Creation and first years

The origins of FEVE are in the organization Explotación de Ferrocarriles por el Estado (EFE), which had been created in 1926 for the management of the state-built railway lines, or those that had passed to state management. After the creation of RENFE in 1941, EFE's scope of action was greatly reduced, since it was limited to the narrow-gauge railroads. The situation changed radically after 1960, when a large number of small mining railroads went bankrupt and the State came to their rescue. Due to the large number of lines that the State was forced to manage in such a short time, in order to streamline the administration, a new autonomous organization was formally created on September 23, 1965; that same day EFE changed its name to Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha (FEVE).^[7]

The FEVE network consisted of the lines of former companies such as Sociedad General de Ferrocarriles Vasco Asturiana, Ferrocarriles Económicos de Asturias, Ferrocarril de Langreo, Ferrocarril de Carreño, Ferrocarril Cantábrico, Ferrocarril Santander-Bilbao, Ferrocarril de La Robla, Ferrocarriles de Mallorca, Ferrocarril Cartagena-Los Blancos, in addition to the Ferrocarril Ferrol-Gijón, built entirely by the State. However, many of these railroads were in a very critical situation, with the railway material and/or infrastructure in great need of improvement. For this reason there were other narrow-gauge lines, such as those inherited through the Compañía de Ferrocarriles Secundarios de Castilla, which were closed soon after being considered loss-making.

The longest line owned by the company is 330 kilometers long, known as the Ferrocarril de La Robla. It originally ran from La Robla to Balmaseda and was built to transport coal from the mining industry in Leon and Palencia to the steel industry in Biscay. At the beginning of the 20th century the sections Balmaseda-Luchana and the access to Bilbao (taking advantage of the route of the Ferrocarril Santander-Bilbao) and Matallana-León were built, thus connecting the capitals of León and Bilbao. Currently the sections between Matallana de Torío and La Robla and Iráuregui-Luchana do not provide passenger service. It is the longest metric track in Europe, running through the eastern mountains of León, the north of the province of Palencia, the south of Cantabria, the north of the province of Burgos and Biscay.

In 1980 FEVE began to specialize in freight and regional and commuter passenger transport. On the other hand, it created the luxury tourist train Transcantábrico, which began its services in 1982, becoming the company's star service. It runs from Santiago de Compostela-Ferrol-Bilbao-León (the Santiago-Ferrol section is by bus).

In addition, the Ministry of Development made numerous investments to improve both the infrastructure and the rolling stock. After the cessions made to the autonomous regions, FEVE's railway network was mainly focused on the Cantabrian Coast. The main FEVE line in the Cantabrian Coast was the one connecting Ferrol with Bilbao through the provinces of Biscay, Cantabria, Asturias and Lugo. Also linked to this general line were several minor lines and branch lines, where, as a general rule, commuter trains provided service. These lines and branches were the following:

• In Asturias, the lines Trubia-Mieres-Collanzo, Pravia-San Esteban (the latter coming from the former Ferrocarril Vasco Asturiano), Gijón-Pola de Laviana (from the former Ferrocarril de Langreo) and the line Gijón-Avilés-Cudillero (heir of the Ferrocarril del Carreño and that of Ferrol-Gijón).
• In Cantabria there is a branch line that connects Liérganes with Orejo, station of the Bilbao - Santander section.

There are also several industrial branches that connect the general FEVE network with loading stations of private industries and seaports. FEVE was also the owner of the international section Puente Internacional in Irun-Hendaye, of the line popularly known as "El Topo", although the operation was ceded to Euskotren. In Asturias and Cantabria, FEVE had an important network of commuter lines. In Galicia it operated the commuter line between Ferrol and Ortigueira. In the Region of Murcia it also had a line between Cartagena and Los Nietos.

Transfer to autonomous communities

After the approval of the 1978 Constitution, and in accordance with the state of autonomies it established, as of 1979 a significant part of the narrow gauge network was transferred by the central government to the new autonomous communities, which began to manage it through public bodies:

• Eusko Trenbideak - Ferrocarriles Vascos (ET/FV): created by the Basque Government in 1982, it came to operate several lines in the provinces of Gipuzkoa and Biscay.
• Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC): created in 1979, it began operating several regional and/or commuter lines in the province of Barcelona.
• Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV): created in 1986, it began operating several regional and/or commuter lines in the Valencian Community.
• Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca (SFM): created in 1994, it operates several lines on the island of Mallorca.

Last years and disappearance

In 2005 FEVE, faced with the new Spanish railway scenario characterized by liberalization and opening to competition (from which FEVE was initially exempted), the public entity undertakes a strategic plan that sets the guidelines for the company in the medium term to start the process of railway liberalization required by the European Union. The plan emphasizes the optimization of human resources and specialization by sector, creating management divisions (similar to Renfe's Business Units), which will specialize in their corresponding markets. The strategic plan aims to increase the company's coverage index by 12 points to 45%, with emphasis on the search for income by attracting tourist traffic and new freight customers, as well as its consolidation in commuter and regional train passengers.

Different public bodies —such as the Court of Auditors and the General State Comptroller— have pointed out FEVE's budgetary mismanagement during the period 2005–2012, estimating an increase in FEVE's debt from 191 to 569 million euros due to numerous "irregularities".^[8] In the years of presidency of Ángel Villalba, who was president of FEVE during the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, there were also several controversies surrounding his management of FEVE:^[9] in 2011, while he was still president, four railway convoys were initially acquired (although the number was eventually raised to 28 trains) that had to be scrapped and resold again,^[10] because they were ordered without ever having a railway network on which they could run.^[11]

On July 20, 2012, Royal Decree-Law 22/2012 [1], of July 20, 2012, was approved, whereby FEVE was extinguished on December 31, 2012, and the infrastructure was subrogated to Adif and the operation of the trains to Renfe-Operadora.^[12] In this way, the national broad-gauge and narrow-gauge networks were unified. In practice, Renfe continued to use the Feve brand to refer to all the passenger services it inherited from the previous company, until 2021, when it began to progressively replace the Renfe Feve brand with Renfe Cercanías AM.

Locomotives

Diesel units

Electrical units

NOTE: In bold, models that were still active at the time of the company's demise.