[40] During the immediate post-war period, the railway situation was unsustainable. In 1941 the Franco Dictatorship would proceed to expropriate and nationalize all the Iberian gauge railway lines, keeping the narrow gauge lines in private hands for some time longer.

Birth of RENFE

Shortly after the end of the civil war, in January 1941 the Law on Bases of Railway and Road Transport Planning was approved, which led to the nationalization of all railway companies that had gauges of 1,668 meters, which are known as broad gauge railways, which were grouped together in a state company: the National Network of Spanish Railways (RENFE) was born.[40]​ Under its management 12,401 km of track remained, many of them damaged by the recent war. The exception was the Guadarrama Electric Railway, a narrow gauge railway that became part of RENFE after its rescue by the State. Thus, the first actions of the new company focus on the unification of signals and regulations of the old railway companies, apart from the recovery of the damaged or destroyed network.

As a consequence of the war, the poor state of railway infrastructure and equipment causes numerous accidents. On January 3, 1944, a serious train accident took place in Torre del Bierzo, when a mail express collided with another train inside a tunnel near the station and they were stuck inside, so that later a third freight convoy collided with the accident trains. Due to the fire that started inside the tunnel there were dozens of victims, and although the total number is unknown, some sources point to 200 deaths. For this reason, it is considered the largest railway accident in the history of Spain.[41]​.

During the Second World War the country did not participate in the war, but the Canfranc Station had great importance in the conflict: after the French defeat, in 1940 the Nazi army arrived at the station and established a post on the French side, causing some friction with the Spanish military who controlled the Spanish part of the site.[42] Hundreds of trains passed through Canfranc with tungsten and other raw materials that the German industry needed, while tons of Swiss gold entered the Spain.[42]​ In 1944 the Nazis withdrew from the station. Despite Spanish neutrality, the war situation also had an influence on the Spanish railway: the isolation of the country prevented RENFE from being able to import material, while the destroyed Spanish industry took a long time to be able to deliver orders for material and machinery. The only innovation of this time was the train designed by engineer Alejandro Goicoechea, the so-called Talgo "Talgo (type of train)") (Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol). Since 1942, tests were carried out with experimental trains and with the first series model, the Talgo I, which years later would enter service.[43]​.

In 1949, a new Guadalhorce plan was approved&action=edit&redlink=1 "Guadalhorce Plan (1949) (not yet drafted)"), officially the "General Plan for Reconstruction and Urgent Reforms", which recovers and reinforces the railway network, and marks the beginning of its electrification.[44] Part of the Guadalhorce plan was the acquisition of new rolling stock: 200 were purchased locomotives, 5,000 wagons and 400 passenger cars. The launch of the Talgo trains "Talgo (type of train)") is the icon of the modernization of Spanish railways (first line: Madrid-Hendaya, inaugurated in July 1950), but the reform was much deeper and included the installation of modern Centralized Traffic Centers and automation in traffic regulation. Investments stopped abruptly in the early 1960s due to a World Bank report in 1962, which advised the Franco government to abandon the construction of new lines and concentrate on the consolidation, maintenance and modernization of the existing network. Thus, the Baeza-Utiel Line was abandoned when its construction was very advanced and the only thing missing was the installation of the tracks. The Santander-Mediterranean Railway was also unfinished, with most of the line built and just 63 km separating Cidad de Valdeporres and the city of Santander. However, other railways under construction will be completed, such as the Zamora-La Coruña line (1958) and the direct Madrid-Burgos line (1968).[5] Between 1964 and 1965, the first closure of loss-making lines occurred, most of them with a short route.

The new railway policy undertaken by the Franco Regime is in line with the guidelines of the Stabilization Plan of 1959, whose objective was to achieve stabilization and liberalization of the Spanish economy. Thus, the path taken by the railway in these years will go hand in hand with what was called the Spanish economic miracle.

Under the lines previously established by the World Bank, in 1964 the Ten-Year Modernization Plan (1964-1973) was approved, which has the utopian objective of making the railway economically profitable. With the entry of foreign capital, the import of oil and a progressive replacement of steam traction were made possible, although this would still continue to provide service on numerous secondary lines. The modernization of the vehicle fleet and the improvement of the railway network led to the entry into service of the Talgo III#Talgo_III "Talgo (type of train)") or the importation in 1967 of the Series 279 locomotives, which in Europe constituted the first Japanese electric locomotives to be imported.[43] In that same year in Madrid, the new Chamartín Station and the Laughter Tunnel that connects this station with the Atocha, finishing two projects that had been started three decades earlier. With the inauguration of Chamartín, it absorbed a good part of the capital's railway traffic, which led to the importance of the North Station being considerably reduced and the closure of the Delicias Station on July 1, 1969. Coinciding with the inauguration of Chamartín, work began in Barcelona on the construction of the Sants Station, with the intention of it centralizing the traffic of the city of Barcelona.

In 1968, the direct Madrid-Burgos railway was inaugurated, which to date has been the last large Iberian gauge line to be built. Spain is definitely far behind in the density of its railway network compared to the United Kingdom, Germany, France or Italy.

At a general level, the tracks are renewed, freight stations are built, security and communications systems are improved, and steam traction locomotives are progressively being replaced by diesel and electric ones. Before the end of the 1960s, RENFE eliminated third class from its cars and created tourist class. Within the Ten-Year Modernization Plan there is also the incorporation of more passengers onto the train, especially at a time when the car is gaining ground over the train, for which investment is made in integrating the railway into the cities. The speed of 140 km/h is established as a commercial speed throughout the basic network.

The birth of FEVE

The creation in 1941 of RENFE in charge of Iberian gauge lines meant that Railway Exploitation by the State (EFE) saw its scope of action limited to narrow gauge lines. Metric gauge railways will still maintain their existence, although with the arrival of the 1960s numerous railway companies went bankrupt and disappeared, their lines having to be managed by EFE. For example, on August 1, 1951, the Mallorca Railways were intervened by the state and in 1959 they were under complete management of EFE. Until the beginning of the 1970s, a torrent of new lines continued to flow into state management, which forced EFE to be restructured and Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha (FEVE) to be created in 1965.[28]​.

The new company encompassed a large number of loss-making lines, as well as very old-fashioned railway equipment in very poor condition. Because many of these lines were mining railways or local lines, they arrived at FEVE in a state of loss or low profitability that forced its closure. State-owned railway lines were also integrated, such as the Ferrol-Gijón Railway, whose construction was completed in 1972. By that date, almost all of the narrow gauge railways had passed under the control of FEVE.

The end of an era

The emergence of motor vehicles since the mid-1960s had been a serious competitor for the railway, and this manifested itself most strongly in the cities: now that utility vehicles were gaining strength, trams were seen as hindering traffic on the streets of large cities. The arrival of the 1970s meant the gradual disappearance and dismantling of the once important tram networks: the last one that was in service was the Zaragoza Tram, whose last line stopped providing service in January 1976.

As a result of the oil crisis of 1973, the Spanish economy began to slow down and enter a deep crisis. This occurs coinciding with the last years of the Franco Dictatorship, whose political structure is increasingly weakened. Despite the crisis, RENFE continues with its reform programs: in the middle of the decade it began to experiment with high speed, 190 km/h, with the aim of implementing it on the Madrid-Barcelona line. The year 1975 would mark a before and after in the history of the railway in Spain, since during this year the official end of steam traction occurred. On June 23, one of the last RENFE steam locomotives, a "Mikado" registration 141-F-2348, was taken out of service at the Vicálvaro classification station (Madrid).[45]​.

