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Trains on Taipei Metro's Muzha Line in 2005

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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

Camden Station, now also referred to as Camden Street Station, Camden Yards, and formally as the Transportation Center at Camden Yards, is a train station at the intersection of South Howard and West Camden Streets in Baltimore, Maryland, and is adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. It is served by MARC commuter rail service and local Light Rail trains. Camden Street Station was originally built beginning in 1856, continuing until 1865, by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as its main passenger terminal and early offices/ headquarters (until 1881) in Baltimore and is one of the longest continuously-operated terminals in the United States. Its upstairs offices were the workplace of famous Civil War era B&O President John Work Garrett (1820–1884). The station and its environs were also the site of several infamous civil strife actions of the 19th century with the Baltimore riot of 1861, on April 18–19, also known as the Pratt Street Riots and later labor strife in the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.

Recently selected: Cambridge railway station - California Western Railroad - Caledonian Sleeper

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Selected image of the week

ChME3 locomotive number 5534 is being used in shunting operations in the goods yard at Bălți-Slobozia station, Moldova, in April 2013.

Recently selected: CEMEX ore train - Mauritius Metro Express - freight train with passengers in Senegal

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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

August 3

1877 – William Butler Ogden (pictured), president of the Chicago and North Western Railway, dies (b. 1805).
1919 – Samuel W. Fordyce, president of St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway 1886-1889, St. Louis Southwestern Railway 1890-1898, Kansas City Southern Railway 1900, dies (b. 1840).
1994 – Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited passenger train derails near Batavia, New York, while traveling at 75 mph (120.7 km/h), injuring 125 of the train's passengers and crew members.

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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 1TGV Lacroix first class interior (from Train)
Image 2The ESS 3200 electric locomotive was introduced in 1925 in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. (from Locomotive)
Image 3Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons. (from Train)
Image 4Schedule of train departure times in Indonesia stations (from Train)
Image 5A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars. (from Train)
Image 6The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power. (from Train)
Image 7Workington stabling point in 1981, with locomotives from Classes 25, 40 and 47 parked between duties. (from Rail yard)
Image 8The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 9Garratt locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)
Image 10Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)
Image 11Various types of railroad cars in a classification yard in the United States (from Train)
Image 12A London Underground battery–electric locomotive used for hauling engineers' trains, at West Ham station (from Locomotive)
Image 13The first useful diesel locomotive (a diesel–electric) for long distances, the SŽD Eel2, 1924 in Kyiv (from Locomotive)
Image 14Typical American extended vision caboose (from Railroad car)
Image 15Electric train on Djursholmsbanan in Stockholm in the 1890s. (from Train)
Image 16Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 17A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 18Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 19British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 20A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London (from Railroad car)
Image 21Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 22Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 23Restored clerestory cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin (from Railroad car)
Image 24Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 25A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)
Image 26A preserved armored train (from Train)
Image 27A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 28An interior of a Circle line S7 Stock in London (from Railroad car)
Image 29The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service (from Train)
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 31A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 32A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 33A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom (from Railroad car)
Image 34A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)
Image 35This GO train 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 36An Indian locomotive class WDM-3A diesel locomotive in India (from Locomotive)
Image 37Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 38Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both a pantograph and contact shoes. (from Locomotive)
Image 39The New Orleans Streetcar System is the oldest in the world. (from Train)
Image 40Trains 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 41China operates an extensive high speed rail network. (from Train)
Image 42The "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 43A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 44US-style railroad truck (bogie) with journal bearings (from Train)
Image 45A narrow-gauge battery–electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 46Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 47The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)
Image 48This 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 49A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 50Bombardier ALP-45DP, at the Innotrans convention in Berlin (from Locomotive)