The

FEVE Renfe Cercanías AM, formerly known as Renfe Feve, is a division of state-owned Spanish railway company Renfe Operadora. It operates most of Spain's of metre-gauge railway. This division of Renfe was previously a stand-alone company named F ...

3500 series (formally since 2014 the Renfe Class 435) is an

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

(EMU) train type operated by

Renfe Feve Renfe Cercanías AM, formerly known as Renfe Feve, is a division of state-owned Spanish railway company Renfe Operadora. It operates most of Spain's of metre-gauge railway. This division of Renfe was previously a stand-alone company named F ...

in Spain. The first units entered service in the Basque Country in 1977, these trains were later transferred to

Euskotren Euskotren, formally known as Basque Railways (, ), is a public railway company controlled by the Basque Government and officially established in 1982 to operate several narrow gauge railways inside the autonomous community of the Basque Coun ...

, where they were known as the Euskotren 3500 series. Euskotren retired its last 3500 trains in 2013, but some units are still in service in

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

History

A total of 30 trains were ordered

in 1977, half of them intended for use in the Basque Country, while the other half would be assigned to

and

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

. The first seven trains, originally consisting of two cars, entered service on 8 May 1978 in the Bilbao-San Sebastián line. The other eight trains entered service on 1 March 1980. Already in 1978, fifteen intermediate cars were ordered for the trains in service in the Basque Country. Only the first eight cars were delivered before the narrow-gauge railways were transferred to the Basque Government, while the other seven were built in 1980. Shortly afterwards, another four intermediate cars were ordered by Basque Railways. Units 3501 and 3508 were destroyed during the 1983 floods, and were subsequently replaced by two new units with the same numbers. The remaining seven units were acquired by

in 1984. In 1988, three of the trains in service in the Basque Country (3504, 3506 and 3515) had their interior adapted for the ''Bidexpress'', a combined passenger and mail service operating between

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

and

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

. Two years later, the new 300 series trains entered service in the Topo line, with the 3500 series trains operating in that line being transferred to services in the

Urdaibai The Urdaibai estuary is a natural region and a Biosphere Reserve of Biscay, Basque Country, Spain. It is also referred as Mundaka or Gernika estuary. Urdaibai is located on the Bay of Biscay coast, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Urdai ...

and Bilbao-San Sebastián lines. At around the same time, the trains with four cars had one of their cars removed. The Euskotren units had their interiors reformed in the 1990s and were substantially modernized in the early 2000s. Euskotren gradually retired its 3500 units after the introduction of

900 series 900 series or series 900 or ''variation'', may refer to: * 900 series (bowling), three consecutive perfect games by an individual bowler * AMD 900 chipset series, set of chipsets released in 2011 * Euskotren 900 series, a train type * GeForce 900 s ...

trains in 2011. The last train in Euskotren service made a farewell trip on 6 July 2013. Between 2007 and 2009, twelve of the 3500 trains operated by FEVE were reengined and reformed, becoming the . As of 2016, eight 3500 units remain in service with

Formations

Originally, each trainset was formed by two cars, one of which was motored. The trains in service in the Basque Country had a third non-powered car added shortly after their introduction. In the 1980s, a fourth car was added to four of these. These four cars were numbered 5516 to 5519.

References

External links

* * {{Rolling stock of Renfe CAF multiple units Electric multiple units of Spain 3500 series Renfe multiple units Train-related introductions in 1978 1500 V DC multiple units

History

Formations

See also

References

External links