Although this symbolic event is usually noted as the end of steam traction in Spain, the truth is that it continued to operate on a smaller scale in various parts of Spain. Steam locomotives continued to be operational on the Andorra-Escatrón line until their suppression in August 1984.[46]​[47]​ A similar situation occurred during those years on other mining routes, such as the Riotinto railway or the Ponferrada-Villablino railway.

On November 20, 1975, Francisco Franco died and with it began the beginning of the end of Franco's regime. For RENFE it will mean the beginning of a new era, in the search to offer efficient and modern services to the public. Before the end of the 1970s, with a view to increasing safety, in 1978 the ASFA safety system was implemented, a reproduction of the signals in the cabin that automatically prevents passing a red signal. Another consequence of the fuel crisis (which suffered a rebound in 1979 with the second oil crisis) was to give a new impetus to the electrification of the main railway lines: Already in 1973 the Valencia-Tarragona railway had been electrified, which was followed in 1976 by the Seville-Córdoba, Miranda de Ebro-Zaragoza or Espeluy-Jaén routes. Three years later, the Córdoba-Málaga, Alcázar de San Juan-Chinchilla, Chinchilla-Játiva lines, and the Guadalajara-Torralba section were electrified. In 1981 the electrification of the entire Madrid-Barcelona Line was completed, where the installation of the double track was also being undertaken.

Despite the achievement of large railway works, such as the "Directo Madrid-Burgos" or the colossal Madrid-Chamartín station, the Spanish railway, in line with the global trend, was going through a serious crisis that, with the political changes that were taking place, caused the first attempts to rationalize an underused and inefficient network. In 1979, the Barcelona Sants Station was inaugurated, which concentrated the main railway traffic in the city after the closure in 1972 of the old North Station "Estación del Norte (Barcelona)"). However, railway deficits increasingly posed a greater problem for both RENFE and the state.

Towards the new railway

In 1979, the first "Program Contract" was signed, an agreement by which the State provided the necessary economic resources for exploitation and investments while RENFE committed to improving the quality of its services and developing a plan that would allow its recovery.

In the 1980s the question of the economic profitability of the network was raised. Based on the fact that 68% of rail traffic was carried out on 5,000 of the 13,500 km of track in the network, a plan was developed within the program contract agreed with the government, known as cerrojazo, to close those lines that were not economically profitable, largely forgetting the social profitability of the railway. In January 1985, when Enrique Barón was Minister of Public Works, 914 km of railway were closed, affecting 12 lines and 132 stations, while another 933 km were maintained for exclusive freight service. Some of the affected lines were the Santander-Mediterráneo, Valladolid-Ariza, Plasencia-Astorga, Almendricos-Guadix, La Fuente de San Esteban-Barca de Alba, Jaén-Campo Real, Valencia-Liria, Calatayud-Valencia, etc.[48]​[49]​[50]​ For their part, the autonomous communities came to the rescue of another 600 km to avoid their closure.[51]​ In some cases the reports relating to the losses of these lines contained manipulated or false data, such as adding electrification workers to lines that did not have it, and thus justifying their closure.[49]​.

With the new political system, the FEVE company, which at the beginning of the 1980s was still suffering a serious crisis, gave up ownership of several of its lines to some regions. The first was Catalonia, where the Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) entity was established in 1979. In the Basque Country, Euskotren was created in 1982, followed by Ferrocarriles de la Generalidad Valenciana (FGV) in 1986 and the Servicios Ferroviarios de Mallorca (SFM) in 1994, organizations that received the management of narrow gauge, tram or suburban railways as some autonomous communities received powers in this matter. For its part, during that decade FEVE undertook a profound renovation of material and infrastructure, focusing its services on commuter trains and local trains. Starting in 1983, a tourist train began operating, the so-called Transcantábrico, which would end up becoming a star service.

In 1983, the Madrid Railway Museum was inaugurated, based in the old Delicias station, although since 1967 there had already been a Railway Museum in the Fernán Núñez Palace. Years later, the Railway Museum of Catalonia would follow, located in the town of Villanueva y Geltrú (Barcelona) and inaugurated in 1990. In the following years, new museums followed, opening throughout the country. The tourist train modality was also launched, in an attempt to attract the public to the railway beyond commercial services. In this sense, the so-called "Strawberry Train" stands out, a commercial name used to refer to a special service that travels between Madrid and Aranjuez with historical material.[52]​ In the area of the Riotinto Mines, the old mining railway was rehabilitated in the early 1990s for recreational use within the so-called tourist mining railway.[53]​ This train uses the two oldest steam locomotives in Spain that are currently maintained in service,[54]​ as well as other types of historical material.

In 1986-1987, the Rail Transport Plan was approved, which aims to achieve speeds above 200 km/h, for which works were carried out to improve the lines. In this sense, the main objective is to achieve the establishment of a double track at 200 km/h in the Madrid-Barcelona-Valencia triangle, the one with the greatest support. Another of the main actions provided for in the plan is the construction of a New Railway Access to Andalusia (NAFA), for which the government will make a fundamental decision: in 1988 it decides that the NAFA and the new High-speed lines that will be built from now on will be in UIC gauge (European gauge). In 1990, the construction of the NAFA continued, whose arrival partly involved the reorganization of the old stations in Seville or Córdoba. In the Seville capital, the new Santa Justa station was built to concentrate rail traffic in Seville, while the San Bernardo "Old San Bernardo Station (Seville)" and Plaza de Armas "Seville Station-Plaza de Armas (MZA)" stations were dismantled. A large part of these works carried out in the city of Seville had another reason: the celebration of the 1992 Universal Exhibition (Expo'92). In Barcelona there was a reorganization of the network of tracks that circulated through different areas of the city, as well as the improvement and adaptation of the Barcelona-Término station (renamed as France station). In the case of Barcelona, ​​the works were related to the 1992 Olympic Games. The Madrid-Seville high-speed line was inaugurated on April 14, 1992, coinciding with Expo 92, and commercial service began seven days later.

In Madrid there would also be reforms in the city's stations, especially in Atocha, which at the end of the 80s began to show signs of saturation and shortage of facilities. Between 1985 and 1992, a major remodeling project was carried out under the direction of architect Rafael Moneo, which consisted of the construction of 2 completely new high-capacity stations: the Puerta de Atocha and Atocha-Cercanías stations. While the Atocha station was closed for the works, its traffic was absorbed by the Chamartín station. In 1993 the old North Station "Estación del Norte (Madrid)") was closed and after extensive renovations, it was inaugurated as a new transport interchange, renamed Príncipe Pío.

Changes in customs, with the growth of the urban population and especially in the peripheries, cause suburban traffic to increase dramatically, which would lead to the need for significant investments. Thus, an important Cercanías service began to be developed in the most important cities of the country: during those years the current networks of Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Bilbao and Málaga were inaugurated.

