FEVE

FEVE

station, on its way to Gijón] FEVE (Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha, meaning "Narrow-Gauge Spanish Railways") is a state-owned Spanish railway company, which operates most of Spain's 1,250 km (775 miles) of metre gauge railway.

History

FEVE was created in 1965, as a successor to the government-run organization EFE (Explotación de Ferrocarriles por el Estado), which had been taking over failed private railways since 1926. Following the creation in 1941 of RENFE, to which the ownership of all Spanish broad-gauge railways was transferred, EFE had in practice become the operator of a collection of exclusively narrow-gauge lines. The present status of FEVE, as a government-owned commercial company, dates from 1972.

The new company continued to absorb independent narrow-gauge lines (1,435 mm, 1,062 mm, 1,000 mm, 915 mm & 750 mm) which the existing concession holders had been unable to make profitable. However, from 1978 onwards, with the introduction of regional devolution under the new Spanish constitution, FEVE also began transferring responsibility for a number of its operations to the new regional governments. This happened in Catalonia in 1978, in the Land of Valencia in 1986, with a part of the Basque network in 1979, and with Majorcan Railways in 1994.

Operations today

The great majority of the narrow-gauge lines still operated by FEVE are located along or near Spain's Atlantic Ocean and Bay of Biscay coastline, which stretches from Galicia in the northwest, through Asturias and Cantabria to the Basque Country (with a branch extending into Castile and León). Together they form a large and strategically important system, which is why – unlike the other, more isolated regional railways – they have been retained under the integrated management of FEVE.

FEVE operates 1,194km of track, of which 316km are electrified.

"Transcantábrico" line

The most important line operated by FEVE is a 650 km (400 mile) long line, the "Transcantábrico", which runs along the entire length of Spain's north coast, and has connected the cities of San Sebastián, Bilbao, Santander, Oviedo and Ferrol to Leon since 1982. Operated as a holiday service, the carriages of the train are furnished with bedrooms, lounges and restaurants and voyages typically last eight days and seven nights.

Commuter services

FEVE also operates a range of "cercanías" or commuter services. The main commuter area is Cercanías Asturias, where the dense five line FEVE network is totally integrated with the RENFE lines and works effectively as a regional metro system.

The Bilbao area has a line running from Bilbao's Concordia station to the large town of Balmaseda, calling at local villages and settlements on its way through Biscay, as well as the main towns of Basurto, Sodupe, Aranguren, and Zalla.

Goods operations

FEVE's rails transport approximately 460 million tonnes of goods each year, accounting for a large part of the company's business. The products one may expect to see on board their goods trains include iron, steel and coal, fuelling much of the country's industry.

Companies operating former FEVE services

*EuskoTren and Metro Bilbao - in the Basque Country
*FGC - around Barcelona
*FGV - in the Valencian Community
*SFM - on the island of Majorca

ee also

*Transportation in Spain
*History of rail transport in Spain

External links

* [http://www.feve.es/ FEVE website] (Spanish)
* [http://www.transcantabrico.feve.es/ing/comunes/index.html Transcantábrico website] (English)
* [http://www.si-esta.com Transcantabrico] (Spanish and English)
* [http://www.visitasturias.co.uk/ VisitAsturias.co.uk] (English guide to Asturias including FEVE)


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • fève — fève …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • fève — [ fɛv ] n. f. • fin XIIe XIIIe; lat. faba → favisme 1 ♦ Plante (légumineuses) annuelle, vesce dont les graines se consomment fraîches ou conservées. Champ de fèves. 2 ♦ Cour. La graine de cette plante. Grosse fève ou fève des marais (appelée… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • FEVE — Schmalspurbahn im Bahnhof von Ferrol FEVE Bahnhof in Santander Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha (dt. „Schmalspureisenbahn“), abgekürzt FEVE, ist e …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • feve — FEVE. s. f. Sorte de legume long & plat, qui vient dans des gousses. Grosse feve. petite feve. feve nouvelle. feve de marais. quand les feves sont en fleur. escosser des feves. frezer des feves. des feves frezées. On dit prov. & bass. S il me… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • Fève — Désigne par métonymie un producteur ou un marchand de fèves. C est dans le Cher et les Vosges que le nom est le plus répandu …   Noms de famille

  • FEVE — (pronunciamos fe ve ) sustantivo femenino 1. Sigla de Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha , España …   Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española

  • feve — Feve, voyez Febve …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • Fève — Cet article concerne la fève en tant que légume. Pour la fève, objet d Épiphanie, que l on trouve dans les galettes des rois, voir Favophilie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • fève — (fè v ) s. f. 1°   Plante de la famille des légumineuses qui produit des semences alimentaires. Rogner des fèves, couper le sommet de la plante pour faire nouer et grossir les graines. •   D autres assurent qu il [Pythagore poursuivi par les… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • FÈVE — s. f. Plante de la famille des Légumineuses, qui produit des semences alimentaires. Semer des fèves. Un champ de fèves. Quand les fèves sont en fleur.   Il se dit également Des semences de cette plante, qui sont oblongues, un peu comprimées, et… …   Dictionnaire de l'Academie Francaise, 7eme edition (1835)

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”