This is an innovative research project carried out by the BBV Foundation and the Valencian Institute for Economic Research (IVIE), offering data broken down by province for rail infrastructure from 1845-1997. These data series, which until now have not been precisely broken down by region, provide year-to-year information on the funds available to the economy for production. As a result of new investment in technology in recent decades, and despite the increased competition from other systems, the railroad has again assumed its essential role in the development of the Spanish economy. With respect to territorial distribution, the study notes that a century and a half after the construction of the first line, the regional differences in the provisions for the railroad have barely changed. Thus today the peripheral regions and Madrid have a higher capital provision than the national average, while the regions of the interior and Galicia are below the average.