The application of European directive 91/440, which imposed the Liberalization of rail transport in Spain, and economic efficiency, meant that the company was subdivided into several business units. This meant the disappearance of the territorial organization model that had been maintained in RENFE since its creation, with the division of its administration by zones. Mercancías&action=edit&redlink=1 "Commodity and Logistics Services (Renfe) (not yet written)"). On December 30, 1998, the company Gestor de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (GIF) was founded, a public business entity that was created due to the rail transport measures that the European Union began to promote based on Council Directive 91/440/EEC on the Development of railways. Community Railways. Among other issues, this directive established the separation between the train operators and the infrastructure manager. The rolling stock and its exploitation remained in the hands of RENFE, although it was planned that any private company that requested it would circulate on the railway lines. GIF would precisely be in charge of starting the construction of the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line that year.

The emergence of the AVE

In April 1992, the first high-speed line in Spain, the Madrid-Seville line, was inaugurated. This infrastructure is integrated into the works to promote the development of southern Spain and the Universal Exposition of Seville in 1992. The name of this new infrastructure, which is built with international European gauge, is AVE, Spanish High Speed. The AVE can reach 300 km/h.

The Infrastructure Master Plan, which was launched in the 1990s with a period of 15 years, launches, apart from the maintenance of the basic network, the extension of the high-speed network of international width. The next line to be opened, not without controversy and problems, would be the Madrid-Barcelona line, which would be followed by the construction of the Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid line, with the Sierra de Guadarrama tunnel, and the branch line to Irún-France, which will be known as the Basque "Y", as well as the union of this with the Madrid-Barcelona line in Zaragoza. We can also highlight the arrival of the AVE to the Valencian Community crossing Castilla-La Mancha, as well as the continuation through Andalusia arriving at Malaga. On June 16, 1997, the Euromed service began operating, a new high-speed service for Iberian gauge that operated on the route from Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Alicante.[55]​.

The arrival of the 21st century

El 3 de junio de 2003 tuvo lugar el grave accidente ferroviario de Chinchilla debido a la colisión frontal de dos trenes cerca de la estación de Chinchilla, un nudo ferroviario situado en el municipio castellano-manchego de Chinchilla de Montearagón, que acabó con la vida de 19 personas y dejó unos 50 heridos.[57]​.

En noviembre de 2003 se publicó la Ley del Sector Ferroviario, que da visos de realidad a la liberalización del sector y que implicó el fin del monopolio del transporte ferroviario que imperaba en España desde finales de la guerra civil. De acuerdo a la nueva legislación, el 31 de diciembre de 2004 el Gestor de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (GIF) se volvió a integrar en RENFE y a las 00:00 del 1 de enero de 2005 esta desapareció y fue sustituida por dos nuevos organismos: Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), que será el encargado de administrar la gestión de la infraestructura y realizar las inversiones para la construcción de nuevas líneas, y Renfe Operator, in charge of the transportation of passengers and goods, in competition with other companies.

On July 3, 2006, a train accident occurred on the Metrovalencia network, when a convoy with about 150 people on board derailed on a curve near the Jesús station, killing 43 people and injuring 47. of the history of Spain.[58]​.

The construction of the High Speed ​​lines continued and in some cases they were completed: In 2005 the La Sagra-Toledo high speed line was inaugurated, replacing the old Iberian gauge line; At the end of 2007, the Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid high-speed line, the Córdoba-Málaga line and the Lérida-Tarragona high-speed section were inaugurated. At the beginning of 2008 the first AVE trains arrived at the Barcelona-Sants Station, ten years after the works began. In 2010, another major project was inaugurated, the Madrid-Levante high-speed line. The debut of this new railway involved the entry into service of new stations adapted for AVE services: the Valencia-Joaquín Sorolla Station or the Cuenca-Fernando Zóbel Station.

Since April 2012, the Madrid-Burgos direct railway, which in recent years had been in clear decline, stopped providing service along its entire route due to rock falls that ended up causing the closure of the line.[59]​.

Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha (FEVE) was originally exempt from the new scenario, although on July 20, 2012 the Government of Mariano Rajoy agreed that it would become extinct on December 31, 2012, dividing into two as had happened with RENFE: The infrastructure was transferred to Adif, and the operation of the railways to Renfe Operadora.[60]​[61]​.

Due in part to the economic crisis, in May 2013 the Ministry of Public Works decided to suppress 48 Medium Distance lines operated by Renfe that were not economically profitable and that were accumulating deficits.[62][63] Other Iberian gauge lines have suffered in recent years a drastic reduction in the frequency and quality of their services, especially those that affect Extremadura. He also highlighted the partial closure to traffic that the direct Madrid-Burgos railway suffered in 2011.

Since the implementation of the railway in Spain in the middle of the century until the present day, railway traffic has been marked by various serious accidents. Leaving aside accidents caused by people or vehicles being run over, the first railway accident on Spanish lines in which fatalities occurred was probably the derailment that occurred on November 28, 1852 in the vicinity of kilometer 4 of the Madrid - Aranjuez railway, a point on its route that was located on that date in the municipality of Vallecas, between Cerro Negro&action=edit&redlink=1 "Cerro Negro (Madrid) (not yet written)") and the old bridge by which said line crossed the Manzanares canal, and currently located in the municipality of Madrid, at the height of the current Santa Catalina freight station. In the aforementioned accident, the locomotive and the first car of the composition of a passenger train heading from Madrid to Aranjuez fell down an embankment, killing the stoker and the inspector who were serving in the convoy.[65][66]​.

Three years later, on September 27, 1855, on the same section of the then unfinished Madrid - Alicante railway, and also in the outskirts of Madrid, the first accident with five or more fatalities occurred on the Spanish railways, when a locomotive that was circulating in isolation sank on the bridge located at kilometer 1,900 of the aforementioned line, corresponding to its passage over the Abroñigal stream, which in At the time of the event, there was a large flow due to an intense storm that had fallen hours before in the area. Since that accident, some one hundred and ninety accidents with five or more fatalities have occurred on Spanish railways; Of them, in approximately 85 there were 10 or more deaths, and in about 35 the number of deaths exceeded twenty. Of the latter, the first occurred on October 7, 1863 in the province of Gerona and the most recent is the one that occurred near the Santiago de Compostela station on July 24, 2013.

The first steps and choosing the Iberian width

In this mid-century context, the emergence of capitalism and the beginning of industrialization occurred in Spain: the steel industry began in the south with a factory in Malaga; later, it will concentrate in the north. The benefits, both at a social and economic level, that the implementation of the railway had brought in countries such as France or the United Kingdom did not go unnoticed by Spanish leaders. In fact, once the first Carlist War (1833-1839) ended, news, chronicles and reports began to reach Spain that gave an account of the progress achieved as a result of the introduction of the railway in certain European countries, which contributed to the forging of a positive opinion regarding the implementation of the "iron roads" in Spain.[7]​.

The proposal to the Government, by a French engineer, of the construction of a railway line linking Madrid with the port of Cádiz represented a qualitative leap: the magnitude of the project presented exceeded what was previously formulated and done in the national territory in terms of railways, so a series of pressures arose that urged the Government to adopt clearer policies regarding this issue. In this way, Pedro José Pidal, who at that time held the portfolio of the Ministry of the Interior, entrusted the General Directorate of Roads to study the proposal for the Cádiz line, at the same time that he ordered the study of the technical problems, and also financing, that could arise.[7]​.

