A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe,[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] and SGR in East Africa. It is the most widely used track gauge around the world, with about 55% of the lines in the world using it.
All high-speed rail lines use standard gauge except those in Russia, Finland, and Uzbekistan. The distance between the inside edges of the rails is defined to be 1,435 mm except in the United States, Canada, and on some heritage British lines, where it is defined in U.S. customary/Imperial units as exactly "four feet eight and one half inches",[6] which is equivalent to 1,435.1mm.
As railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge (the distance, or width, between the inner sides of the rails) to be used. Different railways used different gauges, and where rails of different gauge met – a "gauge break" – loads had to be unloaded from one set of rail cars and reloaded onto another, a time-consuming and expensive process. The result was the adoption throughout a large part of the world of a "standard gauge" of, allowing interconnectivity and interoperability.
A popular legend that has circulated since at least 1937[7] traces the origin of the gauge even further back than the coalfields of northern England, pointing to the evidence of rutted roads marked by chariot wheels dating from the Roman Empire.[8] Snopes categorised this legend as "false", but commented that it "is perhaps more fairly labeled as 'Partly true, but for trivial and unremarkable reasons.[9] The historical tendency to place the wheels of horse-drawn vehicles around apart probably derives from the width needed to fit a carthorse in between the shafts.[9] Research, however, has been undertaken to support the hypothesis that "the origin of the standard gauge of the railway might result from an interval of wheel ruts of prehistoric ancient carriages".[10]
In addition, while road-travelling vehicles are typically measured from the outermost portions of the wheel rims, it became apparent that for vehicles travelling on rails, having main wheel flanges that fit inside the rails is better, thus the minimum distance between the wheels (and, by extension, the inside faces of the rail heads) was the important one.
A standard gauge for horse railways never existed, but rough groupings were used; in the north of England none was less than . Wylam colliery's system, built before 1763, was, as was John Blenkinsop's Middleton Railway; the old plateway was relaid to so that Blenkinsop's engine could be used. Others were (in Beamish) or (in Bigges Main (in Wallsend), Kenton, and Coxlodge).[11]
English railway pioneer George Stephenson spent much of his early engineering career working for the coal mines of County Durham. He favoured for wagonways in Northumberland and Durham, and used it on his Killingworth line. The Hetton and Springwell wagonways also used this gauge.
Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington railway (S&DR) was built primarily to transport coal from mines near Shildon to the port at Stockton-on-Tees. Opening in 1825, the initial gauge of was set to accommodate the existing gauge of hundreds of horse-drawn chaldron wagons[12] that were already in use on the wagonways in the mines. The railway used this gauge for 15 years before a change was made, debuting around 1850, to the gauge. The historic Mount Washington Cog Railway, the world's first mountain-climbing rack railway, is still in operation in the 21st century, and has used the earlier gauge since its inauguration in 1868.
George Stephenson introduced the gauge (including a belated extra of free movement to reduce binding on curves) for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, authorised in 1826 and opened 30 September 1830. The extra half inch was not regarded at first as very significant, and some early trains ran on both gauges daily without compromising safety.[13]
The success of this project led to Stephenson and his son Robert being employed to engineer several other larger railway projects. Thus the gauge became widespread and dominant in Britain. Robert was reported to have said that if he had had a second chance to choose a gauge, he would have chosen one wider than .[14] [15] "I would take a few inches more, but a very few".[16]
During the "gauge war" with the Great Western Railway, standard gauge was called "narrow gauge", in contrast to the Great Western's broad gauge. The modern use of the term "narrow gauge" for gauges less than standard did not arise for many years, until the first such locomotive-hauled passenger railway, the Ffestiniog Railway, was built.
In 1845, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, a Royal Commission on Railway Gauges reported in favour of a standard gauge. The subsequent Gauge Act ruled that new passenger-carrying railways in Great Britain should be built to a standard gauge of, and those in Ireland to a new standard gauge of . In Great Britain, Stephenson's gauge was chosen on the grounds that existing lines of this gauge were eight times longer than those of the rival (later) gauge adopted principally by the Great Western Railway. It allowed the broad-gauge companies in Great Britain to continue with their tracks and expand their networks within the "Limits of Deviation" and the exceptions defined in the Act.
