Transportation in Spain

1.             Water transportation is an essential form of transportation in Spain because the country is surrounded by water. Spain has a mainland as well islands in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Atlantic Ocean that are all surrounded by bodies of water, so domestic and international transportation via water is very important. The biggest ports in Spain are located in: Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, and Algeciras. Barcelona and Valencia are located on the East side of the country facing the Mediterranean, Bilbao is on the North coast of the country, near France, facing the Atlantic Ocean, and Algeciras is on the South coast of Spain, very close to Morocco, facing the Bay of Gibraltar.

 Of these 4 major ports, the largest would arguably be, Bilbao. The port of Bilbao was founded June 15, 1300. It covers a land area of about 3.1 km² and a water area of about 17 km². There are about 3700 vessels that arrive annually, carrying around 40 million metric tons of cargo and 173,000 passengers. The port of Bilbao has a total operating revenue of about 57 million euro with a net income of about 26 million euro, annually.

2.           Railroads in Spain are also an important component of the transportation system. They initially started being built in 1848, and in 1851, the first line was opened. Spain has about 9,500 miles of railroads that go through all of the providences. Both private and public operators run the rail transport in Spain, the largest one being RENFE, and they operate on a 4 gauge system. RENFE is owned by the state and they operate both freight and passenger trains. The most popular train used in Spain is called the AVE, which was introduced in 1988 and is the fastest train in the country. The AVE is important because it adapted to the European standard train track, making international train transport much easier.

Spain has the 5^th largest motorway system in the world with over 10,000 miles of highways. The highways in Spain are divided into two main categories: autovías and autopistas. The biggest difference between the autovías and autopistas are the speeds that one can travel on the road. Autopistas are the more direct roads with the higher speed limits (around 130 km/h) and a minimum of 60 km/h, which prevents slower vehicles from going on them. Also, many times autopistas are toll roads as well. Autovías are never toll roads and they are usually renovations of older roads. They speed limits are slower and any vehicle is allowed to go on them and because of this, they are the alternative route to the autopistas.

3.         In Spain there are a total of 157 airports, 96 with paved runways and 61 with unpaved runways. The main airports in Spain are located in: Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Gran Canaria, Alicante, and Tenerife. The main airlines in Spain are: Iberia, Air Europa, and Vueling. Spain being a very popular tourist destination relies heavily on their air transport.