Metre gauge railway
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A metre gauge railway is a narrow gauge railway or tramway with a track gauge of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in). It has installations of around 95,000 kilometres (59,000 mi) in the world. It is the main gauge in some countries. Historically it was utilized by European colonial powers such as the French, British, and German empires. In Europe large 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, metre gauge light metros were established in some cities, while in other cities metre gauge was replaced by standard gauge.
Installations[edit]
| Country/territory | Railway |
|---|---|
| Argentina | 11,080 km (6,880 mi). Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano |
| Austria | Trams of Innsbruck and Gmunden and few of the local railways, such as Stubaitalbahn and Achenseebahn. |
| 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. |
| Belgium | Trams of Charleroi, Antwerp, Ghent, De Lijn and the Belgian Coast Tram. |
| Benin | National rail network, 578 km (359 mi). |
| Bolivia | National rail network, 3,600 km (2,200 mi). |
| Brazil | 23,489 km (14,595 mi). Used in mostly cargo railways in landwide; Used in E.F Vitoria-Minas Passenger/Cargo Line and R.R. In use in Metro and urban train systems of Fortaleza and Teresina cities. |
| Bulgaria | Most of the Sofia Tramway system, except for three lines with standard gauge. When the condition of tracks vastly deteriorated in 1927, it was formally widened to 1,009 mm (3 ft 3 23⁄32 in)[citation needed] in order to avoid loss of the licence.[citation needed] |
| Burkina Faso | Abidjan – Burkina Faso railway |
| Burma | Except for about 100 miles (160 km) of hill railway, the 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of Burmese railways is metre gauge. |
| Cambodia | Cambodia has 612 km (380 mi) of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge railways |
| Cameroon | 1,104 km |
| Chile | 2,923 km (1,816 mi). Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (Ferronor), Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia, Arica–La Paz railway. |
| China | Kunhe Railway (formerly the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway) only. |
| Croatia | Tramways in Zagreb and Osijek |
| 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 standard gauge and the only line that still uses the metre gauge is the 13 km (8.1 mi) long Jablonec nad Nisou line connecting the city with Jablonec nad Nisou. |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | Several metre gauge railways |
| Denmark | A few local railways. Only one remains, but regauged to standard gauge. Århus tramway (closed), Danish Tramway Museum. |
| Djibouti | Ethio-Djibouti Railways - 780 km (480 mi) |
| Egypt | Cairo |
| Ethiopia | Ethio-Djibouti Railways - 780 km (480 mi) |
| 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 la Corse; Chemin de Fer de La Mure; Panoramique des Domes; Tramway de Lille; Chemin de Fer du Finistère; Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme |
| Germany | Harzer Schmalspurbahnen, Bavarian Zugspitzbahn and many tram networks |
| Greece | The rail network of Peloponnese used to be the largest metre gauge in Europe and is now partially abandoned. Only Patra's Commuter rail, within the Patras metropolitan area and the Olympia-Katakolo tourist rail line use the network. |
| India | 4,000 km (2,500 mi) in 2014. 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 that began in 1991. Indian Railways is converting all metre gauge tracks to 1676mm gauge except heritage railways like Nilgiri Mountain Railway. |
| Iraq | Mesopotamian Railways |
| Israel | Sections of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) railways, later converted to 1,050 mm (3 ft 5 11⁄32 in) or 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) gauge |
| 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, Bernina railway (crosses into Switzerland) (UNESCO World Heritage Site status shared with Albula Railway in Switzerland). |
| Ivory Coast | Abidjan – Burkina Faso railway |
| Kenya | Uganda Railway run by Kenya Railways Corporation. |
| Laos | A 3.5 km extension of the metre-gauge State Railway of Thailand network across the border into Laos |
| Latvia | Liepāja tramway |
| Madagascar | 875 km (2006). There are two unconnected systems operated by Madarail |
| Malaysia | Malayan Railway and Sabah State Railway |
| Mali | Dakar–Niger Railway - 1,287 km (800 mi) |
| Malta | Malta Railway |
| Morocco | Several industrial railways in former Spanish Morocco |
| New Zealand | Wellington Cable Car |
| Norway | Thamshavn Line and Trondheim Tramway |
| Pakistan | Pakistan inherited 506 km (314 mi) of metre gauge (1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)) railway lines at the time of Independence in 1947. Of this, Hyderabad-Mirpur Khas 67 km (42 mi) and Mirpur Khas-Khokhrapar 126 km (78 mi) track have been converted into Indian gauge. Remaining 313 km (194 mi) including Jamrao-Pithoro 184 km (114 mi) (loop line) and Mirpur Khas-Nawabshah 129 km (80 mi) 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, mostly abandoned in the 1990s, never fully interconnected — connected to the REFER network by means of shared stations and some dual gauge stretches; remain in use: Metro de Mirandela and Vouga line. Also metric: Funchal rack railway (defunct in 1943), Coimbra trams (defunct in 1980), and Sintra trams. |
| 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 | Dakar–Niger Railway - 1,287 km (800 mi) |
| Serbia | Belgrade Tram |
| Singapore | Singapore span of the Malayan Railway. |
| Slovakia | Bratislava trams/streetcars, the Tatra Electric Railway (Tatranské elektrické železnice), a mountain railroad and a rack railway in the area of the High Tatras. Children's railway (Detská železnica) in Košice. |
| Spain | Renfe and EuskoTren lines in north-west Spain, including the Transcantábrico. Barcelona Metro line 8; Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya suburban lines S4, S8, R5 and R6; Metro Bilbao; Cercanías Madrid line C-9 (Cercedilla–Cotos); Palma de Mallorca Metro; Valencia Metro; Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana. |
| Sweden | Skansens bergbana |
| Switzerland | Many narrow-gauge railways: suburban railways, mountain railways, rack railways, some long-distance railways and trams, Albula Railway, Bernina railway (crosses into Italy) (latter two railways share UNESCO World Heritage Site status). |
| Tanzania | Tanzania Railways Corporation - about 2,600 km (1,600 mi) (break of gauge with 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) TAZARA Railway) |
| Thailand | State Railway of Thailand, 4,346 km (2,700 mi). |
| Togo | 568 km of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge |
| Tunisia | 1,674 km (1,040 mi) (besides standard gauge 471 km (293 mi)) |
| Turkey | Istanbul nostalgic tramways |
| Uganda | Uganda Railway run by Uganda Railways Corporation |
| Ukraine | Lviv, Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr tramways |
| United Kingdom | Davington Light Railway, Crich Tramway (-apparently the first meter gauge railway in the world), Butts Tramway, Butts Extension Tramway, Lindal Moor Tramway, Eure Pits Tramway (coherent group of lines serving iron ore mines near Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, built 1849-1862) |
| United States | Orient Express (located in Six Flags Magic Mountain) (separate 3 ft (914 mm) gauge railway named Grand Centennial Excursion Railroad and separate 2 ft (610 mm) gauge railway named 99 Steam Train previously present) (operating); Red Car Trolley (located in Disney California Adventure) (operating) |
| Vietnam | Vietnam Railways and KunHe Railway |