After an intervening period of mixed-gauge operation (tracks were laid with three rails), the Great Western Railway finally completed the conversion of its network to standard gauge in 1892. In North East England, some early lines in colliery (coal mining) areas were, while in Scotland some early lines were . The British gauges converged starting from 1846 as the advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent. By the 1890s, the entire network was converted to standard gauge.
The Royal Commission made no comment about small lines narrower than standard gauge (to be called "narrow gauge"), such as the Ffestiniog Railway. Thus it permitted a future multiplicity of narrow gauges in the UK. It also made no comments about future gauges in British colonies, which allowed various gauges to be adopted across the colonies.
Parts of the United States, mainly in the Northeast, adopted the same gauge, because some early trains were purchased from Britain. The American gauges converged, as the advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent. Notably, all the broad gauge track in the South was converted to "almost standard" gauge over the course of two days beginning on 31 May 1886.[17] See Track gauge in the United States.
In continental Europe, France and Belgium adopted a gauge (measured between the midpoints of each rail's profile) for their early railways.[18] The gauge between the interior edges of the rails (the measurement adopted from 1844) differed slightly between countries, and even between networks within a country (for example, to in France). The first tracks in Austria and in the Netherlands had other gauges (in Austria for the Donau Moldau line and in the Netherlands for the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij), but for interoperability reasons (the first rail service between Paris and Berlin began in 1849, first Chaix timetable) Germany adopted standard gauges, as did most other European countries.
The modern method of measuring rail gauge was agreed in the first Berne rail convention of 1886.[19]
| Name | Authorised | Opened | Gauge | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway | 1824 | 1825 | ||
| Dundee and Newtyle Railway | 1829 | 1831 | ||
| Eastern Counties Railway | 4 July 1836 | [20] | ||
| London and Blackwall Railway | 28 July 1836 | [21] [22] [23] | ||
| Dundee and Arbroath Railway | 19 May 1836 incorporated | October 1838 | Until standardised in 1847 | |
| Arbroath and Forfar Railway | 19 May 1836 incorporated | November 1838 | ||
| Northern and Eastern Railway | 4 July 1836 | [24] | ||
| 1845 | 1848 | Until standardised | ||
| 1835 | 1838 | Until standardised | ||
| 1836 | 1839 | Until 5ft 3in |
See main article: 4 ft 8 in gauge railways.
| Name | Authorised | Opened | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore and Ohio Railroad | Begun 1827 | 1830 | ||
| Liverpool and Manchester Railway | 1824 | 1830 | ||
| Saint-Étienne–Lyon railway | 1826 | 1833 | All the early French railways (including Saint-Etienne Andrezieux, authorised 1823, opened 1827) had a French Gauge of from rail axis to rail axis, compatible with early standard gauge tolerances) | |
| Dublin and Kingstown Railway | 1831 | 1834 For passenger traffic | converted to 5 ft 3in | |
| Newcastle & Carlisle Railway | 1829 | 1834 | Isolated from LMR | |
| Grand Junction Railway | 1833 | 1837 | Connected to LMR | |
| London and Birmingham Railway | 1833 | 1838 | Connected to LMR | |
| Manchester and Birmingham Railway | 1837 | 1840 | Connected to LMR | |
| Birmingham and Gloucester Railway | 1836 | 1840 | Connected to LMR | |
| London and Southampton Railway | 1834 | 1840 | ||
| London and Brighton Railway | 1837 | 1841 | ||
| South Eastern Railway | 1836 | 1844 |
See main article: Dual gauge.
