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In rail transport, a train is a vehicle or (more frequently) a string of vehicles capable of being moved along a continuous line of rails or other guideway for the purpose of conveying freight or passengers between points on a predetermined route. The train may be hauled or propelled by one or more vehicles designed exclusively for that purpose (locomotives) or may be driven by a number of motors incorporated in all or several of the vehicles (multiple units).

As of 2018^[update], there are approximately 1,052,000 kilometres (654,000 mi) of railway track in use worldwide. (World Bank (via Archive.org))

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Selected article of the week

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) is a heavy rail public rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area, including the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Daly City, Richmond, Fremont, Hayward, Walnut Creek, Concord, Martinez, and Pittsburg/Bay Point. BART also serves Colma, South San Francisco, San Bruno, San Francisco International Airport and Millbrae and has connecting service to Oakland International Airport using AirBART buses. The acronym BART is pronounced as a word, not as individual letters. BART comprises 104 miles (167 km) of track and 43 stations. The system uses a 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad rail gauge, as opposed to the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge predominantly found in the United States. The broad gauge was selected to provide greater stability in part due to the planned Golden Gate Bridge route and to provide wider seats, aisles, and a smoother ride for the lightweight aluminum and fiberglass cars. Trains can achieve a centrally-controlled maximum speed of 80 mph (130 km/h) and provide a systemwide average speed of 33 mph (53 km/h) with twenty-second station dwell times. Trains operate at a minimum length of three cars per California Public Utilities Commission guidelines to a maximum length of 10 cars, spanning the entire 700-foot (210 m) length of a platform.

Recently selected: LSWR N15 Class - SR Leader class - Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra railway line

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Selected image of the week

A stone block and brick tunnel stands among trees on the Yerevan Children's railway in Armenia in 2008.

Recently selected: train at Santa Mesa station - Hiram Bingham passenger train - Palestine Railways P class locomotive

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Did you know...

...that the opening ceremonies of the Galway to Clifden railway were very sparsely attended because the event date was a strict church holiday and was reserved for attending church services?
...that following heavy damage to the Galveston Island Trolley track and cars from Hurricane Ike in 2008, substitute service with replica buses was operated until service resumed in October 2021?
...that although the former Santa Fe Railway's Galesburg station was demolished after regular passenger service to the station ended in 1996, the site is still used if derailments cause trains to use the Chillicothe Subdivision instead of the Mendota Subdivision?
...that the Fuzhou–Xiamen railway, which opened in 2010, was so heavily used that it reached capacity in 2015, spurring construction on the parallel Fuzhou–Xiamen high-speed railway for CRH passenger train services?

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Selected anniversaries

November 9

A train of the Kalka-Shimla Railway

1803 – Henry Farnam, president of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad 1854–1863, is born (d. 1883).
1885 – The last spike is driven on the California Southern Railroad between Barstow and San Bernardino, completing the connection to the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad.
1903 – The 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge Kalka-Shimla Railway (pictured) opens in India.
1963 – Two passenger trains collide with a derailed freight train on the Tokaido Main Line in Yokohama, Japan; the Yokohama rail crash results in 161 deaths.

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Train News

April 30, 2026 – American railroad companies Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern amend their plan for a merger. The plan involves connecting existing networks as well as adding new routes. (Railway-News)
April 30, 2026 – German company Siemens Mobility signs a 200-train contract with Swiss Federal Railways. The contract, which was awarded in November 2025, was until recently contested by Siemens’ competitor Stadler. (Railway Gazette)
April 26, 2026 – 2026 Bekasi train crash – The train Argo Bromo Anggrek collides with a Commuterline train near Jakarta, Indonesia. The crash left 16 people dead, all from the rear car of the Commuterline, and an additional 91 people injured. This happened after a separate train collided with a taxi earlier that day. (BBC, Reuters )

April 26, 2026 – In Mexico, tracks are opened for Tren Felipe Ángeles, a rail link that connects Felipe Ángeles International Airport with Mexico City. (Railway Gazette)

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General images

The following are images from various train-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 2A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 3A narrow-gauge battery–electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 4Workington stabling point in 1981, with locomotives from Classes 25, 40 and 47 parked between duties. (from Rail yard)
Image 5A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 6A London Underground battery–electric locomotive used for hauling engineers' trains, at West Ham station (from Locomotive)
Image 7Schedule of train departure times in Indonesia stations (from Train)
Image 8This GO Transit Bombardier BiLevel cab car includes a horn (top), a bell (top right), headlights (above the door), classification lights (red lights on side), and ditch lights (white lights on side). (from Train)
Image 9Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 10A China Railways HXD1D electric locomotive in China (from Locomotive)
Image 11China operates an extensive high speed rail network. (from Train)
Image 12Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 13A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)
Image 14TGV Lacroix first class interior (from Train)
Image 15A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London (from Railroad car)
Image 16Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons. (from Train)
Image 17An interior of a Circle line S7 Stock in London (from Railroad car)
Image 18The "hump" of a hump yard. Railcars travel past retarders, which control their speed, and are directed onto tracks to be assembled into new trains. The control tower operates the retarders. (from Rail yard)
Image 19The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 20The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)
Image 21A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars. (from Train)
Image 22Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 23Garratt locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)
Image 24An Indian locomotive class WDM-3A diesel locomotive in India (from Locomotive)
Image 25The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service (from Train)
Image 26Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 27A large Amtrak and Metra coach yard just south of Chicago Union Station. About 25 percent of all rail traffic in the United States travels through the Chicago area. (from Rail yard)
Image 28Electric train on Djursholmsbanan in Stockholm in the 1890s. (from Train)
Image 29This map of Cedar Hill Yard in Connecticut shows a variety of different facilities, including receiving yards, departure yards, classification yards, and a repair yard. (from Rail yard)
Image 30A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 31Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)
Image 32The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power. (from Train)
Image 33A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 34A gas turbine locomotive operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (from Train)
Image 35Typical American extended vision caboose (from Railroad car)
Image 36Restored clerestory cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin (from Railroad car)
Image 37A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 38A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom (from Railroad car)
Image 39The ESS 3200 electric locomotive was introduced in 1925 in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. (from Locomotive)
Image 40Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 41Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both a pantograph and contact shoes. (from Locomotive)
Image 42A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 43Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 44Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 45Bombardier ALP-45DP, at the Innotrans convention in Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 46The first useful diesel locomotive (a diesel–electric) for long distances, the SŽD Eel2, 1924 in Kyiv (from Locomotive)
Image 47Various types of railroad cars in a classification yard in the United States (from Train)
Image 48Trains carrying hazardous materials display information identifying their cargo and hazards. This tank car carrying chlorine displays, among other markings, a U.S. DOT placard showing a UN number that identifies the hazardous substance. (from Train)
Image 49The New Orleans Streetcar System is the oldest in the world. (from Train)
Image 50A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)