Track gauge in Spain

Traditionally, the gauge of the national railway in Spain, now managed by Adif, is 1668mm, known as Iberian gauge. This gauge (originally 1674mm 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.^[1] Spain has 11791 km of track with this gauge.^[2]

Since 1992, all high-speed rail lines in Spain have been built to standard gauge, 1435mm, 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 1445mm,^[3] almost (but not quite) 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.^[4]

Iberian gauge (1668mm)

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)^[5]
Barcelona metro line 1 (this line is still built to the original gauge of 1674mm, within engineering tolerances)^[6]

Standard gauge (1435mm)

High-speed lines (LAVs) belonging to Adif
- Madrid - Córdoba - Seville/Málaga
- Madrid - Toledo
- Madrid - Zaragoza - Barcelona - French border
- Madrid - Valencia - Alicante/Alacant
- Madrid - Valladolid
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya - lines from Barcelona to Terrassa and Sabadell^[7]
Barcelona metro (all lines except line 1)

Metre gauge (1000mm)

Lines formerly belonging to FEVE, including Euskotren
- 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^[8]
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana - including the Valencia metro system^[9]
RENFE - Line C-9 of Cercanías Madrid, from Cercedilla to Cotos^[10]
Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca

Other gauges

Ferrocarril de Sóller, Mallorca - 914mm

References

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 Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom

States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria

Former	Czechoslovakia East Germany Soviet Union Yugoslavia

Track gauge (list)

Minimum gauge	15 in (381 mm) 400 mm (15 ³⁄₄ in) 18 in (457 mm) 500 mm (19 ³⁄₄ in)

Narrow gauge	2 foot and 600 mm 750 mm (2 ft 5 ¹⁄₂ in) 760 mm (2 ft 5 ¹⁵⁄₁₆ in) Bosnian gauge 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 3 ft 6 in/1,067 mm 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm), Scotch gauge List of narrow tram track gauges

Standard gauge	4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in/1,435 mm, Stephenson gauge List of standard gauge tram tracks

Broad gauge	1445 mm gauge 1,445 mm (4 ft 8 ⁷⁄₈ in) 4 ft 10 ⁷⁄₈ in (1,495 mm), Toronto 5 ft/1,524 mm and 1520 mm, Russian gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm), Irish gauge 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 ²¹⁄₃₂ in), Iberian gauge 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm), Indian gauge 7 ft ¹⁄₄ in (2,140 mm), Brunel gauge 3,000 mm (9 ft 10 ¹⁄₈ in), Breitspurbahn List of broad tram track gauges

Gauge differences	Bogie exchange Break-of-gauge Dual gauge Gauge conversion list Variable gauge

Categories	by country by imperial units by metric units by name lists of track gauges

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