José Luis Hernández Marco (University of the Basque Country / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea).
Public Railways and the Armed Forces in Peacetime: RENFE and the Army during the Second Half of the 20th Century.

Ever since the first rail lines began operating, governments of all political stripes have recognized the advantages that this new mode of transportation could offer in the transport of troops, weapons, and supplies, both in times of war and in times of peace. In wartime, due to its advantages in speed and capacity over medium and long distances for the deployment of troops, weapons, and supplies, compared to the significant limitations of traditional land-based means. In times without open armed conflict, railways were valued for the same speed and capacity, as well as for the lower transportation costs that armies obtained from concessionary companies—whether mandated in many cases or agreed upon in others—for the collective or individual transport of military personnel, military goods, and supplies for the army.
In Spain, the first Regulations for the Transport of Troops and Military Supplies by Rail were published as early as 1856; companies in this sector existed from 1872 onward, and railway regiments were established in 1912, which, in various forms and structures, survived until their dissolution in 2008. Furthermore, the Spanish armed forces were (and continue to be) heavy users of rail transport, particularly the military-organized service or the Company’s regular passenger and freight service.
This presentation will focus on RENFE’s relationship with the armed forces during the Franco regime. It will address the intensity and characteristics of railway use in Spanish military deployments (troop mobilization, transfers, leave, maneuvers, supplies for military use, etc.), drawing on RENFE sources as well as military documentation and statistics. The military use of the railway will be compared with the use of other modes of transport within the Spanish transport system during the same period. PDF

Juan Carlos García Reyes.
From the World’s Fair to the Battlefield: Relief Trains and Railway Innovation for the Evacuation of the Wounded between Paris 1867 and Vienna 1873.

Entre 1867 y 1873, Europa vivió una acelerada transformación tecnológica y logística en el uso del ferrocarril como medio de transporte de heridos. Las Exposiciones Universales de París (1867) y Viena (1873) no sólo fueron vitrinas de avances industriales, sino también escenarios donde se presentaron soluciones específicas para la evacuación sanitaria ferroviaria, en un contexto marcado por los conflictos bélicos y la necesidad creciente de transporte rápido y seguro de heridos desde el frente hacia la retaguardia.
La muestra de París de 1867 expuso los primeros modelos integrados de vagones-hospital, diseñados con compartimentos adaptados, ventilación mejorada y equipamiento médico básico. Estos prototipos, impulsados por la cooperación entre ingenieros y cuerpos médicos, respondían a experiencias previas en la Guerra de Crimea y la Guerra de Secesión de los Estados Unidos de América.
El periodo intermedio estuvo marcado por el uso real y masivo de trenes sanitarios en la Guerra Franco-Prusiana (1870-1871), donde se perfeccionaron procedimientos de carga y descarga de heridos, coordinación telegráfica y modularidad de convoyes. Estas experiencias influyeron en el diseño y presentación de nuevos modelos en la Exposición de Viena de 1873, donde se destacaron mejoras en la amortiguación de vagones, iluminación y suministro de agua, así como la estandarización de anchos de vía y acoplamientos para facilitar el traslado transfronterizo.
Esta comunicación analiza la transferencia de conocimiento desde las exposiciones universales hacia la práctica bélica y humanitaria, evaluando el papel del ferrocarril en la conformación de un sistema sanitario móvil europeo.
Se pondrá especial énfasis en la interacción entre innovación técnica, política internacional y redes ferroviarias, entendiendo estos trenes no solo como infraestructura, sino como herramienta de diplomacia, propaganda y modernización médica. ▼ 

Joaquín García Raya (ASIHF / ADIF).
Human Resources Management at M.Z.A.

This paper aims to expand our understanding of the railway company’s business operations. Specifically, it examines the management of its human resources from the outset of its operations, followed by a more detailed study of the departments into which the company was organized. This year’s research has focused—similar to the early studies on the British railway (Howlett, various years)—on the possible existence of Internal Labor Markets (ILMs) prior to the time established by previous research. What we will investigate is whether Spanish railway companies used this concept from the very beginning, even though the term came much later, which would allow us to establish the modernity of Spanish railway companies and, by extension, French ones. PDF

Ignacio Sanz Junoy (ADIF).
Workshop for train service personnel on the Old M.Z.A. Network

Using the fixed shift schedules for train service personnel (engineers, brakemen, and conductors) of the MZA Company, Old Network, from March 1915 and December 1935 as a starting point, we will analyze the characteristics of the workdays they describe.
To this end, the fixed shift structure defined in the Schedules is combined with the train schedules obtained from the Running Orders and/or Timetables for those dates—or their duly justified equivalents—in order to define each worker’s daily workday and its progression over the month.
The objective is to analyze the types of workdays (duration, overnight stays, breaks between shifts, rest periods, length, night work, etc.) to understand the working conditions, in terms of the workday, under which this type of staff provided their services to the MZA company.
In March 1915, the legal maximum eight-hour workday had not yet been approved, and the railroad was not facing stiff competition from road transport. However, by December 1935, regulations regarding the legal maximum workday were in effect, and the railroad was beginning to feel competition from road transport.
By comparing these two very different periods, we will attempt to determine the impact that the adoption and subsequent implementation of the Royal Decree on the 8-hour workday, dated April 4, 1919, had on the organization of this type of workforce. PDF

Juan Carlos Juárez Giménez (Open University of Catalonia).
First-aid kits on Spanish railways: history, functions, and presence in stations and trains (19th–21st centuries).

