Track gauge in Spain - Misplaced Pages

Traditionally, the gauge of the national railway in Spain, now managed by Adif, is 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in), known as Iberian gauge. This gauge (originally 1,674mm but then reduced slightly to allow interoperability with Portugal) was decided upon by a Parliamentary committee, after a report known as the Informe Subercase (named for its principal author) in 1844. Spain has 11,791 km of track with this gauge.

Since 1992, all high-speed rail lines in Spain have been built to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge, providing direct connections without break-of-gauge with the French railway system. The high speed line that was projected to run from Madrid to Lisbon was also to have been built at this gauge.

A large metre gauge network also exists in the north of the country, linking Hendaye (in France) with León and Asturias. Some isolated metre-gauge railways also exist in Murcia, Catalonia and the Valencian Community. This was previously operated by FEVE (Ferrocarriles de Via Estrecha, Narrow Gauge Railways), but was taken over by Renfe in 2012.

The Madrid Metro is built to a gauge of 1,445mm, slightly wider than standard gauge.

The Barcelona Metro is built to standard gauge, except line 1, which was designed for through running of trains from the national network.

Iberian gauge (1,668mm)

Adif lines formerly belonging to Renfe
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya – line from Lleida to La Pobla de Segur (formerly owned by Renfe, transferred in 2005)
Barcelona metro line 1 (this line is still built to the original gauge of 1,674mm, within engineering tolerances)

Standard gauge (1,435mm)

High-speed lines (LAVs) belonging to Adif
- Madrid – Córdoba – Seville/Málaga
- Madrid – Toledo
- Madrid – Zaragoza – Barcelona – French border
- Madrid – Valencia – Alicante/Alacant
- Madrid – Valladolid – Leon
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya – lines from Barcelona to Terrassa and Sabadell
Barcelona metro (all lines except line 1)

Metre gauge (1,000mm)

Lines formerly belonging to FEVE, including Euskotren Trena
- Lines around Cartagena
- Lines from Ferrol and León to Bilbao, San Sebastián and Hendaye
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya – line from Barcelona to Manresa and Igualada
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana – including the Valencia metro system
Renfe – Line C-9 of Cercanías Madrid, from Cercedilla to Cotos
Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca

Other gauges

Ferrocarril de Sóller, Mallorca – 914mm
Madrid Metro – 1,445mm

References

"Informe Subercase - Ferropedia". www.ferropedia.es.
"Railroad Gauge Width". Archived from the original on 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
"Madrid Metro". UrbanRail.Net. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
"el metro de Barcelona - Línia L1 Hospital de Bellvitge - Fondo". www.trenscat.com (in Catalan). Retrieved 1 September 2020.
"Línia Lleida-La Pobla de Segur. Tren dels Llacs - Característiques tècniques". www.trenscat.com.
"Scartamento metro Parigi e Londra - Pagina 2 - Ferrovie.it". www.ferrovie.it.
"Línia Barcelona-Vallès - Característiques tècniques". www.trenscat.com.
"Línia Llobregat-Anoia - Característiques tècniques". www.trenscat.com.
"FGV - Metrovalencia - Línia 1. Bétera - Castelló de la Ribera". www.trenscat.com.
"Ferrocarril Cercedilla - Cotos (línea 116 de Adif) - Ferropedia". www.ferropedia.es.

v t e Track gauge in Europe
Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Kosovo Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria

Track gauge in Europe

Sovereign states

States with limited
recognition

v t e Track gauge (list)
Minimum-gauge Minimum-gauge railways	15 in (381 mm) 400 mm (15+3⁄4 in) 16 in (406 mm) 18 in (457 mm) 19 in (483 mm) 500 mm (19+3⁄4 in) 20 in (508 mm) 21 in (533 mm) 1 ft 10 in (559 mm)
Narrow gauge	2 foot and 600 mm 2 ft 3 in (686 mm) 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) 760 mm (2 ft 5+15⁄16 in) 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) 800 mm (2 ft 7+1⁄2 in) 891 mm (2 ft 11+3⁄32 in) Swedish three foot 900 mm (2 ft 11+7⁄16 in) 3 ft (914 mm) 950 mm (3 ft 1+3⁄8 in) Italian metre gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge 1,050 mm (3 ft 5+11⁄32 in), 1,055 mm (3 ft 5+1⁄2 in), 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) 1,093 mm (3 ft 7 in), 1,100 mm (3 ft 7+5⁄16 in), 1,200 mm (3 ft 11+1⁄4 in) 4 ft (1,219 mm) 4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm), Middleton Railway 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm), Scotch gauge 4 ft 6+1⁄2 in (1,384 mm), Scotch gauge 4 ft 7+3⁄4 in (1,416 mm) 4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm), almost standard gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄4 in (1,429 mm) 1,432 mm (4 ft 8+3⁄8 in)
Standard gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in / 1,435 mm, Stephenson gauge
Broad gauge	1,440 mm (4 ft 8+11⁄16 in) 1,445 mm (4 ft 8+7⁄8 in) 1,450 mm (4 ft 9+3⁄32 in) 4 ft 9+3⁄8 in (1,457 mm) 1,458 mm (4 ft 9+13⁄32 in) 4 ft 10+7⁄8 in (1,495 mm), Toronto gauge 5 ft / 1,524 mm and 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in), Russian gauge. 5 ft 2+1⁄4 in / 1,581 mm and 5 ft 2+1⁄2 in / 1,588 mm, Pennsylvania gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm), Irish gauge 5 ft 4+1⁄2 in (1,638 mm), Baltimore gauge 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in), Iberian gauge 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm), Indian gauge 1,945 mm (6 ft 4+9⁄16 in), De Arend 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm), Brunel gauge 3,000 mm (9 ft 10+1⁄8 in), Breitspurbahn 8,200 mm (26 ft 10+27⁄32 in), Lärchwandschrägaufzug 9,000 mm (29 ft 6+5⁄16 in), Krasnoyarsk ship lift
List of track gauge articles	List of track gauges List of tram track gauges Miniature railways Minimum-gauge railways Large amusement railways
Gauge differences	Bogie exchange Break of gauge Dual gauge Gauge conversion list Variable gauge
Transport mode	Tram and light rail Rapid transit Miniature Scale model
Categories	by country by imperial units by metric units by name lists of track gauges

Categories:

Iberian gauge (1,668mm)

Standard gauge (1,435mm)

Metre gauge (1,000mm)

Other gauges

See also

References