For this purpose, a commission was established, headed by Inspector General Juan Subercase Krets, as well as engineers José Subercase and Calixto de Santa Cruz. The Subercase Report, named in honor of the surname of the head of the commission, among other things suggested that the Spanish railway network have a track width equal to six Castilian feet, or what is the same, 1,672 mm.[8]​ The arguments given by the engineer for the implementation of what is now known as "ancient Iberian gauge" have been a matter of discussion. According to what can be read in the report itself, the engineers estimated that a greater width would allow greater steam production within the locomotives, which would result in higher speed.[9]​ In fact, the European tendency to create relatively wide tracks is mentioned, especially in Russia and England. Some authors link this concern to the steep orography of the Peninsula.[10]​[11]​ It has also been suggested that the background was the fear of facilitating invasions through the Pyrenees, given that the authors of the report came from Empordà and their family home was destroyed by French troops.[12]​.

The first General Plan was approved in 1851 by the moderate governments. In 1854 the Espartero-O'Donnell coalition government was formed, which convened Constituent Cortes and from which a new General Law of Iron Roads") of June 5, 1855 would emerge. It was in this law where the track width was definitively established at "one meter 67 centimeters (6 Castilian feet)."[13] The new legislation will be key to the development of the railways during the following years.

The era of big companies

Around 1856, the large railway companies began to be created in Spain and the construction of what would be the large railway lines of the time also began. Starting this year, construction of the Madrid-Hendaye railway will begin, which will connect the capital with France. Two years later, the Northern Spanish Iron Roads Company was founded, which would complete the construction of the railway to Irun. Since 1856, the Madrid to Zaragoza and Alicante Railway Company (MZA) also began its activity, directing its railway expansion from the capital to the Mediterranean, Zaragoza and Andalusia. While the Norte company was associated with the Pereire brothers and the Crédito Mobiliario Español, in the case of MZA it was linked to the Rothschild family and the Sociedad Española Mercantil e Industrial.[14]​ Until the time of the civil war, a good part of the Spanish railways will be mainly in the hands of French capital. But at this time the importance of Spanish businessmen is also no less important, especially the Marquis of Salamanca, who has contacts with European businessmen and will be a participant in numerous railway businesses.[15]​.

In the Levant, the businessman José Campo founded the Sociedad de los Ferrocarriles de Almansa a Valencia y Tarragona (AVT), a company that carried out the construction work of the Valencia-Tarragona line and which would be inaugurated in 1868. In Almansa an AVT line joined the MZA network, which went to Alicante. The Almansa-Valencia-Tarragona company would end up disappearing in 1891 after its absorption by Norte.

In Andalusia, several small companies undertook the construction of lines: the Córdoba to Seville Railway Company inaugurated in 1859 a route that linked both cities, dominating the route of the middle valley of the Guadalquivir River. Two years later, the construction of the line between Seville and Cádiz was completed, linking with its port. Córdoba would end up consolidating itself as an important railway junction where several routes converged: the Seville line, the MZA line from La Mancha, the line from Belmez and the Córdoba to Málaga Railway Company line. This last company would also undertake the construction of another route, the Bobadilla-Granada line, inaugurated in 1874. MZA managed to acquire the railway to Seville, in 1875, and a few years later expanded it to reach Huelva.[16]​.

At the beginning of 1866 the first financial crisis in the history of Spanish capitalism broke out. The trigger for this were the railway companies, which dragged banks and credit societies with them. Many investors had directed their capital towards railway companies whose shares experienced a great boom, thus fueling a speculative spiral. But when the lines began to be exploited, it was seen that the profit expectations that investors had were exaggerated - given the low level of development of the Spanish economy, there were few goods and few passengers to transport - and the value of the shares of the railway companies plummeted. due to the close connection that finance and railways had had throughout this era.[18]​ The Revolution of 1868 caused the exile of Queen Elizabeth II and marked the beginning of the revolutionary Sexennium, a period during which the railway crisis deepened even further with the bankruptcy and disappearance of numerous companies. MZA and will manage to resist the adversities of this time, and even formalize an agreement by which they establish the distribution of traffic, zones of influence, etc.[19]​ In fact, they will take advantage of the bankruptcy of small companies to expand their businesses and grow in size until they become the two largest railway companies in the country.[19]​.

narrow gauge railways

At the end of the century, the construction of narrow gauge railways began to spread, especially in the northern area and the Cantabrian mountain range. The reason why metric gauge is chosen for the construction of railway lines is often due to the mountainous terrain that prevails in these areas. Many of these are mining railways, although they are also dedicated to passenger and other freight traffic. The construction of this type of routes proliferated in the Andalusian region. The Peñarroya Mining and Metallurgical Society, with French capital, built a series of railway lines since the 1890s that sought to link its mining operations between the provinces of Badajoz, Córdoba "Province of Córdoba (Spain)") and Ciudad Real. This network ended up giving rise to the so-called railway from Peñarroya to Puertollano and Fuente del Arco. In the province of Huelva, British capital was behind the construction of several mining railways: Buitrón (1870), Tharsis (1871) or Riotinto (1875).

A line of great importance due to its length was the La Robla railway, which allowed the link between the mining basins of León and the industrial area of ​​Vizcaya. This route was built at forced marches and was inaugurated in 1904, currently constituting the longest narrow gauge railway in all of Europe. The Sociedad General de Ferrocarriles Vasco Asturiana is going to be another important railway company, whose railway was created with the objective of transporting coal from the Caudal mining basin to the port of San Esteban de Pravia, where it will be shipped to the Vizcayan steel industry. Other important routes in this area were the Santander-Bilbao railway, the Vascongado Railways, the Vasco-Navarre railway, the Astillero-Ontaneda railway or the Langreo railway, whose first section had already been inaugurated in 1852. Many of these railways continued their existence until the 1960s.

In the Levant and Catalonia, some small narrow gauge lines will also be built, more focused on the local and regional level: in the province of Alicante, the railways from Villena to Alcoy and Yecla, the Alcoy-Gandía railway and the Carcagente-Denia railway stand out, while in the Catalan region the Railway from San Feliu de Guíxols to Gerona will stand out.[21] The island of Mallorca will also reach the train, especially with the famous Sóller railway, inaugurated in 1912, and also the lines belonging to the Mallorca Railway Company. In Aragon, two routes will stand out: the Utrillas railway, which linked Zaragoza with the Utrillas Mining Basins; and the Ojos Negros railway, of an eminently mining nature, which reached the port of Sagunto.

Several metric gauge railways will also be built in Madrid and its province: the Madrid-Alomorox line and the Tajuña Railway. The latter was the most important and was mainly dedicated to the transportation of goods (especially from the Portland cement factory). Although it was originally intended to reach Aragonese lands to link the province of Teruel with the lines of the Central Railway of Aragon, the project ultimately did not prosper. Later in Old Castile, several local narrow gauge lines were also opened, such as the Valladolid-Medina de Rioseco Railway and the lines controlled by the Compañía de Ferrocarriles Secundarios de Castilla. This last company was created in 1932 and it did not take long to take over the Valladolid-Medina line from Rioseco, which by then was close to suspension of payments.