Several lines were initially built as standard gauge but were later converted to another gauge for cost or for compatibility reasons.
| Country/territory | Railway | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | National rail network | 677km (421miles)[30] [31] | |
| Algeria |
| 3973km (2,469miles)[32] | |
| Angola | 800NaN0 | ||
| Argentina |
| Other major lines are mostly broad gauge, with the exception of the General Belgrano Railway. | |
| Australia |
| 2295km (1,426miles) Victoria built the first railways to the Irish broad gauge. New South Wales then built to the standard gauge, so trains had to stop on the border and passengers transferred, which was only rectified in the 1960s. Queensland still runs on a narrow gauge but there is a standard gauge line from NSW to Brisbane. | |
| Austria | Österreichische Bundesbahnen | 4859km (3,019miles) The Semmering railway has UNESCO World Heritage Site status. | |
| Bangladesh | Dhaka Metro Rail | 20.1km (12.5miles) | |
| Belgium | NMBS/SNCB, Brussels Metro and tramway | NMBS/SNCB 3619km (2,249miles) [33] Brussels Metro 40km (30miles) Trams in Brussels 140km (90miles) | |
| Bolivia | Mi Tren | 42 km (26.1 mi) | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1032km (641miles) | ||
| Brazil | Estrada de Ferro do Amapá
| 205.5km (127.7miles) | |
| Bulgaria |
| ||
| Canada | National rail network (including commuter rail operators like GO Transit, West Coast Express, Exo and Union Pearson Express). | 49422km (30,709miles)The Toronto Transit Commission uses gauge on its streetcar and subway lines. | |
| China | National rail network | 1031440NaN0 | |
| Chile | Santiago Metro | 140.80NaN0 | |
| Croatia | Hrvatske željeznice | ||
| Colombia | Metro de Medellín, Tren del Cerrejón, Metro de Bogotá | ||
| Cuba | Ferrocarriles de Cuba | 42660NaN0 | |
| Czech Republic |
| 94780NaN0 | |
| Denmark | Banedanmark and Copenhagen Metro | ||
| Djibouti | Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway | 1000NaN0 | |
| Egypt | Egyptian National Railways | ||
| Estonia | Rail Baltica | Standard-gauge Rail Baltica railway is under construction and is scheduled to be completed by 2026. Cost studies have been undertaken for a potential overhaul of entire rail network to standard gauge.[37] | |
| Ethiopia | Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway | 6590NaN0 Other standard gauge lines under construction. | |
| Finland |
| ||
| France | SNCF, RATP (on RER lines) | ||
| Gabon | Trans-Gabon Railway | 6690NaN0 | |
| Germany | Deutsche Bahn, numerous local public transport providers | 43468km (27,010miles) | |
| Georgia | Georgian Railway constructed between Akhalkalaki to Karstakhi for Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway | 26.142km (16.244miles) | |
| Ghana | Tema-Mpakadan Railway LineTakoradi to Sekondi Route, is currently operated by the Ghana Railway Company Limited.Kojokrom-Sekondi Railway Line(The Kojokrom-Sekondi line is a branch line that joins the Western Railway Line at Kojokrom) | New and extended SGR are being built, with some dual gauge. | |
| Greece | Hellenic Railways Organisation (operated by TrainOSE) | All modern Greek networks, except in the Peloponnese | |
| Holy See | 1km (01miles) | ||
| Hong Kong | MTR (former KCR network – East Rail line, West Rail line, Tuen Ma line, Light Rail) | Other MTR lines use 1,432 mm (4 ft in) instead of 4 ft in[38] [39] [40] | |
| Hungary |
| ||
| India | Only used for rapid transit and tram, Bangalore Metro, Chennai Metro, Delhi Metro (Phase 2 onwards), Rapid Metro Gurgaon, Hyderabad Metro, Jaipur Metro, Kochi Metro, Kolkata Metro (Line 2 onwards), Lucknow Metro, Mumbai Metro, Nagpur Metro, Navi Mumbai Metro, Pune Metro and Trams in Kolkata. The under-construction Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor based on the Shinkansen also uses standard gauge. All under-construction and future rapid transit systems would be in standard gauge.Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System | 128305km (79,725miles)Indian nationwide rail system (Indian Railways) uses broad gauge. 96% of the broad gauge network is electrified. | |
