This is a list of notable railway track gauge conversions, railway lines where the distance between the rails is broadened or narrowed. Conversions to broader gauge are generally to accommodate heavier loads or for wider cars, while conversions to narrower gauge tend to be for compatibility with other lines on a rail network. This list also contains instances of lines already prepared for conversion and those which are planned to be converted.
| New gauge (mm) | Original (mm) | Date | Location | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Angola | Luanda Railway | ||||
| 1950s | Moçâmedes Railway[1] [2] | ||||
| 1970 | Transcontinental line: Broken Hill to Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie to Perth as part of the Sydney–Perth rail corridor. | ||||
| 1980 | Completion of the penultimate link in the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor, from Tarcoola to Alice Springs. The new line replaced the ancient narrow-gauge Central Australia Railway that was on a different, more floodprone alignment. | ||||
| 1990-1995 | Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor – 600km (400miles) of convertible sleepers installed in 1990 to facilitate quick conversion in 1995. | ||||
| 2004 | Completion of the final link in the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor, from Alice Springs to Darwin. For about half the distance, the new line replaced the ancient narrow-gauge North Australia Railway that was closed in 1976. | ||||
| 2008–2010 | North East railway line in Victoria. A 200km (100miles) section between Seymour and Albury was converted, changing two parallel tracks of different gauges to double track. The Oaklands line that would otherwise have been left as an orphan was converted in 2009. The cost of converting this 126km (78miles) line has been estimated as just over .[3] | ||||
| 2012 | South Australia planned to convert its suburban (broad gauge) network to standard gauge in 2012, in conjunction with proposed electrification works. The Outer Harbour and Belair lines were rebuilt with gauge convertible sleepers and re-sleepering of the Gawler line commenced in 2010. The Seaford line was to commence once the Gawler line was completed.[4] However, both gauge conversion and electrification works were suspended due to funding constraints, with work unlikely to proceed for the foreseeable future. | ||||
| (temporary) | 1950s | The Mount Gambier line in South Australia was fitted with some 3-gauge steel sleepers when it was "temporarily" converted, pending later proposed conversion to (which did not occur, the line being abandoned instead). | |||
| In Western Australia, the narrow-gauge iron ore railways serving Geraldton port and the new port at Oakajee will be designed for ease of conversion to standard gauge.[5] | |||||
| 2016–present | In Victoria, several wheat lines amounting to about 1100km (700miles) of track, were (or are to be) converted to standard gauge, including:[6] Maryborough to Mildura, Yelta and Murrayville; Sea Lake and Manangatang. Lines will be converted to dual gauge between Gheringhap to Maryborough. This is part of the Murray Basin Rail Project. | ||||
| 2008–2009 | Pöstlingbergbahn | ||||
| 1961 | Tschagguns–Partenen railway | ||||
| 1854–1855 | Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway | ||||
| , , | ongoing | ||||
| 1898 | Barbados Railway | ||||
| 1880s |  Canada | Numerous Provincial Gauge railways in Canada | |||
| 1881 | Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway | ||||
| 1883 | Toronto and Nipissing Railway with third rail stage. | ||||
| 1938 | Chinese–Russian-owned line[7] | ||||
| South Manchuria Railway, during the Russo-Japanese War | |||||
| South Manchuria Railway, following the Russo-Japanese War | |||||
 Czech Republic | Muzeum Průmyslových Železnic | ||||
| 1956 | Kindu (Lualaba River port) – Kibombo – Kongolo – Kabalo (Lualaba River port and junction with Katanga line) – Nyunzu – Niemba – Kalemie (the port on Lake Tanganyika): This line was isolated meter gauge until 1955, when the gauge was changed for the connection with the Katanga line in 1956. | ||||
