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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

NSB Gjøvikbanen AS is a Norwegian railway company that operates the passenger train service on the Gjøvik Line. A subsidiary of the state-owned Norges Statsbaner (NSB), it operates a fleet of nine Class 69g three-car electric multiple units. NSB Gjøvikbanen provides two different services: the Skøyen – Oslo S – Jaren service is part of the Oslo Commuter Rail; while Oslo S – Gjøvik is a regional service, with only limited stops on the route until Grua. Departures are each 40 minutes, with every third train running to Gjøvik. The company was created in 2004 as NSB Anbud AS to compete for the tender bid for a ten-year public service obligation (PSO) contract with the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications on the Gjøvik Line, which the company successfully won. Operations started on 11 June 2005, with newly renovated trains. Following the September 2005 election, all further PSO offerings for railway operations were terminated, and the company was left with the single service, subsequently changing its name to reflect the single route.

Recently selected: 2008 Chatsworth train collision - Flekkefjord Station - Oslo Airport Station

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Selected image of the week

Steam and diesel locomotives in Australia

Locomotive B 60, the first mainline diesel electric locomotive to run on Victorian Railways is passed on its delivery run to Melbourne by steam locomotive S 302, in July 1952. The B class locomotives, an Australian derivative of the American EMD F7, were an outstanding success. A little over two years after this photograph was taken the B class locomotives were running all the top express services and the S class streamliners, for over 20 years the pride of the VR fleet, had all been withdrawn and scrapped

Recently selected: BR 92220 Evening Star - Freight train at Pula - Steam dome

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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

March 30

1954 – The first subway system in Canada, the Yonge Subway (construction pictured) operated by Toronto Transit Commission, opens.
2004 – High speed train service is inaugurated in Korea between Seoul and Daegu.
2005 – Kansas City Southern Railway leases its Bay Springs branch line between Newton and Bay Springs, Mississippi, to Watco Companies; the line will be the basis of the new Mississippi Southern Railroad.
2005 – Bombardier is awarded a contract to build 10 new bilevel commuter coaches for GO Transit; the contract is valued at $21 million.

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Train News

Santa Fe No. 2926 at Albuquerque, New Mexico
July 24, 2021 – Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe No. 2926, a 4-8-4 steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1944, moves under its own power for the first time since Christmas Eve of 1953, after nearly twenty-two years of being rebuilt by volunteers. The locomotive will be put into mainline excursion service. (NMSL&RHS, Trains Magazine on Facebook)
Big Boy No. 4012 at Steamtown National Historic Site
May 5, 2021 – Steamtown National Historic Site completes thorough cosmetic overhaul on Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy No. 4012, which is moved back on static display before National Train Day. (NEPA Scene)
The derailed Taroko Express trainset, as seen from outside the entrance to the tunnel
April 2, 2021 – 2021 Hualien train derailment – A Taroko Express train operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) derails at the north entrance of Qingshui Tunnel in Heren Section, Xiulin Township, Hualien County, Taiwan, killing 49 people and injuring at least 200 others. North of Hualien City a construction truck had fallen down a slope onto the tracks. The eight-carriage train derailed after colliding with the truck, and then came to a rest in the tunnel, with severe damage and many casualties. (Bloomberg, CNN, CNA, New York Times, Financial Times)

The preserved C&O 1309 at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in October 2009

December 31, 2020 – Following a complete restoration, Chesapeake and Ohio 1309, a 2-6-6-2 Mallet locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1949, the last steam locomotive built by Baldwin for the North American market, is operated under its own power for test runs. When returned to service on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, it will be the largest steam locomotive in regular scheduled service in the United States and take 2-8-0 No. 734’s place as the largest active steam locomotive in the state of Maryland. (Trains.com Newswire)

An Avelia Liberty train on a test run in Delaware in May 2020

September 28, 2020 – Amtrak operates a test run using one of the 28 new Avelia Liberty trains manufactured by Alstom along the full length of the Northeast Corridor to Boston South Station. Previous test runs had occurred from Washington, D.C., only as far north as New Jersey and Delaware. Barring any problems, the trains are expected to enter regular service on the route in 2021. (Universal Hub)

Berryessa/North San José station on the first day of service

June 13, 2020 – The Bay Area Rapid Transit Silicon Valley BART extension opened its stations in Milpitas and North San Jose. (San Jose Spotlight, SF Gate)

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General images

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

Image 1The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service. (from Train)
Image 2A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 3A preserved armored train (from Train)
Image 4The New Orleans Streetcar System is the oldest in the world. (from Train)
Image 5Workington stabling point in 1981, with locomotives from Classes 25, 40 and 47 parked between duties. (from Rail yard)
Image 6A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars. (from Train)
Image 7Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both a pantograph and contact shoes. (from Locomotive)
Image 8Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 9A gas turbine locomotive operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (from Train)
Image 10Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 11An interior of a Circle line S7 Stock in London (from Railroad car)
Image 12RegioCitadis light rail train in Zoetermeer (the Netherlands). (from Train)
Image 13A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)
Image 14A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 15A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 16A narrow-gauge battery–electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 17The "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 18Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)
Image 19A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 20The ESS 200 electric locomotive was introduced in 1925 in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. (from Locomotive)
Image 21The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 22Electric train on Djursholmsbanan in Stockholm in the 1890s. (from Train)
Image 23The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)
Image 24Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 25British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 26Second-class compartment of a China Railways CRH1A-A train (from Train)
Image 27A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 28A London Underground battery–electric locomotive used for hauling engineers' trains, at West Ham station (from Locomotive)
Image 29Typical American extended vision caboose (from Railroad car)
Image 30A 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 31Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 32A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)
Image 33The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power. (from Train)
Image 34Bombardier ALP-45DP, at the Innotrans convention in Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 35This 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 36Garratt locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)
Image 37Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons. (from Train)
Image 38A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London (from Railroad car)
Image 39A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom (from Railroad car)
Image 40This 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 41The first useful diesel locomotive (a diesel–electric) for long distances, the SŽD Eel2, 1924 in Kyiv (from Locomotive)
Image 42US-style railroad truck (bogie) with journal bearings (from Train)
Image 43Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 44A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 45A China Railways HXD1D electric locomotive in China (from Locomotive)
Image 46China operates an extensive high speed rail network. (from Train)
Image 47Schedule of train departure times in Indonesia stations (from Train)
Image 48Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 49Restored clerestory cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin (from Railroad car)
Image 50Various types of railroad cars in a classification yard in the United States (from Train)
Image 51Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 52Trains 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)