| Indonesia | Jakarta LRT, Jabodebek LRT, Trans-Sulawesi Railway (under construction), Jakarta MRT West-east line (planned), and Jakarta-Bandung high speed networks | The very first railway line in Indonesia which connects Semarang to Tanggung, which later extended to Yogyakarta was laid to standard gauge.[41] Opened in 1867, it was mostly regauged to 1,067mm/3ft6in during Japanese occupation in 1943, while a short line in Semarang Harbor soldiered on until 1945.[42] Standard gauge railway lines made a return in 2014 on experimental railway line in Aceh.The railway tracks of Java and Sumatra use . | |
| Iran | Islamic Republic of Iran Railways | 129980NaN0 | |
| Iraq | Iraqi Republic Railways | 4850NaN0 | |
| Ireland | Transport Infrastructure Ireland | Luas in Dublin | |
| Israel | |||
| Italy | Ferrovie dello Stato | 167230NaN0 | |
| Japan | Shinkansen, JR Hokkaido Naebo Works (see Train on Train), Sendai Subway (Tozai Line), Tokyo Metro (Ginza and Marunouchi lines), Toei Subway (Asakusa and Oedo lines), Yokohama Municipal Subway (Blue and Green lines), Nagoya Municipal Subway (Higashiyama, Meijō, and Meikō lines), Kyoto Municipal Subway, Osaka Metro, Kobe Municipal Subway, Fukuoka City Subway (Nanakuma Line), Keisei Electric Railway (including Hokusō and Shin-Keisei lines), Keikyu Line, Kintetsu Railway (Osaka, Nara, Nagoya, Yamada, Kyoto, and Keihanna lines and their associated branches), Keihan Railway, Hankyu Railway, Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway, Nose Electric Railway, Hanshin Railway, Sanyo Electric Railway, Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad, Nishi-Nippon Railroad (Tenjin Ōmuta, Dazaifu and Amagi lines) | 4251km (2,641miles), all electrified | |
| Kenya | Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway | 4850NaN0 Inaugurated 31 May 2017. An extension from Nairobi to Naivasha is under construction. A further extension east to the Ugandan border is planned. | |
| Laos | Boten–Vientiane railway | 4140NaN0, Formally opened on 3 December 2021. | |
| Latvia | Rail Baltica | Standard-gauge Rail Baltica railway is under construction and is scheduled to be completed by 2026. | |
| Lebanon | All lines out of service and essentially dismantled | ||
| Libya | Network under construction | ||
| Lithuania | Rail Baltica | First phase, from Kaunas to the Polish border, completed in 2015. The second phase, from Kaunas north to Tallinn and from Kaunas to Vilnius, is in the design and construction phase and scheduled to be completed by 2026. | |
| Luxembourg | Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois | ||
| Malaysia |
| 998km (620miles) | |
| Mexico[43] | 24740km (15,370miles) | ||
| Monaco | |||
| Montenegro | Željeznice Crne Gore | 3 | |
| Morocco | Rail transport in Morocco | 2067km (1,284miles) | |
| Nepal | Nepal Railways (all tracks except cross-border tracks with India are standard gauge) | Under-construction | |
| Netherlands | Nederlandse Spoorwegen and regional railways. | ||
| Nigeria | Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway | Under construction; Abuja to Kaduna section operational. | |
| North Korea | Railways of the DPRK. | ||
| North Macedonia | Macedonian Railways | ||
| Norway | Norwegian National Rail Administration, Rail transport in Norway | 4087km (2,540miles) | |
| Pakistan | To be used only for the rapid transit system, Lahore Metro[44] | Pakistan's nationwide rail system (Pakistan Railways) uses broad gauge. Any future additions to this system would also be in broad gauge. | |
| Panama | Panama Railway | Regauged from in 2001 | |
| Paraguay | Ferrocarril Presidente Don Carlos Antonio López, now Ferrocarril de Paraguay S.A. (FEPASA) | 36 km out of Asunción (used as a tourist steam line), plus 5 km from Encarnación to the border with Argentina, carrying mainly exported soy; the rest of the 441-km line awaits its fate, while redevelopment plans come and go with regularity. The section from west of Encarnación to north of San Salvador, plus the entire San Salvador–Abaí branch, have been dismantled by the railway itself and sold for scrap to raise funds. | |
