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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

Wood Siding railway station was a small halt in Bernwood Forest, Buckinghamshire, England. It was opened in 1871 as a terminus of a short horse-drawn tramway to assist the transport of goods from and around the Duke of Buckingham's extensive estates in Buckinghamshire and to connect the Duke's estates to the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway at Quainton Road. A lobbying campaign by residents of the town of Brill led to the tramway being converted for passenger use and extended a short distance beyond Wood Siding to Brill railway station in 1872, becoming known as the Brill Tramway. Cheaply built and ungraded, and using poor quality locomotives, services on the line were very slow, initially limited to a speed of 5 miles per hour (8 km/h). In the 1890s it was planned to extend the tramway to Oxford, but the scheme was abandoned. Instead, the operation of the line was taken over by the Metropolitan Railway in 1899. Between 1908 and 1910 the station was completely rebuilt on a bridge over the newly built Chiltern Main Line of the Great Western Railway, which passed directly beneath the station. In 1933 the Metropolitan Railway was taken into public ownership and became the Metropolitan Line of London Transport. As a result, Wood Siding became a station on the London Underground network, despite being over 40 miles (60 km) from central London. London Transport's new management aimed to move away from goods services to concentrate on passenger services; as the line served a very lightly populated rural area, the management of London Transport believed it very unlikely that it could ever be made viable, and Wood Siding was closed, along with the rest of the line, from 30 November 1935. Although all infrastructure associated with the station was removed in 1936, the remains of the bridge which supported the station were not demolished and are still in place.

Recently selected: Sloatsburg (Metro-North station) - Bergen Light Rail - Brill railway station

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Selected image of the week

Electric multiple units of the Vöcklamarkt–Attersee line in Attersee, Austria, on January 5, 2008.

Recently selected: Australian logging train - TCDD high-speed train - German inspection of SNCF train

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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 7

1865 – The Lawrence Railroad and Transportation Company, with tracks in Pennsylvania and Ohio, is reorganized as the Lawrence Railroad Company.
1905 – The Marion and Johnston City Railway, a predecessor of Missouri Pacific Railroad (1903 map pictured), is incorporated in Illinois.
1924 – Streetcars operate for the last time in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to be replaced with buses.
1954 – The last streetcars operate on the Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

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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 1RegioCitadis light rail train in Zoetermeer (the Netherlands). (from Train)
Image 2Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 3Restored clerestory cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin (from Railroad car)
Image 4A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 5Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 6The ESS 3200 electric locomotive was introduced in 1925 in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. (from Locomotive)
Image 7Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)
Image 8A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)
Image 9The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service (from Train)
Image 10A narrow-gauge battery–electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 11The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 12An Indian locomotive class WDM-3A diesel locomotive in India (from Locomotive)
Image 13A 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 14This 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 15Workington stabling point in 1981, with locomotives from Classes 25, 40 and 47 parked between duties. (from Rail yard)
Image 16Electric train on Djursholmsbanan in Stockholm in the 1890s. (from Train)
Image 17A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London (from Railroad car)
Image 18Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 19A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 20The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power. (from Train)
Image 21Schedule of train departure times in Indonesia stations (from Train)
Image 22A gas turbine locomotive operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (from Train)
Image 23Garratt locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)
Image 24A preserved armored train (from Train)
Image 25A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom (from Railroad car)
Image 26The "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 27Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 28US-style railroad truck (bogie) with journal bearings (from Train)
Image 29Trains 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 30Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both a pantograph and contact shoes. (from Locomotive)
Image 31Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 32Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 33A London Underground battery–electric locomotive used for hauling engineers' trains, at West Ham station (from Locomotive)
Image 34A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)
Image 35A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 36This 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 37The New Orleans Streetcar System is the oldest in the world. (from Train)
Image 38The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)
Image 39British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 40The first useful diesel locomotive (a diesel–electric) for long distances, the SŽD Eel2, 1924 in Kyiv (from Locomotive)
Image 41Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons. (from Train)
Image 42Bombardier ALP-45DP, at the Innotrans convention in Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 43A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 44A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars. (from Train)
Image 45A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 46Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 47A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 48A China Railways HXD1D electric locomotive in China (from Locomotive)
Image 49An interior of a Circle line S7 Stock in London (from Railroad car)
Image 50China operates an extensive high speed rail network. (from Train)