Track gauge

General concepts
Track gauge · Break-of-gauge · Dual gauge · Conversion (list) · Bogie exchange · Variable gauge
By transport mode
Tram · Rapid transit · High-speed rail
By size (list)
Broad   Breitspurbahn 3,000 mm (9 ft 10 1⁄8 in)   Brunel 2,140 mm (7 ft 1⁄4 in)   Indian 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)   Iberian 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 2⁄3 in)   Irish 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)   Russian 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 5⁄6 in)   Standard 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Medium   Scotch 1,372 mm (4 ft 6 in)   Cape 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)   Metre 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) Narrow   Three foot 914 mm (3 ft)   Swedish three foot 891 mm (2 ft 11 1⁄10 in)   Imperial 762 mm (2 ft 6 in)   Bosnian 760 mm (2 ft 5 15⁄16 in)   Decauville 600 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) Minimum   Fifteen inch 381 mm (15 in)
By location
North America · South America · Europe
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Metre gauge is the system of medium gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in). In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe huge metre gauge networks remain in continuous use in Switzerland, northern Spain and for many European urban trams, although most metre gauge local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium closed down in the mid 20th century. With the revival of urban rail transport, in some cities metre gauge light metros were established, while in other cities metre gauge was replaced by standard gauge.

Contents 1 Present metre gauge railroad and tram systems 1.1 Asia 1.1.1 South-east Asia 1.1.2 South Asia 1.2 Americas 1.3 Africa 1.3.1 Eastern Africa 1.3.2 Northern Africa 1.3.3 Western Africa 1.4 Europe 1.4.1 Austria 1.4.2 Belgium 1.4.3 Bulgaria 1.4.4 Czech Republic 1.4.5 Croatia 1.4.6 Finland 1.4.7 France 1.4.8 Germany 1.4.9 Greece 1.4.10 Italy 1.4.11 Latvia 1.4.12 Norway 1.4.13 Poland 1.4.14 Portugal 1.4.15 Romania 1.4.16 Russia 1.4.17 Serbia 1.4.18 Slovakia 1.4.19 Spain 1.4.20 Switzerland 1.4.21 Ukraine 2 Table 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Present metre gauge railroad and tram systems

Asia

South-east Asia

• Vietnam and joined
  • Yunnan–Vietnam Railway
• Malaysia
• Thailand (long haul-train)
• Burma. Except for about 100 miles (160 km) of hill railway, the 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of Burmese railways is metre gauge.

South Asia

• Bangladesh - 1,830 km (1,140 mi) (mostly in the central and eastern regions) and 365 km (227 mi) are dual gauge with 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Indian gauge.

• India - 6,000 km (3,700 mi) in 2012. The length was 24,158 km (15,011 mi) in 1951 rising to about 30,000 km (19,000 mi) in 1991 and has decreased considerably since then as metre gauge is being converted to Indian gauge of 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) under Project Unigauge because of poor connectivity issue with Metre Gauge routes. Indian Railways is executing the task to convert all Metre Gauge to Indian Gauge except Heritage Route like Nilgiri Mountain Railway.

• Pakistan inherited 506 route kilometers of metre gauge (1,000 mm or 3 ft 3 3/8 in) railway lines at the time of partition of India in 1947. Of this, Hyderabad-Mirpur Khas 67 km railway line was converted into broad gauge during the mid 1960s. Mirpur Khas-Khokhrapar 126 km metre gauge railway line was converted to broad gauge in February 2006. The remaining Jamrao-Pithoro 184 km (loop line) and Mirpur Khas-Nawabshah 129 km metre gauge railway lines were closed in 2005.^[1]

Americas

• Argentina - 11,080 km (6,880 mi)
• Bolivia - 3,600 km (2,200 mi)
• Brazil - 23,489 km (14,595 mi)
• Chile - 2,923 km (1,816 mi)

Africa

Eastern Africa

• Ethio-Djibouti Railways - 780 km (480 mi)
• Kenya
• Tanzania Railways Corporation - about 2,600 km (1,600 mi) (break of gauge to the Tanzania-Zambia Railway)
• Uganda

Northern Africa

• Egypt
  • Trams of Cairo
• Tunisian Railways - 1,674 km (1,040 mi) (besides standard gauge 471 km (293 mi))

Western Africa

• Benin
• Cameroon
• Dakar–Niger Railway (Senegal – Mali) - 1,287 km (800 mi)
• Abidjan – Burkina Faso railway, see Rail transport in Côte d'Ivoire and Rail transport in Burkina Faso
• Niger
• Togo

Europe

Austria

• Trams of Innsbruck and Gmunden
• Few of the local railways, such as Stubaitalbahn and Achenseebahn

Belgium

• Trams of Antwerp, Charleroi (Charleroi Pre-metro) and Ghent and the Belgian Coast Tram

Bulgaria

• Tram of Sofia Tramway

Czech Republic

• Like other Sudeten cities, the tram of Liberec used Metre gauge in the past. The inner city lines however, have been rebuilt to the Standard gauge and the only line that still uses the Metre gauge is the 13 km long line connecting the city with Jablonec nad Nisou.