The emergence of trams and suburban railways

At the turn of the century, suburban railways arrived in cities, further complemented by the emergence of electric trams and even metropolitan railways. On the other hand, since the end of the century it has been taking place with the construction and proliferation of animal-drawn tram lines. The first city to introduce electric tram service was Bilbao, with the first electrified line in 1896. Madrid's trams began operating in 1871, while Barcelona's trams began operating in 1872. In the heat of Barcelona's industrial growth and development, several local and suburban railways were developed in Barcelona. In 1901, the Tibidabo Funicular and the Blue Tram were inaugurated, linking the urban center with Tibidabo. On December 30, 1924, the first Barcelona metro line was inaugurated, known as Gran Metro "Line 1 (Barcelona Metro)"), which ran between Lesseps and Plaza de Cataluña, with a length and 4 stations.[22] Catalonia was also a pioneer in the installation of "rack" trains, with the inauguration in 1892 of the Montserrat Rack Railway and in 1931 Nuria zipper.

The Madrid Metro began operating in 1919 with the inauguration of its first line "Line 1 (Madrid Metro)") between Puerta del Sol and Cuatro Caminos, with a length of 3.48 km and composed of 8 stations. The success of the new means of transport is such that in the first year it is used by more than 14 million users, and by 1926 the network has already expanded to 3 lines, totaling 14.8 km of tracks.[23]​.

Starting in 1885, the Valencian Tramway Society was responsible for the construction of an important network of lines to the north and south of the Valencian capital, especially the Trenet de Valencia, a work that was joined in 1898 by the Compagnie Génerale des Tramways de Valence-Société Lyonnaise_Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_Lyonnaise "Compagnie Génerale des Tramways de Valence (Spain) Société Lyonnaise"). The routes went outside the urban area and reached Grao "Grao (Valencia)") or even other municipalities such as Bétera, Burjasot, Liria or Torrente "Torrente (Valencia)"). Starting in 1917, the Valencia Tram and Railway Company will absorb all the previous companies and for almost five decades it will have control of the city's trams and suburban railways.

Zaragoza had a tram network since 1885, initially powered by animals, and from 1902 with the first electrified line. At that time the city already had five main lines and one secondary line and the network, which is expanding rapidly, has a radial distribution centered on the current Plaza de España. The tram network reached its maximum splendor in the 1950s, although from that time on it began to decline after the appearance of the first bus lines until its definitive disappearance in the 1970s.

In 1905, the Ferrocarriles Suburbanos de Málaga company was founded, which established several narrow gauge lines that originated in Málaga and reached other points in the province, such as Fuengirola, Coín or Vélez-Málaga. Most of these lines closed during the 1960s with the exception of the railway to Fuengirola, which in 1975 was converted to Iberian gauge. For many years suburban railways were also complemented by the Málaga Tram network, especially after the founding of the Belgian company Tramways de Málaga Société Anonyme.

The first electrified lines

In 1911, the inauguration of the first electrified line in Spain took place, specifically the section between Gérgal and Santa Fe de Mondújar of the Linares-Almería line. Due to the steep slope that exists for trains, the Company of the Iron Roads of Southern Spain decided to undertake its electrification, completed in 1911-1912 and which was a pioneering work in Spain.[24]​.

Starting in 1914, the Northern Iron Roads Company began to consider the possibility of electrifying the Pajares ramp line, with a sloping ramp throughout the entire route and 70 tunnels, it is one of the toughest in Spain and its transit almost always requires several locomotives. For this reason, the decision was made to electrify this section, given that electric locomotives could handle traffic in better conditions and offering more power. On July 24, 1918, a law from the Ministry of Development approved the electrification of the Pajares ramp, although the objective was not to electrify the entire line but only the 62-kilometer section between Ujo and Busdongo. After studying the various proposals presented by the main American and European firms, in the end the one presented by General Electric was chosen. The contract with it was signed in 1921, and commissioning took place on January 1, 1925.

On February 22, 1926, King Alfonso In 1927, due to the good results obtained in the Port of Pajares, "Norte" decided to carry out the electrification of the Irún-Alsasua, Barcelona-Manresa and Barcelona-San Juan de las Abadesas sections. A year later the different lines entered service in their new configuration, while the Irún-Alsasua section did so on June 7, 1929. In 1935 work began on the electrification of the lines from Madrid to Ávila and Segovia, although the start of the Civil War left them paralyzed.

Since then, lines have continued to be electrified and the electrification of the entire network is intended in the near future.

Railway crisis

After the outbreak of the First World War (1914-1918) the country would end up being affected by the conflict, despite the fact that Spain remained neutral. Due to the increase in commercial exports and the increase in the number of orders from Spanish industries, the railway is saturated in its services and capacities. The war situation made the import of coal very difficult, while at that time the obsolescence of railway equipment and the lack of investments made by private companies became evident. There was also high labor conflict. In this context, the possibility of nationalizing the railways was raised for the first time, an idea that the politician Francisco Cambó had already considered during his time as Minister of Public Works. Cambó advocated this idea due to the poor performance of the railway companies, some of which maintained an outdated fleet and sometimes a railway line in poor condition.[25]​.

The shortage of coal and the problems derived from it prompted the construction of the Ponferrada-Villablino railway, a project that was also encouraged by the administration.[26] This narrow-gauge mining railway sought to provide an outlet for the enormous coal riches of the Villablino basin. The line, more than 60 kilometers long, was officially inaugurated on July 23, 1919.

With the establishment of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship in 1923, the new regime sought to resolve the railway issue through state interventionism: With the promulgation of the Railway Statute of 1924, the government agreed to grant public aid and subsidies to private companies in exchange for them undertaking improvements to the network and modernizing the material. The dictatorship also promulgated the so-called "Guadalhorce Plan" (1926)"), which provided for the construction of new railway lines: Cuenca-Utiel, Zamora-La Coruña, Soria-Castejón, Jerez-Almargen, Baeza-Saint Girons or Madrid-Burgos, etc.[27]​.

In 1926, the State Railway Exploitation (EFE) was created, a public body in charge of exploiting state railway lines or those abandoned by their former owners.[28]​ Thanks to state aid, there was a notable improvement in the service, although there were some exceptions. In 1928, the National Western Railway Company was created,[29]​ of a semi-state nature. The creation of this new company sought to bring together small companies in the Spanish northwest that were bankrupt or incapable of continuing to operate railway services and maintain railway facilities. The integrated network also included some minor routes that had been administered by the State, such as the Betanzos-Ferrol, Ávila-Salamanca lines, etc.

On July 18, 1928, the Canfranc International Station was inaugurated after five years of work, with the presence of the King of Spain, Alfonso Another important architectural work of this period will be the France station in Barcelona, ​​built by the MZA company and inaugurated in 1929, coinciding with the International Exhibition "International Exhibition of Barcelona (1929)") that was held in the city. Also known as "Barcelona-Término", it was the last large monumental station to be built in Spain.

At the beginning of the Spanish civil war in 1936 and the division of the territory into two sides, a good part of the 4,000 locomotives and 100,000 passenger or merchandise wagons that existed in the country at that time were in the republican zone. For both contenders, the railway became a decisive means of transport for troops and supplies. At the beginning of the war in Catalonia, the railways began to be directed by committees of the CNT and UGT labor unions,[35]​ in a scheme that was repeated in republican Spain. Faced with the new situation, the republican government decreed a nationalization of all the railways that were in its area to ensure its control, although in practice they were collectivized by the workers and railway committees. Thus, by the Decree of August 3, 1936, the companies were expropriated and their lines integrated into what was called "National Railway Network".[36]​ In the Franco zone the old companies will maintain their existence, although it will be the military authorities that will really direct and administer everything related to the railways, as this was crucial for the war.[36]​.

