Portal:Trains

Portals → Technology → Transport → Trains

The Trains Portal

Image:

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))

Shortcuts

edit

Selected article of the week

Everett Station is an Amtrak train station serving the city of Everett, Washington. The station has provided service to the Cascades and Empire Builder routes since its opening in 2002, replacing an earlier station near the Port of Everett. The four-story building also houses social service programs and is the center of a 10-acre (4 ha) complex that includes parking lots and a large bus station used primarily by Community Transit, Everett Transit, and Sound Transit Express. The station has served as the northern terminus of the Sounder North Line since 2003 and Swift Bus Rapid Transit since 2009. It consists of two side platforms, one serving Amtrak and the other serving Sounder commuter trains. Everett Station also functions as a park and ride, with 1,067 short-term parking spaces located in lots around the station after it was expanded by Sound Transit in 2009.

Recently selected: Euston tube station - Elephant & Castle tube station - Eckwersheim derailment

More selected articles - Candidates

edit

Selected image of the week

The preserved Deutsche Reichsbahn Class 41 locomotive number 41 241 is readied for an excursion service at Essen Hauptbahnhof in 2007.

Recently selected: Paris Métro Line 6 - Haapsalu station platform - Eritrean Railway signalman

More selected pictures - Candidates

edit

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?

More did you know facts - Candidates

edit

Selected anniversaries

October 4

1883 – Henry Farnam, president of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad 1854–1863, dies (b. 1803).
1883 – The first ever Orient Express passenger train service operates between Paris, France, and Constantinople (now Istanbul) in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey).
1904 – Henry C. Payne, president of Milwaukee and Northern Railroad, Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company and the Milwaukee and Cream City Traction Company, and receiver for Northern Pacific Railway in 1893, dies (b. 1843).
1976 – Henry G. Ivatt, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, dies (b. 1886).

More... - Archive

edit

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)

Archive

General images

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

Image 1A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London (from Railroad car)
Image 2Workington stabling point in 1981, with locomotives from Classes 25, 40 and 47 parked between duties. (from Rail yard)
Image 3US-style railroad truck (bogie) with journal bearings (from Train)
Image 4Bombardier ALP-45DP, at the Innotrans convention in Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 5A preserved armored train (from Train)
Image 6A 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 7British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 8Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 9A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 10Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both a pantograph and contact shoes. (from Locomotive)
Image 11A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars. (from Train)
Image 12RegioCitadis light rail train in Zoetermeer (the Netherlands). (from Train)
Image 13Restored clerestory cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin (from Railroad car)
Image 14Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 15This 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 16The "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 17The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)
Image 18A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 19A gas turbine locomotive operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (from Train)
Image 20China operates an extensive high speed rail network. (from Train)
Image 21The New Orleans Streetcar System is the oldest in the world. (from Train)
Image 22A China Railways HXD1D electric locomotive in China (from Locomotive)
Image 23An interior of a Circle line S7 Stock in London (from Railroad car)
Image 24A narrow-gauge battery–electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 25Various types of railroad cars in a classification yard in the United States (from Train)
Image 26Typical American extended vision caboose (from Railroad car)
Image 27Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 28A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 29The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 30Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 31A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 32Garratt locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)
Image 33A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 34Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons. (from Train)
Image 35The ESS 3200 electric locomotive was introduced in 1925 in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. (from Locomotive)
Image 36The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power. (from Train)
Image 37A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)
Image 38Electric train on Djursholmsbanan in Stockholm in the 1890s. (from Train)
Image 39Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 40The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service (from Train)
Image 41Schedule of train departure times in Indonesia stations (from Train)
Image 42This 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 43A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 44A London Underground battery–electric locomotive used for hauling engineers' trains, at West Ham station (from Locomotive)
Image 45Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 46TGV Lacroix first class interior (from Train)
Image 47Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 48A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)
Image 49A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom (from Railroad car)
Image 50Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)