Croatia

• Trams of Osijek and Zagreb

Finland

• Helsinki tram

France

• Chemins de fer de Corse
• Panoramique des Domes
• Saint-Gervais–Vallorcine railway
• Tramway de Lille
• Train des pignes
• Yellow train
• Chemin de Fer du Finistère

Germany

• Harzer Schmalspurbahnen
• Bavarian Zugspitzbahn
• Many tram networks

Greece

• Peloponnese (formerly SPAP) network

Italy

• Centovalli railway
• Rittnerbahn
• Trento-Malè-Marilleva

Latvia

• Tram of Liepāja

Norway

• Trondheim Tramway
• Thamshavnbanen

Poland

• Trams of
  • Bydgoszcz
  • Elbląg
  • Grudziądz
  • Łódź
  • Toruń

Portugal

• Narrow gauge railways in Portugal, of which the Metro de Mirandela and Vouga line are still operating
• Tram of Oporto

Romania

• Trams of Arad
• Trams of Iaşi

Russia

• Tram of Kaliningrad
• Tram of Pyatigorsk

Serbia

• Tram of Belgrade

Slovakia

• Tram of Bratislava
• Tatra Electric Railways (Tatranské elektrické železnice)
• Children's Railway, Košice (Detská železnica, Košice)

Spain

• Metro Bilbao
• EuskoTren
• FEVE
• FGC
• Palma de Mallorca Metro
• Valencia Metro
• FGV
• Tram of Vitoria-Gasteiz

Switzerland

• Most of the numerous Swiss narrow gauge railways, including:
  • Berner Oberland Bahn
  • Centovalli railway
  • Furka–Oberalp-Bahn
  • Frauenfeld–Wil-Bahn
  • Chemins de fer du Jura
  • Montreux-Oberland Bernois
  • Rhaetian Railway
  • Zentralbahn
• Most Swiss tramways, including:
  • Basel
  • Bern
  • Geneva
  • Neuchâtel
  • Zurich
• Many Swiss rack railways
• Many Swiss funicular railways

Ukraine

• Trams of Lviv, Molochne, Vinnytsia, Yevpatoria and Zhytomyr

Table

Country/region	Notes
Argentina	Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano, now Belgrano Cargas, Tren de las Nubes
Bangladesh
Benin
Brazil	Used in mostly cargo railways in landwide; Used in E.F Vitoria-Minas Passenger/Cargo Line and E.F. Carajás Passagener/Cargo line. In use in Metro and urban train systems of Fortaleza and Teresina cities.
Bolivia	All railway lines
Burkina Faso
Bulgaria	Most of the Sofia Tramway system, except for three lines with standard gauge. When the condition of tracks vastly deteriorated during World War II, it was formally widened to 1,013 mm (3 ft 3.88 in) in order to avoid loss of the licence. Then it gradually narrowed to 1,009 mm (3 ft 3.72 in) with a tendency to revert to 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in). All these changes affected only the infrastructure and not the rolling stock.
Burma
Cambodia
Cameroon
Chile	Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado, Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia.
China	Kunhe Railway (formerly the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway) only.
Croatia	Tramways in Zagreb and Osijek
Denmark	A few local railways. Only one remain, but reguaged to standard gauge. Århus tramway (closed), Danish tramway museum.
Djibouti	Djibouti to Addis Abeba
Ethiopia	Addis Abeba - Djibouti line
Finland	Helsinki tram
France	Historically used in many local and regional railways, only a few of which remain today. Includes Saint-Gervais-Vallorcine Line and Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains - La Tour-de-Carol and Salbris - Luçay-le-Mâle operated by SNCF. Chemins de fer de la Provence (Train des pignes); Chemins de fer de Corse; Chemin de Fer de La Mure.
Germany	Harzer Schmalspurbahnen, trams
Greece	mainly in the Peloponnese
India	Nilgiri Mountain Railway which is a World Heritage Site. 9,000 km (5,600 mi) of track length of Metre Gauge existed in 2011 which is being entirely converted to Indian Gauge under Project Unigauge except Heritage routes.
Italy	Trento-Malè-Marilleva railway, owned by Trentino Trasporti, Ferrovia Genova-Casella, Domodossola-Locarno international railway, Trieste-Opicina tramway, Rittnerbahn-ferrovia del Renon tramway, Laas-Lasa marble quarry railway
Ivory Coast
Iraq
Kenya
Laos
Latvia	Liepāja tramway
Madagascar
Malaysia	KTM line
Mali
Norway	Thamshavn Line and Trondheim Tramway
Pakistan	Pakistan inherited 506 route kilometers of metre gauge (1,000 mm or 3 ft 3 3/8 in) railway lines at the time of Independence in 1947. Of this, Hyderabad-Mirpur Khas 67 km and Mirpur Khas-Khokhrapar 126 km track have been converted into Broad gauge. Remaining 313 km including Jamrao-Pithoro 184 km (loop line) and Mirpur Khas-Nawabshah 129 km metre gauge railway lines have been closed in 2005.[1]
Poland	City trams of: Łódź (including suburban lines), Bydgoszcz and Toruń (planned to be interconnected), Grudziądz, and Elbląg
Portugal	Several mainly mountainous branch lines, partly abandoned, never fully interconnected; connected to the REFER network by means of shared stations and some dual gauge stretches.
Romania	Tram systems in Arad, Iaşi and Sibiu, also in Galaţi until fully replaced by standard gauge in 1975.
Russia	Kaliningrad and Pyatigorsk tramways
Senegal
Serbia	Belgrade Tram, Šargan Eight
Singapore	KTM line to Malaysia
Slovakia	Bratislava trams/streetcars, mountain railroad and a cogwheel railroad in the area of High Tatras (Tatranské elektrické železnice), Children's railway (Detská železnica) in Košice.
Spain	FEVE lines in north-west Spain, including the Transcantábrico Barcelona Metro line 8 and FGC suburban lines S4, S8, R5 and R6 Cercanías Madrid line C-9 (Cercedilla–Cotos)
Switzerland	Nearly all narrow-gauge railways: suburban railways, mountain railways, rack railways, some long-distance railways and trams.
Tanzania	except for TAZARA
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey	Istanbul nostalgic trams
Uganda
Ukraine	Lviv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr and Eupatoria tramways
Vietnam

See also

• Narrow gauge railways
• Metre gauge railways by country

References

External links

• http://parovoz.com/spravka/gauges-en.php