It should be noted that on August 9, 1936, with the war already started, line 3 "Line 3 (Madrid Metro)") of the Madrid Metro was inaugurated - between the Sol and Embajadores "Embajadores (Madrid Metro)" stations. During the period of the war, the metropolitan networks of Madrid and Barcelona were used extensively as air raid shelters by the civilian population or also as warehouses for war material.

Despite the republican success during the defense of Madrid, after the battle of Jarama the rebel forces cut off the capital's railway communications with the south and the east. To maintain the supply line and Madrid's resistance, the republican government of Juan Negrín decided to build a new railway link that would border the Franco front and allow the capital to be reached again. What was popularly called the forty-day train or "via Negrín" would end up being built in 100 days and was inaugurated in 1937, being operational until the end of the war.[37]​[38]​ The rebellious side, for its part, undertook the construction and completion of the Gibraleón-Ayamonte railway to allow the arrival of war material from Portugal. While the Battle of the Ebro took place, the rebels also carried out the construction of the Val de Zafán railway as a key element for the arrival of supplies to the battle front.[5]​.

During the war, the railways suffered serious damage: By 1939, 1,309 locomotives had been destroyed (42% of the locomotives that existed in 1936), 30,000 freight cars (40% of those in 1936), 3,700 passenger cars (70% of those in 1936), and added to this was the destruction of a good part of the network's infrastructure. (railway lines, bridges, stations, etc.).[39] Thousands of kilometers of tracks were destroyed or in need of major repairs.[40] During the immediate post-war period, the railway situation was unsustainable. In 1941 the Franco Dictatorship would proceed to expropriate and nationalize all the Iberian gauge railway lines, keeping the narrow gauge lines in private hands for some time longer.

Birth of RENFE

Shortly after the end of the civil war, in January 1941 the Law on Bases of Railway and Road Transport Planning was approved, which led to the nationalization of all railway companies that had gauges of 1,668 meters, which are known as broad gauge railways, which were grouped together in a state company: the National Network of Spanish Railways (RENFE) was born.[40]​ Under its management 12,401 km of track remained, many of them damaged by the recent war. The exception was the Guadarrama Electric Railway, a narrow gauge railway that became part of RENFE after its rescue by the State. Thus, the first actions of the new company focus on the unification of signals and regulations of the old railway companies, apart from the recovery of the damaged or destroyed network.

As a consequence of the war, the poor state of railway infrastructure and equipment causes numerous accidents. On January 3, 1944, a serious train accident took place in Torre del Bierzo, when a mail express collided with another train inside a tunnel near the station and they were stuck inside, so that later a third freight convoy collided with the accident trains. Due to the fire that started inside the tunnel there were dozens of victims, and although the total number is unknown, some sources point to 200 deaths. For this reason, it is considered the largest railway accident in the history of Spain.[41]​.

During the Second World War the country did not participate in the war, but the Canfranc Station had great importance in the conflict: after the French defeat, in 1940 the Nazi army arrived at the station and established a post on the French side, causing some friction with the Spanish military who controlled the Spanish part of the site.[42] Hundreds of trains passed through Canfranc with tungsten and other raw materials that the German industry needed, while tons of Swiss gold entered the Spain.[42]​ In 1944 the Nazis withdrew from the station. Despite Spanish neutrality, the war situation also had an influence on the Spanish railway: the isolation of the country prevented RENFE from being able to import material, while the destroyed Spanish industry took a long time to be able to deliver orders for material and machinery. The only innovation of this time was the train designed by engineer Alejandro Goicoechea, the so-called Talgo "Talgo (type of train)") (Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol). Since 1942, tests were carried out with experimental trains and with the first series model, the Talgo I, which years later would enter service.[43]​.

In 1949, a new Guadalhorce plan was approved&action=edit&redlink=1 "Guadalhorce Plan (1949) (not yet drafted)"), officially the "General Plan for Reconstruction and Urgent Reforms", which recovers and reinforces the railway network, and marks the beginning of its electrification.[44] Part of the Guadalhorce plan was the acquisition of new rolling stock: 200 were purchased locomotives, 5,000 wagons and 400 passenger cars. The launch of the Talgo trains "Talgo (type of train)") is the icon of the modernization of Spanish railways (first line: Madrid-Hendaya, inaugurated in July 1950), but the reform was much deeper and included the installation of modern Centralized Traffic Centers and automation in traffic regulation. Investments stopped abruptly in the early 1960s due to a World Bank report in 1962, which advised the Franco government to abandon the construction of new lines and concentrate on the consolidation, maintenance and modernization of the existing network. Thus, the Baeza-Utiel Line was abandoned when its construction was very advanced and the only thing missing was the installation of the tracks. The Santander-Mediterranean Railway was also unfinished, with most of the line built and just 63 km separating Cidad de Valdeporres and the city of Santander. However, other railways under construction will be completed, such as the Zamora-La Coruña line (1958) and the direct Madrid-Burgos line (1968).[5] Between 1964 and 1965, the first closure of loss-making lines occurred, most of them with a short route.

The new railway policy undertaken by the Franco Regime is in line with the guidelines of the Stabilization Plan of 1959, whose objective was to achieve stabilization and liberalization of the Spanish economy. Thus, the path taken by the railway in these years will go hand in hand with what was called the Spanish economic miracle.

Under the lines previously established by the World Bank, in 1964 the Ten-Year Modernization Plan (1964-1973) was approved, which has the utopian objective of making the railway economically profitable. With the entry of foreign capital, the import of oil and a progressive replacement of steam traction were made possible, although this would still continue to provide service on numerous secondary lines. The modernization of the vehicle fleet and the improvement of the railway network led to the entry into service of the Talgo III#Talgo_III "Talgo (type of train)") or the importation in 1967 of the Series 279 locomotives, which in Europe constituted the first Japanese electric locomotives to be imported.[43] In that same year in Madrid, the new Chamartín Station and the Laughter Tunnel that connects this station with the Atocha, finishing two projects that had been started three decades earlier. With the inauguration of Chamartín, it absorbed a good part of the capital's railway traffic, which led to the importance of the North Station being considerably reduced and the closure of the Delicias Station on July 1, 1969. Coinciding with the inauguration of Chamartín, work began in Barcelona on the construction of the Sants Station, with the intention of it centralizing the traffic of the city of Barcelona.

In 1968, the direct Madrid-Burgos railway was inaugurated, which to date has been the last large Iberian gauge line to be built. Spain is definitely far behind in the density of its railway network compared to the United Kingdom, Germany, France or Italy.

At a general level, the tracks are renewed, freight stations are built, security and communications systems are improved, and steam traction locomotives are progressively being replaced by diesel and electric ones. Before the end of the 1960s, RENFE eliminated third class from its cars and created tourist class. Within the Ten-Year Modernization Plan there is also the incorporation of more passengers onto the train, especially at a time when the car is gaining ground over the train, for which investment is made in integrating the railway into the cities. The speed of 140 km/h is established as a commercial speed throughout the basic network.

The birth of FEVE

The creation in 1941 of RENFE in charge of Iberian gauge lines meant that Railway Exploitation by the State (EFE) saw its scope of action limited to narrow gauge lines. Metric gauge railways will still maintain their existence, although with the arrival of the 1960s numerous railway companies went bankrupt and disappeared, their lines having to be managed by EFE. For example, on August 1, 1951, the Mallorca Railways were intervened by the state and in 1959 they were under complete management of EFE. Until the beginning of the 1970s, a torrent of new lines continued to flow into state management, which forced EFE to be restructured and Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha (FEVE) to be created in 1965.[28]​.

