Portal:Trains

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The Trains Portal

An electric-powered freight train in Japan, August 3, 2000

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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

Harlem–148th Street (also signed as 148th Street–Lenox Terminal) is a New York City Subway station on the IRT Lenox Avenue Line in Harlem, Manhattan. It serves as the northern terminal station of the 3 train at all times. The station contains two tracks and one island platform, and is located at ground level. Despite its name, Harlem–148th Street is located at the intersection of 149th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. Although the Lenox Avenue Line was constructed in 1904, the Harlem–148th Street station was not part of the original line. The station was first proposed in 1940, and was opened in 1967 within the confines of the preexisting Lenox Yard. The station was intended to replace 145th Street, the next stop south, as the northern terminal of the Lenox Avenue Line. However, the 145th Street station remained open as a result of community opposition.

Recently selected: Green Park tube station - GE E60 - Gateway Program (Northeast Corridor)

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Selected image of the week

An ONCF Z2M double decker electric multiple unit train on the line from Sidi Kacem to Meknès, Morocco, in 2010

Recently selected: railway bridge construction in Yugoslavia - freight yard in Russia - rack railway in Monte Carlo

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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

June 23

Madrid Metro subway cars

1831 – The Boston and Worcester Railroad is chartered to build a railroad between its namesake cities in Massachusetts.
1899 – Henry B. Plant, president of the Plant System of railroads, dies (b. 1819).
1979 – New South Wales Premier Neville Wran officially opens the Eastern Suburbs Railway in Sydney.
2004 – Madrid Metro (pictured) orders 698 new subway cars valued at €1 billion; the order is shared by Bombardier and Siemens.

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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 1Workington stabling point in 1981, with locomotives from Classes 25, 40 and 47 parked between duties. (from Rail yard)
Image 2The "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 3A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London (from Railroad car)
Image 4RegioCitadis light rail train in Zoetermeer (the Netherlands). (from Train)
Image 5A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 6This 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 7A 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 8Various types of railroad cars in a classification yard in the United States (from Train)
Image 9A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)
Image 10The first useful diesel locomotive (a diesel–electric) for long distances, the SŽD Eel2, 1924 in Kyiv (from Locomotive)
Image 11An interior of a Circle line S7 Stock in London (from Railroad car)
Image 12A China Railways HXD1D electric locomotive in China (from Locomotive)
Image 13Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 14Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 15Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons. (from Train)
Image 16A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars. (from Train)
Image 17The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 18A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 19TGV Lacroix first class interior (from Train)
Image 20Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 21Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 22The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service (from Train)
Image 23An Indian locomotive class WDM-3A diesel locomotive in India (from Locomotive)
Image 24A London Underground battery–electric locomotive used for hauling engineers' trains, at West Ham station (from Locomotive)
Image 25The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power. (from Train)
Image 26Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 27The New Orleans Streetcar System is the oldest in the world. (from Train)
Image 28A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 29China operates an extensive high speed rail network. (from Train)
Image 30A narrow-gauge battery–electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 31Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both a pantograph and contact shoes. (from Locomotive)
Image 32Trains 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 33Garratt locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)
Image 34A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom (from Railroad car)
Image 35Restored clerestory cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin (from Railroad car)
Image 36A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)
Image 37A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 38Bombardier ALP-45DP, at the Innotrans convention in Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 39A gas turbine locomotive operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (from Train)
Image 40Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 41This 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 42The ESS 3200 electric locomotive was introduced in 1925 in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. (from Locomotive)
Image 43Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)
Image 44Typical American extended vision caboose (from Railroad car)
Image 45Schedule of train departure times in Indonesia stations (from Train)
Image 46British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 47Electric train on Djursholmsbanan in Stockholm in the 1890s. (from Train)
Image 48US-style railroad truck (bogie) with journal bearings (from Train)
Image 49A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 50The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)
Image 51A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 52Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 53A preserved armored train (from Train)