| 1932 | Matadi–Kinshasa Railway converted to on new alignment. | ||||
| Mayumbe line | |||||
| 1924 | Skagen Line in Denmark | ||||
| Chemin de Fer Touristique du Tarn | |||||
| 1941 | Brest–Minsk[8] | ||||
| 1964/65 | Zabergäu Railway | ||||
| 2004 | Malente-Gremsmühlen–Lütjenburg railway | ||||
| 2006 | |||||
| , , | ongoing | Project Unigauge | |||
| 1923 |  Japan | Iyo Railway | |||
| 1959 | Keisei Electric Railway
| ||||
| early 1970s | Kokchetav network, 305km (190miles), operational since 1954, partly regauged to Russian gauge.[9] | ||||
| Don Det–Don Khon narrow-gauge railway | |||||
 Latvia | Liepāja–Rucava line, 52 km military line | ||||
See also: Narrow-gauge railways in Lithuania. | |||||
| 1950s | Ohrid line | ||||
| 1910 |  Mozambique /  Zimbabwe | Beira–Salisbury | |||
| 1950 |  Namibia | Moçâmedes Railway | |||
| 1915–1961 | Otavi Mining and Railway Company | ||||
| 1910– | Swakopmund–Windhoek line | ||||
| 1920 | Rail transport in Nauru | ||||
| 2018 | Jaynagar–Janakpur railway was regauged. | ||||
 New Zealand | Canterbury Provincial Railways | ||||
| 1912–1914 | Bauchi Light Railway | ||||
| Port Harcourt – Onne, convertible sleepers installed since gauge conversion not imminent. | |||||
| 1915 | Sulitjelma Line converted from to dual gauge with and when later closed was converted to a road. | ||||
| 1922 | Skøyen–Filipstad Line | ||||
| 1922 | Trondhjem–Støren Line | ||||
| 1935 | Arendal Line | ||||
| 1944 | Ålgård Line | ||||
| 1941 | / | Røros Line in occupied Norway converted by German forces. | |||
| 1949 | Grevskap Line in Norway | ||||
| , , | 2000 | All narrow-gauge tracks in Pakistan were re-gauged or were dismantled. | |||
| 2001 | The Panama Canal Railroad, by then in a dilapidated state, was reconstructed and relaid. | ||||
| 2009 | Peru from Huancayo to Huancavelica; 147km (91miles).[10] [11] | ||||
| 2019–ongoing | The Philippine National Railways is reconstructing its dilapidated narrow-gauge network to standard gauge.[12] [13] | ||||
| after 1918 |  Poland | In part of Poland under Russian control (Russian Partition), some railways were Russian broad gauge. These were converted to standard gauge after Poland gained independence, to unify the national system. | |||
| 1924 | World War I field railway connecting Nasielsk and Sierpc, 88 km long. | ||||
| 1932 | World War I field railway from Dūkštas to Druya. After the occupation of the Vilnius Region by Poland, the PKP regauged the line.[14] After World War II the majority of the line ended up in Belorussian SSR and closed in the 1970s.[15] | ||||
| 19th century | |||||
| 2004 | The Guimarães line in Portugal was electrified and converted from metre gauge to Iberian broad gauge in 2004. | ||||
| 2003-2019 | The railways of Sakhalin Island were converted in sections, first laying the third (outer) rail, making rail lines usable by both Japanese- and Russian-gauge trains. Once the railways throughout the island have been converted to the Russian gauge (by 2012), the inner rail was removed.[16] | ||||
| –1918 | / | World War I as fronts and borders changed | |||
| –1945 | / | World War II as fronts and borders changed | |||
| 1897 | The first railway in Russia connecting Saint Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo | ||||
| (proposed) | Port Pepel iron ore line, derelict[17] | ||||
See also: Two-foot-gauge railways in South Africa. | |||||
| 19th century | |||||
| 1976 | The line from Cartagena to Los Blancos was converted at the same time it was extended to Los Nietos.[18] | ||||
| 2000s | Spain is building its high-speed lines to standard gauge, even though the existing system is Iberian; new cutoff lines are being built with gauge-convertible sleepers. | ||||
| 1996 | The only narrow-gauge lines in Sri Lanka: Kelani Valley line was regauged while the Uda Pussellawa railway was dismantled. | ||||
| 1960s |  Sweden | The Östra Södermanlands Järnväg railway in Mariefred mostly runs on tracks which were converted from standard gauge when it was remade into a heritage railway in the 1960s. | |||