The new company encompassed a large number of loss-making lines, as well as very old-fashioned railway equipment in very poor condition. Because many of these lines were mining railways or local lines, they arrived at FEVE in a state of loss or low profitability that forced its closure. State-owned railway lines were also integrated, such as the Ferrol-Gijón Railway, whose construction was completed in 1972. By that date, almost all of the narrow gauge railways had passed under the control of FEVE.

The end of an era

The emergence of motor vehicles since the mid-1960s had been a serious competitor for the railway, and this manifested itself most strongly in the cities: now that utility vehicles were gaining strength, trams were seen as hindering traffic on the streets of large cities. The arrival of the 1970s meant the gradual disappearance and dismantling of the once important tram networks: the last one that was in service was the Zaragoza Tram, whose last line stopped providing service in January 1976.

As a result of the oil crisis of 1973, the Spanish economy began to slow down and enter a deep crisis. This occurs coinciding with the last years of the Franco Dictatorship, whose political structure is increasingly weakened. Despite the crisis, RENFE continues with its reform programs: in the middle of the decade it began to experiment with high speed, 190 km/h, with the aim of implementing it on the Madrid-Barcelona line. The year 1975 would mark a before and after in the history of the railway in Spain, since during this year the official end of steam traction occurred. On June 23, one of the last RENFE steam locomotives, a "Mikado" registration 141-F-2348, was taken out of service at the Vicálvaro classification station (Madrid).[45]​.

Although this symbolic event is usually noted as the end of steam traction in Spain, the truth is that it continued to operate on a smaller scale in various parts of Spain. Steam locomotives continued to be operational on the Andorra-Escatrón line until their suppression in August 1984.[46]​[47]​ A similar situation occurred during those years on other mining routes, such as the Riotinto railway or the Ponferrada-Villablino railway.

On November 20, 1975, Francisco Franco died and with it began the beginning of the end of Franco's regime. For RENFE it will mean the beginning of a new era, in the search to offer efficient and modern services to the public. Before the end of the 1970s, with a view to increasing safety, in 1978 the ASFA safety system was implemented, a reproduction of the signals in the cabin that automatically prevents passing a red signal. Another consequence of the fuel crisis (which suffered a rebound in 1979 with the second oil crisis) was to give a new impetus to the electrification of the main railway lines: Already in 1973 the Valencia-Tarragona railway had been electrified, which was followed in 1976 by the Seville-Córdoba, Miranda de Ebro-Zaragoza or Espeluy-Jaén routes. Three years later, the Córdoba-Málaga, Alcázar de San Juan-Chinchilla, Chinchilla-Játiva lines, and the Guadalajara-Torralba section were electrified. In 1981 the electrification of the entire Madrid-Barcelona Line was completed, where the installation of the double track was also being undertaken.

Despite the achievement of large railway works, such as the "Directo Madrid-Burgos" or the colossal Madrid-Chamartín station, the Spanish railway, in line with the global trend, was going through a serious crisis that, with the political changes that were taking place, caused the first attempts to rationalize an underused and inefficient network. In 1979, the Barcelona Sants Station was inaugurated, which concentrated the main railway traffic in the city after the closure in 1972 of the old North Station "Estación del Norte (Barcelona)"). However, railway deficits increasingly posed a greater problem for both RENFE and the state.

Towards the new railway

In 1979, the first "Program Contract" was signed, an agreement by which the State provided the necessary economic resources for exploitation and investments while RENFE committed to improving the quality of its services and developing a plan that would allow its recovery.

In the 1980s the question of the economic profitability of the network was raised. Based on the fact that 68% of rail traffic was carried out on 5,000 of the 13,500 km of track in the network, a plan was developed within the program contract agreed with the government, known as cerrojazo, to close those lines that were not economically profitable, largely forgetting the social profitability of the railway. In January 1985, when Enrique Barón was Minister of Public Works, 914 km of railway were closed, affecting 12 lines and 132 stations, while another 933 km were maintained for exclusive freight service. Some of the affected lines were the Santander-Mediterráneo, Valladolid-Ariza, Plasencia-Astorga, Almendricos-Guadix, La Fuente de San Esteban-Barca de Alba, Jaén-Campo Real, Valencia-Liria, Calatayud-Valencia, etc.[48]​[49]​[50]​ For their part, the autonomous communities came to the rescue of another 600 km to avoid their closure.[51]​ In some cases the reports relating to the losses of these lines contained manipulated or false data, such as adding electrification workers to lines that did not have it, and thus justifying their closure.[49]​.

With the new political system, the FEVE company, which at the beginning of the 1980s was still suffering a serious crisis, gave up ownership of several of its lines to some regions. The first was Catalonia, where the Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) entity was established in 1979. In the Basque Country, Euskotren was created in 1982, followed by Ferrocarriles de la Generalidad Valenciana (FGV) in 1986 and the Servicios Ferroviarios de Mallorca (SFM) in 1994, organizations that received the management of narrow gauge, tram or suburban railways as some autonomous communities received powers in this matter. For its part, during that decade FEVE undertook a profound renovation of material and infrastructure, focusing its services on commuter trains and local trains. Starting in 1983, a tourist train began operating, the so-called Transcantábrico, which would end up becoming a star service.

In 1983, the Madrid Railway Museum was inaugurated, based in the old Delicias station, although since 1967 there had already been a Railway Museum in the Fernán Núñez Palace. Years later, the Railway Museum of Catalonia would follow, located in the town of Villanueva y Geltrú (Barcelona) and inaugurated in 1990. In the following years, new museums followed, opening throughout the country. The tourist train modality was also launched, in an attempt to attract the public to the railway beyond commercial services. In this sense, the so-called "Strawberry Train" stands out, a commercial name used to refer to a special service that travels between Madrid and Aranjuez with historical material.[52]​ In the area of the Riotinto Mines, the old mining railway was rehabilitated in the early 1990s for recreational use within the so-called tourist mining railway.[53]​ This train uses the two oldest steam locomotives in Spain that are currently maintained in service,[54]​ as well as other types of historical material.

In 1986-1987, the Rail Transport Plan was approved, which aims to achieve speeds above 200 km/h, for which works were carried out to improve the lines. In this sense, the main objective is to achieve the establishment of a double track at 200 km/h in the Madrid-Barcelona-Valencia triangle, the one with the greatest support. Another of the main actions provided for in the plan is the construction of a New Railway Access to Andalusia (NAFA), for which the government will make a fundamental decision: in 1988 it decides that the NAFA and the new High-speed lines that will be built from now on will be in UIC gauge (European gauge). In 1990, the construction of the NAFA continued, whose arrival partly involved the reorganization of the old stations in Seville or Córdoba. In the Seville capital, the new Santa Justa station was built to concentrate rail traffic in Seville, while the San Bernardo "Old San Bernardo Station (Seville)" and Plaza de Armas "Seville Station-Plaza de Armas (MZA)" stations were dismantled. A large part of these works carried out in the city of Seville had another reason: the celebration of the 1992 Universal Exhibition (Expo'92). In Barcelona there was a reorganization of the network of tracks that circulated through different areas of the city, as well as the improvement and adaptation of the Barcelona-Término station (renamed as France station). In the case of Barcelona, ​​the works were related to the 1992 Olympic Games. The Madrid-Seville high-speed line was inaugurated on April 14, 1992, coinciding with Expo 92, and commercial service began seven days later.

