Transport in Spain is characterised by a network of roads, railways, trams, air routes, and ports. Its geographic location makes it an important link between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Major forms of transit generally radiate from the capital, Madrid, located in the centre of the country, to link with the capitals of the autonomous communities.
Cercanías Madrid is the commuter rail service that serves Madrid, the capital of Spain, and its metropolitan area. It is operated by Cercanías Renfe, the commuter rail division of Renfe, the former monopoly of rail services in Spain. Its total length is 370 km.
The Sierra de Guadarrama is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges along the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is located between the systems Sierra de Gredos in the province of Ávila, and Sierra de Ayllón in the province of Guadalajara.
Canfranc is a municipality in the Aragón Valley of north-eastern Spain consisting of two villages, the original village and Canfranc Estación, which developed with the establishment of Canfranc International railway station to serve railway traffic across the Pyrenees.
Somport or Col du Somport, known also as the Aspe Pass or Canfranc Pass, is a mountain pass in the central Pyrenees on the border of France and Spain. Its name is derived from the Latin Summus portus. It was one of the most popular routes for soldiers, merchants, and pilgrims to the tomb of St. James following the route from Arles to cross the Pyrenees. They travelled from Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France, via Somport to Aragon, Spain.
Somosierra is a mountain pass in the Sierra de Guadarrama north of Madrid in Spain. It connects the north of the Community of Madrid with the east of the province of Segovia. Just south of the pass is the municipality of Somosierra with a population of 77.
The Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed line is an international high-speed rail line between France and Spain. The line consists of a 175.5-kilometre (109.1 mi) railway, of which 24.6 km (15.3 mi) are in France and 150.8 km (93.7 mi) are in Spain. It crosses the French–Spanish border via the 8.3-kilometre (5.2 mi) Perthus Tunnel bored under the Perthus Pass, connecting two cities on opposite sides of the border, Perpignan in Roussillon, France, and Figueres in Catalonia, Spain. The line extends to Barcelona, and this part is sometimes referenced as an extension of the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line. The Perpignan–Barcelona line is a part of the Mediterranean Corridor.
High-speed railways in Spain are in operation since 1992 when the first line was opened connecting the cities of Madrid, Córdoba and Seville. Unlike the rest of the Iberian broad gauge network, the Spanish High-speed network mainly uses standard gauge. This permits direct connections to outside Spain through the link to the French network at the Perthus Tunnel. High-speed trains run on a network of high-speed rail track owned and managed by ADIF, where the dominant service is AVE while other high speed services such as Avant, Alvia, Avlo, Euromed, Ouigo España and Iryo, as well as mid-speed (Altaria) services also operate.
The Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line is a 621-kilometre (385.9 mi) standard gauge railway line inaugurated on 20 February 2008. Designed for speeds of 350 km/h (217.5 mph) and compatibility with neighbouring countries' rail systems, it connects the cities of Madrid and Barcelona in 2 hours 30 minutes. In Barcelona the line is connected with the Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line leading into France which connects it to the European high speed network.
The history of rail transport in Spain begins in the 19th century. In 1848, a railway line between Barcelona and Mataró was inaugurated, although a line in Cuba connecting Havana and Bejucal had already opened in 1837. In 1852 the first narrow gauge line was built, in 1863 a line reached the Portuguese border. By 1864 the Madrid-Irun line had been opened, and the French border reached.
The Guadarrama Tunnel is a railway tunnel across the Sierra de Guadarrama, forming a key portion of the Madrid–Asturias high-speed rail line in Spain. It is the largest tunnel in Spain, as well as being the fifth largest in the world at the time of its completion.
The Madrid–Málaga high-speed rail line is a standard gauge High-speed rail line of 512 km (318 mi) in length that links the city of Madrid with the city of Málaga in Spain. The line was inaugurated on 24 December 2007. At the time the service opened, Renfe Operadora was running 22 trains daily between Madrid and Málaga.
The Madrid–Asturias high-speed rail line connects the city of Madrid with the autonomous community of Asturias and was inaugurated on 29 November 2023. The line is built to standard gauge and gauge changers are provided at strategic points to allow interchange with older Spanish railways which were built to Iberian gauge.
The Madrid–Levante high-speed network is a network of high-speed rail lines that connects Madrid with the Mediterranean coast of the Levante Region, specifically with Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencian Community and the Murcia Region autonomous communities.
The Vielha tunnel is a road tunnel in Spain, connecting Vielha, the capital of the Aran valley, with the Alta Ribagorça comarca. It is part of the N-230 road and consists of two parallel tunnels. The older one, named Alfonso XIII Tunnel in honour of Spanish king Alfonso XIII, was opened in 1948 and became the longest road tunnel in the world, with a length of 5240 metres, until 1964, when the Great St Bernard Tunnel was inaugurated.
The Pau–Canfranc railway is a partially-closed 93 km (58 mi) long international single-track standard gauge railway line connecting Pau in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques region of France, climbing via the Gave d'Aspe valley and tunneling under the Pyrenees, to Canfranc in Spain. The line is part of transport infrastructure between Bordeaux and Zaragoza and is now named the Goya Line, after the painter Francisco de Goya who was born near Zaragoza and died in Bordeaux.
The Engaña Tunnel is a never-completed railway tunnel in Spain, connecting the provinces of Burgos and Cantabria through the Cantabrian Mountains. The tunnel was part of the proposed Santander–Mediterranean railway line, an attempt by the Spanish government to connect the Bay of Biscay with the Mediterranean Sea. The construction lasted for over seventeen years, from 1941 to 1959, employing hundreds of workers, including Republican prisoners during the first years. At the time of its construction, it was the longest railway tunnel in Spain, with a length of 6,976 metres (22,887 ft), but was never completed as the rails were never laid.
Príncipe Pío is a multimodal train station in Madrid, Spain that services Madrid Metro's Line 6, Line 10, and Ramal; Cercanías Madrid's commuter rail lines C-1, C-7, and C-10; and city buses and intercity and long-distance coaches. It is located next to the River Manzanares between the San Vicente roundabout and the streets of Cuesta de San Vicente, Paseo de la Florida, and Paseo del Rey in the district of Moncloa-Aravaca. It is one of the busiest stations in the Madrid Metro and Cercanías systems.
Line C-9, formerly known as the Guadarrama Electric Railway, is a narrow-gauge mountain railway incorporated into Madrid's Cercanías commuter rail network. The line is operated by Renfe Operadora and runs through the Guadarrama Mountains from Cercedilla, Madrid to Cotos Pass, Segovia. Although classified as a commuter rail line, Line C-9 primarily serves the ski resorts at Cotos and Navacerrada Passes, connecting with the rest of the commuter rail system with the Line C-8 at Cercedilla Station. Line C-9 is the only metre-gauge railway among the Cercanías Madrid lines.