| 1934 | The short and isolated standard gauge tram line Långängsbanan built in 1911 in the northern Stockholm suburb of Stocksund, was converted to the narrow of the adjacent Roslag Railway in 1934. Långängsbanan was closed in 1966. | ||||
| 1973-1978 | The railway between Kalmar and Berga was converted during the 1970s. | ||||
| 1972 | The railway between Sandbäckshult and Mönsterås was converted between 1970 and 1972. In Sandbäckshult, the line connects to the Kalmar-Berga line. Both were converted to facilitate standard gauge transport to the pulp mill in Mönsterås. | ||||
| 1953-1962 | Kinnekulle Line | ||||
| 1854 |  Switzerland | Swiss Northern Railway | |||
| 2022 | Switzerland | Waldenburg Railway Being converted as part of a modernisation of the line. | |||
| 2010 | Switzerland | Swiss National Railway The former Nationalbahn line from Aarau to Suhr was converted to metre gauge to allow replacement of a street running section on the Menziken–Aarau–Schöftland railway line | |||
| (proposed) | Hejaz Railway | ||||
| Tanzania in 2008 is proposed / steel sleepers and / concrete sleepers to suit gauge conversion. | |||||
| 1920 onward | From 1920, the standard gauge part of the Siam railway amounting to 1000km (1,000miles) was converted first to third rail, and then to (metre gauge) making the whole system metre gauge.[19] | ||||
| (proposed) |  Tunisia | Tunis - Sfax Line | |||
| 1920s |  Turkey | Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway | |||
| 1948–1949 | Beregovo region network, around 200km (100miles); initially built during the Hungarian Empire and regauged when Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union.[20] | ||||
| Uzhhorod region, 35km (22miles). | |||||
| Vapniarka railways, 140km (90miles). | |||||
| 1844 |  United Kingdom | The Eastern Counties Railway, constructed in 1839 and the connecting Northern and Eastern Railway, constructed in 1840. | |||
| Eigiau Reservoir Tramway | |||||
| 1916 | Fairbourne Railway | ||||
| 1986 | Fairbourne Railway | ||||
| 1986 | Gorseddau Junction and Portmadoc Railway | ||||
| 1892 |
| Great Western Railway | |||
| Lynton and Barnstaple Railway | |||||
| 2002 | Southport Pier Tramway | ||||
| 1950 | Southport Pier Tramway | ||||
| 1872 | Teifi Valley Railway | ||||
| 1901–1902 | Vale of Rheidol Railway | ||||
| 1884 | Volk's Electric Railway | ||||
| 1866 | Morris and Essex converted in 12 days[21] | ||||
| 1871 | Maine Central Railroad Company | ||||
| 1879 | Monterey Branch Line | ||||
| 1881 | Denver to Pueblo on Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.[22] This began a progressive and gradual conversion to standard gauge across Colorado, wherever the traffic justified the conversion | ||||
| 1886 | AN ACT to establish the gauge of the Pacific railroad and its branches.[23] set the standard for the First transcontinental railroad and encouraged previously laid lines to regauge. Southern railroads were not converted until 1886[24] when they were regauged to 1448 mm (4 ft 9 in). This was functionally compatible with standard gauge, final conversions taking place as track was maintained. | ||||
| 1906 | Market Street Railway Polk cable car rebuilt as standard gauge electric trolley following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake[25] | ||||
| 1898 | San Diego Electric Railway | ||||
| 1902 | Burlington and Northwestern Railway | ||||
| 1906 | Venice Short Line when sold from the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad to the Pacific Electric | ||||
| 1997 | The Riverfront Streetcar Line of the New Orleans streetcar system was converted to conform with the rest of the historic streetcar system. | ||||
| Central Asia | While China and Europe are connected by rail, and while both are mainly, the intervening Central Asia Railways are gauge. There are discussions about facilitating an eventual linkage of the Chinese and European standard gauge system. See also: Eurasian Land Bridge. |