FEVE
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| Predecessor | Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha (FEVE) |
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| Formation | 1 January 2013 |
| Type | State-owned company |
| Purpose | Railway operatator |
| Location | |
| Services | rail |
| Owner | Renfe Operadora |
| Website | renfe |
| Renfe Feve | |
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Electric unit 3500, operated by FEVE, arriving at Muros de Nalón station, on its way to Gijón
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| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge |
| Electrification | (?) |
Renfe Feve is a division of state-owned Spanish railway company Renfe Operadora. It operates most of Spain's 1,250 km (777 mi) of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge railway. This division of Renfe was previously a stand-alone company named FEVE (Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha, Spanish for "Narrow-gauge railways"). On 31 December 2012 the Spanish government simplified the organization of train companies merging Feve into Renfe and Adif. The rolling stock and the brand FEVE was transferred to Renfe (renamed to "Renfe Feve") and the infrastructures were transferred to Adif.
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 railway lines (1,435 mm or 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in standard gauge,1,067 mm or 3 ft 6 in,1,000 mm or 3 ft 3 3⁄8 in, 914 mm or 3 ft & 750 mm or 2 ft 5 1⁄2 in), where the existing concession holders had been unable to be profitable. Most were converted to 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge (if not already built in that gauge). However, from 1978 onwards, with the introduction of regionalisation 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 Valencian Community in 1986, with a part of the Basque network in 1979, and with Majorcan Railways in 1994. That did not occur, however, in the Murcia (autonomous community) region, where the narrow-gauge railway network remained under FEVE control. The above-mentioned EFE (Explotación de Ferrocarriles por el Estado) also operated the local suburbano railway in the town of Madrid. This railway became part of the city's subway Metro de Madrid as its Line 10.
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Wikipedia