All the railroads in the world

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The oldest recognized, animal-hauled railways date back to the sixth century BC in Corinth in Greece. Rail transport appeared in the mid 16th century in Germany in the form of horse-powered wagonways.

Modern rail transport began with the British development of the steam train when Richard Trevithick ran a steam train between Penydarren Ironworks and Abercynon in 1802. Thus, the railroad system in Great Britain is the oldest in the world.

In the 20th century, railroad transport reached maturity. Nowadays, the United States has the world’s most extended railway network, followed by China, Russia, and India.

Currently, the total length of all railways in the world is more than one million kilometers.

The map created by Reddit user symmy546below shows world railways split by continents.

Europe has the most extensive railroad network in the world, with approximately 230,000 kilometers (142,915 miles) of railways. This is due to Europe’s long history with rail transportation and the high population density of the continent, which has made it an important mode of transportation for both passengers and freight.

The China-Europe Block Train is the longest rail route in the world (12,999 kilometers or 8,077 miles), surpassing the Trans-Siberian Railway (9,300 kilometers / 5,779 miles) and the Moscow-to-Beijing (6,985 kilometers / 4,340 miles) direct route. The world’s longest railway also crosses through the most significant number of countries, going through China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, and France before ending in Spain, crossing the diverse biomes of our planet.

Here is another world map created by Zhaoxu Sui showing the major passenger railroads of the globe.

The U.S. has the world’s largest railroad network, accompanied by China and Russia.

Top 20 countries by rail transport network size

1. The United States – 202,500 km / 125,828 mi
2. China – 146,300 km / 90,907 mi
3. Russia – 85,600 km / 53,189 mi
4. India – 68,000 km / 42,253 mi
5. Canada – 64,000 km / 39,768 mi
6. Germany – 40,625 km / 25,243 mi
7. Argentina – 36,966 km / 22,970 mi
8. Australia – 33,168 km / 20,610 mi
9. Brazil – 29,817 km / 18,527 mi
10. France – 29,273 km / 18,189 mi
11. Japan – 27,311 km / 16,970 mi
12. Mexico – 23,389 km / 15,533 mi
13. South Africa – 22,387 km / 13,911 mi
14. Ukraine – 20,952 km / 13,019 mi
15. Poland – 19,209 km / 11,936 mi
16. Iran – 16,998 km / 10,562 mi
17. Italy – 16,788 km / 10,432 mi
18. Spain – 16,355 km /10,163 mi
19. The United Kingdom – 16,320 km / 10,141 mi
20. Kazakhstan – 15,530 km / 9,650 mi

But according to the Internation Union of Railways, Russia is the top nation by the number of passengers carried by railroads in the world. As of 2018, the number of passengers transported by railroads in Russia was 129,371 million passenger-km that estimates at 28.7% of the world’s number of passengers transported by railroads.

Top 20 countries by the number of passengers transported by rail times kilometers traveled

1. Russia – 129,371
2. Germany – 79,456
3. Italy – 39,449
4. Spain – 27,903
5. Pakistan – 24,903
6. South Korea – 23,002
7. Netherlands – 18,535
8. Switzerland – 17,958
9. Australia – 17,586
10. Austria – 13,205
11. Czech Republic – 10,286
12. The United States – 10,239
13. Belarus – 6,215
14. Turkey – 5,560
15. Hungary – 5,518
16. Morocco – 5,475
17. Slovakia – 3,815
18. Vietnam – 3,542
19. Algeria – 1,602
20. Canada – 1,598

If you want to know more about railroads, pay attention to these books and maps.

• Atlas of North American Railroads
• European Railway Atlas
• Europe Railway Map