User:Gta Ed~enwiki/Feve

Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha (Feve, English: Narrow-Gauge Railways) is a state-owned Spanish railway company, which operates in the autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Basque Country, Castile and León and Region of Murcia on an important network of 1,250km (776 miles) of metre gauge railway formed in 1965 with the union of several different railway companies in Spain which all used a railway gauge inferior to the normal one in Spain. Those companies were part of the also state-owned organization ''Explotación de Ferrocarriles por el Estado (EFE)" (State-owned railways). Since 1965 to now, much rail tracks and services have been closed and opened.

History
Currently, FEVE is formed by the rail tracks of the several former companies that managed railway services in the country: Sociedad General de Ferrocarriles Vasco-Asturiana (General Society of Asturian-Basque railways), Ferrocarriles Económicos de Asturias (Economic Railways of Asturias), Ferrocarril de Langreo (Langreo's Railway), Ferrocarril de Carreño (Railway of Carreño), Ferrocarril Cantábrico (Cantabric Railway), Ferrocarril Santander-Bilbao (Santander-Bilbao Railway), Ferrocarril de la Robla (Robla's Railway), Ferrocarril Cartagena-Los Blancos (Cartagena-Los Blancos Railway), and Ferrol-Gijón Railway, built by the state.

The most extense line the company owns is known as Ferrocarril de la Robla, with 330km. Originally, its route went from La Robla to Balmaseda and was built to transport the products of the minery companies in Castile and León to the companies in Biscay. On the first years of the 20th Century, the routes of Balmaseda-Lutxana, the access to Bilbao (taking advantage of the already built rail track of Bilbao-Santander), and the Matallana-León were built. Thanks to those contructions, the cities of León and Bilbao were connected. Currently, the lines between Matallana-La Robla and Alonsotegi-Lutxana do not have services as passenger trains.

The main line of FEVE in Green Spain connects Ferrol with Bilbao through the provinces of Cantabria, Asturias and Lugo. As well, this line is connected with several smaller lines and networks, including commuter rail services. FEVE owns as well several cargo and industrial railway services.

FEVE is also the holder of the international route Puente Internacional/Nazioarteko Zubia (International Bridge) that connects Irun (Spain) with Hendaye (France), route locally known as "El Topo" (The Mole). However, the rights for the usage of this lines are own by EuskoTren. In Asturias and Cantabria, FEVE owns important commuter rail services, while in Murcia it owns the line Cartagena-Los Nietos.

Since several years ago, a significative part of the network has been transferred to the autonomous communities, the ones manage the networks through public companies.


 * EuskoTren - operates in the Basque Country
 * FGC - operates in the metropolitan area of Barcelona.
 * FGV - operates in the Valencian Community
 * SFM - operates two lines in Majorca.

The current FEVE network gives services as regional trains, commuter rail services and cargo.