In Madrid there would also be reforms in the city's stations, especially in Atocha, which at the end of the 80s began to show signs of saturation and shortage of facilities. Between 1985 and 1992, a major remodeling project was carried out under the direction of architect Rafael Moneo, which consisted of the construction of 2 completely new high-capacity stations: the Puerta de Atocha and Atocha-Cercanías stations. While the Atocha station was closed for the works, its traffic was absorbed by the Chamartín station. In 1993 the old North Station "Estación del Norte (Madrid)") was closed and after extensive renovations, it was inaugurated as a new transport interchange, renamed Príncipe Pío.

Changes in customs, with the growth of the urban population and especially in the peripheries, cause suburban traffic to increase dramatically, which would lead to the need for significant investments. Thus, an important Cercanías service began to be developed in the most important cities of the country: during those years the current networks of Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Bilbao and Málaga were inaugurated.

The application of European directive 91/440, which imposed the Liberalization of rail transport in Spain, and economic efficiency, meant that the company was subdivided into several business units. This meant the disappearance of the territorial organization model that had been maintained in RENFE since its creation, with the division of its administration by zones. Mercancías&action=edit&redlink=1 "Commodity and Logistics Services (Renfe) (not yet written)"). On December 30, 1998, the company Gestor de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (GIF) was founded, a public business entity that was created due to the rail transport measures that the European Union began to promote based on Council Directive 91/440/EEC on the Development of railways. Community Railways. Among other issues, this directive established the separation between the train operators and the infrastructure manager. The rolling stock and its exploitation remained in the hands of RENFE, although it was planned that any private company that requested it would circulate on the railway lines. GIF would precisely be in charge of starting the construction of the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line that year.

The emergence of the AVE

In April 1992, the first high-speed line in Spain, the Madrid-Seville line, was inaugurated. This infrastructure is integrated into the works to promote the development of southern Spain and the Universal Exposition of Seville in 1992. The name of this new infrastructure, which is built with international European gauge, is AVE, Spanish High Speed. The AVE can reach 300 km/h.

The Infrastructure Master Plan, which was launched in the 1990s with a period of 15 years, launches, apart from the maintenance of the basic network, the extension of the high-speed network of international width. The next line to be opened, not without controversy and problems, would be the Madrid-Barcelona line, which would be followed by the construction of the Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid line, with the Sierra de Guadarrama tunnel, and the branch line to Irún-France, which will be known as the Basque "Y", as well as the union of this with the Madrid-Barcelona line in Zaragoza. We can also highlight the arrival of the AVE to the Valencian Community crossing Castilla-La Mancha, as well as the continuation through Andalusia arriving at Malaga. On June 16, 1997, the Euromed service began operating, a new high-speed service for Iberian gauge that operated on the route from Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Alicante.[55]​.

The arrival of the 21st century

El 3 de junio de 2003 tuvo lugar el grave accidente ferroviario de Chinchilla debido a la colisión frontal de dos trenes cerca de la estación de Chinchilla, un nudo ferroviario situado en el municipio castellano-manchego de Chinchilla de Montearagón, que acabó con la vida de 19 personas y dejó unos 50 heridos.[57]​.

En noviembre de 2003 se publicó la Ley del Sector Ferroviario, que da visos de realidad a la liberalización del sector y que implicó el fin del monopolio del transporte ferroviario que imperaba en España desde finales de la guerra civil. De acuerdo a la nueva legislación, el 31 de diciembre de 2004 el Gestor de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (GIF) se volvió a integrar en RENFE y a las 00:00 del 1 de enero de 2005 esta desapareció y fue sustituida por dos nuevos organismos: Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), que será el encargado de administrar la gestión de la infraestructura y realizar las inversiones para la construcción de nuevas líneas, y Renfe Operator, in charge of the transportation of passengers and goods, in competition with other companies.

On July 3, 2006, a train accident occurred on the Metrovalencia network, when a convoy with about 150 people on board derailed on a curve near the Jesús station, killing 43 people and injuring 47. of the history of Spain.[58]​.

The construction of the High Speed ​​lines continued and in some cases they were completed: In 2005 the La Sagra-Toledo high speed line was inaugurated, replacing the old Iberian gauge line; At the end of 2007, the Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid high-speed line, the Córdoba-Málaga line and the Lérida-Tarragona high-speed section were inaugurated. At the beginning of 2008 the first AVE trains arrived at the Barcelona-Sants Station, ten years after the works began. In 2010, another major project was inaugurated, the Madrid-Levante high-speed line. The debut of this new railway involved the entry into service of new stations adapted for AVE services: the Valencia-Joaquín Sorolla Station or the Cuenca-Fernando Zóbel Station.

Since April 2012, the Madrid-Burgos direct railway, which in recent years had been in clear decline, stopped providing service along its entire route due to rock falls that ended up causing the closure of the line.[59]​.

Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha (FEVE) was originally exempt from the new scenario, although on July 20, 2012 the Government of Mariano Rajoy agreed that it would become extinct on December 31, 2012, dividing into two as had happened with RENFE: The infrastructure was transferred to Adif, and the operation of the railways to Renfe Operadora.[60]​[61]​.

Due in part to the economic crisis, in May 2013 the Ministry of Public Works decided to suppress 48 Medium Distance lines operated by Renfe that were not economically profitable and that were accumulating deficits.[62][63] Other Iberian gauge lines have suffered in recent years a drastic reduction in the frequency and quality of their services, especially those that affect Extremadura. He also highlighted the partial closure to traffic that the direct Madrid-Burgos railway suffered in 2011.

Since the implementation of the railway in Spain in the middle of the century until the present day, railway traffic has been marked by various serious accidents. Leaving aside accidents caused by people or vehicles being run over, the first railway accident on Spanish lines in which fatalities occurred was probably the derailment that occurred on November 28, 1852 in the vicinity of kilometer 4 of the Madrid - Aranjuez railway, a point on its route that was located on that date in the municipality of Vallecas, between Cerro Negro&action=edit&redlink=1 "Cerro Negro (Madrid) (not yet written)") and the old bridge by which said line crossed the Manzanares canal, and currently located in the municipality of Madrid, at the height of the current Santa Catalina freight station. In the aforementioned accident, the locomotive and the first car of the composition of a passenger train heading from Madrid to Aranjuez fell down an embankment, killing the stoker and the inspector who were serving in the convoy.[65][66]​.

Three years later, on September 27, 1855, on the same section of the then unfinished Madrid - Alicante railway, and also in the outskirts of Madrid, the first accident with five or more fatalities occurred on the Spanish railways, when a locomotive that was circulating in isolation sank on the bridge located at kilometer 1,900 of the aforementioned line, corresponding to its passage over the Abroñigal stream, which in At the time of the event, there was a large flow due to an intense storm that had fallen hours before in the area. Since that accident, some one hundred and ninety accidents with five or more fatalities have occurred on Spanish railways; Of them, in approximately 85 there were 10 or more deaths, and in about 35 the number of deaths exceeded twenty. Of the latter, the first occurred on October 7, 1863 in the province of Gerona and the most recent is the one that occurred near the Santiago de Compostela station on July 24, 2013.