The introduction, development, and utility of railway first-aid kits in Spain have rarely been examined from a comprehensive historical perspective. These supplies of medicines and medical equipment were designed to provide emergency care for workplace accidents and railway accidents, and were located both at stations and on trains.
The first regulatory reference appears in the Regulation of July 8, 1859, whose Chapter III already required the presence of a first-aid kit at every station, equipped with medicines, bandages, and appropriate supplies. In 1862, an instruction for railway inspectors established the need to inspect and report on the condition of medicines and first-aid kits. Subsequently, in 1900, the Northern Railway Company regulated the contents of first-aid kits in its General Instruction No. 3, distinguishing between models with and without an amputation kit.
The key milestone came with the 1925 Railway Health Regulations, which defined four first-aid kit models with detailed contents, intended for both passenger trains and stations. These regulations were ratified by the 1936 Land Transport Health Regulations. With the creation of RENFE in 1941, this inherited healthcare structure continued to be applied, maintaining first-aid kits in stations and on trains.
In 1992, RENFE standardized two basic models: the train first-aid kit (mobile equipment) and the one for fixed facilities (stations, workshops, offices), updating their contents in accordance with modern healthcare criteria and eliminating obsolete medications.
Currently, a debate persists regarding their mandatory nature and usefulness, especially in a liberalized railway context, where immediate healthcare on board or at stations is not legally guaranteed. This evolution reflects tensions between railway healthcare tradition and contemporary safety regulations. PDF

Andrea Fernández Vivanco (University of Salamanca).
The Languages of the Railroad: A Semiotic Analysis.

From a semiotic perspective, language is described as a system of signs in which each signifier refers to a signified. This broad concept allows us to describe the characteristics of many languages and to develop comprehensive taxonomies that classify languages as natural or non-natural.
This paper draws on semantics and semiotics to interpret railway languages, given that various linguistic codes coexist in this field. On the one hand, we observe signals or signs that substitute for written and spoken language but involve a speech act, primarily directive in nature. Among these systems are optical signals—whether lights, signage, or mechanical traffic lights—and digital or radio-frequency beacons. On the other hand, railway professionals and users employ a specialized language in their daily communication—a subset of natural language that represents specialized knowledge. From a linguistic perspective, these sublanguages differ from common language in various aspects, such as text genres and, above all, terminology.
Furthermore, in the railway sector, restrictions on this natural language are observed that give rise to a form of controlled communication; that is, they are not the product of a spontaneous process, but are based on natural language and restrict usage at the lexical, syntactic, and/or semantic levels. Telephone calls are particularly paradigmatic in the specialized field at hand.
In short, our proposal aims to study the peculiarities of railway communication in light of the major axioms of linguistics. At the same time, certain limitations and theoretical questions arise. For example, certain communication systems in the railway sector can operate without human interaction, calling into question the very definition of language. PDF

Andrea Fernández Vivanco (University of Salamanca).
Terminological instability in 19th-century railway terminology: the causes of terminological variation from a diachronic perspective.

The advent of the railroad created a need among professionals and users to name concepts that had not existed until then. Many languages drew on resources from other specialized fields, such as mining or the shipbuilding industry. However, the Spanish lexicon was influenced by extralinguistic factors, such as the late development of the railroad in Spain, the dispersion of the industry on both sides of the Atlantic, and the influx of foreign capital (Wais San Martín, 1974).
These circumstances make the language of the 19th-century railroad a privileged setting for observing denominative variation—that is, the coexistence of various terms referring to the same concept within a specialized field (Freixa, 2022). Among the causes of this variation are dialectal factors, such as belonging to a specific geographic or chronological group, as well as issues related to language contact. In the case of the railway, commercial relations made borrowing from English and French the preferred method of lexical updating.
This influence of foreign languages resulted, on the one hand, in significant terminological instability. Rodríguez Ortiz (1996) identifies up to sixteen terminological units to refer to what we today call a locomotive. On the other hand, the rivalry between French and English results in marked cognitive variation. From a linguistic perspective, this phenomenon explains that when a term can be expressed through different variants that differ formally, they often refer to different conceptual structures. This type of variation has cognitive consequences in that each name offers a particular view of the concept, so these linguistic phenomena impact how we understand the railroad today. PDF

Olga Macías (University of the Basque Country / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea).
Railways and the Transfer of Knowledge: From Academia to the Elementary School Classroom.

