Norte

Company History: The Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España - Railroad company of the North of Spain - (CCHNE or simply known as Norte) was a Spanish railway company created by public deed on December 29, 1858. Its network was one of the largest in Spain, until it was nationalized in 1941, being integrated into the Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (RENFE) - the national Spanish railways .

Read more on Wikipedia (in Spanish) and on ferropedia.es (in Spanish).

Successor/Parent History: Renfe Operadora (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈreɱfe opeɾaˈðoɾa]) is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 21⁄32 in) Iberian gauge, the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge and the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF (Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias—Railway Infrastructure Administration).

The name "Renfe" is derived from that of the former Spanish National Railway Network, RENFE (acronym of Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles—National Network of Spanish Railways) created on 24 January 1941 with the nationalisation of Spain's railways. As per EU Directive 91/440, RENFE was divided into Renfe-Operadora (operations) and ADIF (infrastructure) on 1 January 2005.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brief History: Spain, a country on Europe’s Iberian Peninsula, includes 17 autonomous regions with diverse geography and cultures. Capital city Madrid is home to the Royal Palace and Prado museum, housing works by European masters. Segovia has a medieval castle (the Alcázar) and an intact Roman aqueduct. Catalonia’s capital, Barcelona, is defined by Antoni Gaudí’s whimsical modernist landmarks like the Sagrada Família church.