| Peru | Railway Development Corporation,[45] Ferrocarril Central Andino (Callao–Lima–La Oroya–Huancayo and La Oroya–Cerro del Pasco lines), Ferrocarril del sur de Peru (operated by Peru Rail) Matarani–Arequipa–Puno and Puno–Cuzco, Ilo–Moquegua mining railway, Tacna–Arica (Chile) international line, (operated by Tacna Province), Lima electric suburban railway | 16030NaN0 | |
| Philippines | Operational: LRT 1, LRT 2, and MRT 3. Under construction: MRT 7, MRT 4, LRT 1 South/Cavite Extension, MMS, PNR SLH, PNR NSCR, and Mindanao Railway Phase 1. All current as of March 2022. | 54.15km (33.65miles) operational, 899.6km (559miles) under construction, all electrified as of March 2022. | |
| Philippine National Railways network, future LRT and MRT Lines (proposed) | 4600km (2,900miles), 1159km (720miles) will be electrified.[46] | ||
| Poland | Polskie Koleje Państwowe, Warsaw Metro, most tramway systems throughout the country | ||
| Portugal | Braga and Oporto (Guindais) funiculars, Lisbon Metro, Oporto Metro (partly adapted from former ; tracks), Metro Transportes do Sul light rail in Almada. | All other railways use (broad gauge); some use ; Decauville uses gauge.Planned and under construction high-speed railways to use to maintain interoperability with the rest of the network. | |
| Romania |
| ||
| Russia | Rostov-on-Don tramway, lines connecting Kaliningrad with Poland | ||
| Rwanda | Isaka–Kigali Standard Gauge Railway | 150km (90miles) New railway between Kigali and the Tanzanian town of Isaka is planned. | |
| Saudi Arabia | Rail transport in Saudi Arabia | ||
| Senegal |
| ||
| Serbia | Serbian Railways | ||
| Singapore | Mass Rapid Transit | 2030NaN0 | |
| Slovakia | Železnice Slovenskej republiky, Košice tramway system | ||
| Slovenia | Slovenske železnice | ||
| South Africa | Gautrain in Gauteng Province. Rest of country uses | 800NaN0 | |
| South Korea | KRNA | ||
| Spain | AVE high-speed rail lines from Madrid to Seville, Málaga, Alicante, Saragossa, Barcelona (-Perthus), Orense, Toledo, Huesca, León and Valladolid, Barcelona Metro (L2, L3, L4, and L5 lines), Barcelona FGC (lines L6 and L7), and Metro Vallès (lines S1, S2, S5, and S55) All other railways use (broad gauge) and/or . | 36220NaN0 | |
| Sweden | Swedish Transport Administration, Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (Stockholm metro, commuter and light rail lines), tram networks in Gothenburg, Lund and Norrköping | ||
| Switzerland | Swiss Federal Railways, BLS, Rigi Railways (rack railway) | SFR 3,134 km in standard gauge and 98 km metre gauge[47] 449 km | |
| Syria | Chemins de Fer Syriens | 20520NaN0 | |
| Taiwan | 604.640NaN0 | ||
| Tanzania | Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway | 3000NaN0 line from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro has been completed in April 2022 currently in live testing phase.[48] Contract awarded in 2019 for a 4220NaN0 extension from Morogoro to Makutupora. | |
| Thailand |
| 800NaN0 | |
| Tunisia | Northern part of the network | 471km (293miles) | |
| Turkey | Turkish State Railways (also operates Marmaray), metro networks, and tram networks | Some tram networks use . | |
| Uganda | Uganda Standard Gauge Railway | Railway line from Kampala to the Kenyan border is planned. | |
| United Arab Emirates | Rail transport in the United Arab Emirates | ||
| United Kingdom (Great Britain) | Entire rail network in Great Britain (but not Ireland) since standardisation by the Regulating the Gauge of Railways Act 1846 | Also used on all metro and tramway systems with the exception of the self-contained Glasgow Subway, which is . | |
| United States |
| 129774km (80,638miles) | |
| Uruguay | National rail network | 2900km (1,800miles) | |
| Vietnam | North of Hanoi[49] | 178km (111miles). Includes dual gauge (standard/metre) to the Chinese border. |
Several states in the United States had laws requiring road vehicles to have a consistent gauge to allow them to follow ruts in the road. Those gauges were similar to railway standard gauge.[50]