This paper will address the transfer of knowledge from railway studies conducted within academic institutions and railway research institutes to elementary school classrooms. With the new education law (LOMLOE), the educational framework focuses on learning through situational approaches. Within this new educational methodology, we are offered the opportunity to bring to schools the basic concepts developed from various aspects of railway studies. In the case at hand, and within the framework of Social Science Pedagogy, the railroad as a teaching resource allows students to explore the past and present of the society in which they live, including all the social changes and transformations of the physical and social environment surrounding them. At the same time, this competency-based learning system goes beyond the acquisition of mere knowledge and includes the development of procedural and attitudinal strategies that students will need to navigate daily life.
For these reasons, we consider it necessary to transfer knowledge from railway studies to the classroom, since the railway, as the backbone of the societies it serves, enhances not only knowledge of the social environment but also the development of civic habits and good customs reflected in the goals established by the 2030 Agenda.
To explore the use of the railway in social science education, we have divided this work into three sections: the first addresses the railway and its nature as an educational resource; the second analyzes the various curricular aspects of the topic we are addressing; and, finally, in the third part, we will focus in a practical way on learning activities. PDF

Juan Carlos Juárez Giménez (Open University of Catalonia).
Railways and Military Healthcare: The First Medical Trains in Spain, from the Third Carlist War to the African War.

The development of medical trains on the international stage dates back to the mid-19th century. Military conflicts such as the Three Years' War, the Crimean War, and the Franco-Austrian War marked a major turning point in the transport of the sick and wounded by medical train. In Spain, their origins are more recent, with the first reference appearing during the Third Carlist War in 1874. Thus, this study analyzes the historical evidence of these origins up to the African War, which took place between 1909 and 1927.
The methodology employed is based on the analysis of primary sources—military regulations, legislation, reports from the Military Medical Corps, and period press—supplemented by recent historiographical literature.
The findings show that during the Cuban War of Independence in 1898, medical trains were used to transport the wounded from the colony to ports on the Spanish mainland, where they were transferred to military hospitals. During the Philippine campaign of 1899, the composition of a medical convoy was documented in detail, including the arrangement of landscape-style stretchers. These cases reveal the improvised nature of the first trains, used in both colonial settings and metropolitan territory.
In the 20th century, the Royal Order of 1909 authorized the conversion of a mining train into a medical convoy for the Rif campaign. Later, in 1911, Linxweiler stretchers adapted to railcars were used to transport the sick.
During the Disaster of Annual (1921), the Nador-Tistutin Railway served to evacuate the wounded. These events were documented by officers such as Medical Commander Ángel Calvo-Flores and Medical Captain Federico Gil Acebedo. These professionals not only described their experiences but also formulated technical proposals for the design of permanent medical trains, which would be fully implemented in subsequent decades.
In summary, the Spanish origins of medical trains were characterized by improvised solutions, dependent on the wartime situation and available resources, but they constituted an essential precursor to railway medical organization in the 20th century. PDF

Tomás Martínez Vara (Complutense University of Madrid) and Francisco de los Cobos Arteaga (University of Castilla-La Mancha).
The Enlightenment on the Rails: The First Spanish Technical Railway Texts of the 19th Century and Their Relationship to Technology and Social Progress.

In the second half of the 19th century, the railroad established itself in Europe as a symbol of progress, territorial cohesion, and economic development. In this context, enlightened engineers and politicians in Spain promoted the translation of manuals and the drafting of reports with the aim of overcoming political instability, low population density, and limited technical training.
Building on this premise, this study proposes an analysis that combines technical literature with the career trajectories of authors who acted as mediators of knowledge. Through this approach, the study examines the extent to which the dissemination of railway knowledge followed an asymmetric transfer model. Initial findings indicate, on the one hand, a strong reliance on foreign translations and, on the other, debates centered on the choice of traction and network design, between projects for short, export-oriented lines and models of radial or grid-based networks.
However, the absence of professional networks and spaces for practice limited the consolidation of a homegrown technical corps. Later, during the Progressive Biennium, institutions, publications, and libraries emerged, bolstered by the arrival of European technicians.
In short, the Spanish case invites reflection on the importance of adapting external knowledge to specific social contexts in order to transform it into a shared practice. PDF

José Conrado Martínez Acevedo (ADIF).
The Introduction of Single-Phase Alternating Current to the Spanish Railway System: A Turning Point in Its Transformation Resulting from the Commissioning of the First High-Speed Line Between Madrid and Seville.

It can be said that one of the most significant technological chapters in the history of Spanish railways is the gradual introduction of electricity into the infrastructure and rolling stock. From its inception through well into the 21st century, this process has been characterized by significant internationalization and innovation on the part of railway companies.
Although the first electrification projects adopted in Spain in the early 20th century—based on the experience of North American and Central European companies—marked a turning point in the operation of the railway network, another major milestone occurred in the early 1990s with the introduction of single-phase alternating current electrification on the first high-speed line between Madrid and Seville.
This new technology, used at that time by countries such as Germany, France, and Japan, represented a technological milestone for the company R.E.N.F.E., not only from an infrastructure standpoint but also in terms of rolling stock (in this case, it should be noted that, since the early 1980s, electric traction technology had undergone significant advancements, largely due to the evolution of power semiconductors, enabling the development of new traction systems).
As expected, this milestone (along with others achieved in other technical systems) involved a significant exchange of knowledge between R.E.N.F.E and various European companies.
Since then, the use of single-phase alternating current in the Spanish railway network has been a constant, and it is currently the primary option for the electrification of lines, not only high-speed ones. PDF