A well-tracked path? Assessing the factors behind the expansion of Spain's nineteenth-century railway network

Datos Bibliográficos

ID10248725
AutoresGuillermo Esteban-Oliver (0000-0002-3052-3668, Universidad de Zaragoza), Víctor Sanchís-Maldonado (0000-0002-9910-2167, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, autor de correspondencia), Rafael Barquín Gil (0000-0001-5093-2621, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia)
Año2025
Fecha de publicación2025-09-05
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Transport History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-5266 • E-ISSN: 1759-3999
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00225266251374547
OpenAlexW4414019475
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas24

This study investigates the determining factors of railway expansion in nineteenth-century Spain, a period characterised by limited political interference in route planning but substantial public subsidies for construction. For the analysis, we developed a new dataset on municipal railway access from 1848 to 1910 and used Cox regression to assess the key factors influencing network development. The results show that economic criteria prevailed until 1877. From then on, the focus shifted to political and administrative interests, but without abandoning the economic interest. This finding nuances the interpretation of railway expansion in Spain as primarily driven by political and nation-building goals, showing instead a dynamic interaction between economic and administrative priorities over time

Computer network · Economic geography · Geography · Path (computing · Rail network · Transport engineering · American Environmental and Regional History · Computer Science · Engineering · History · Sustainable Design and Development · Urbanism, Landscape, and Tourism Studies