Standard-gauge railway

A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of Template:Track gauge. The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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, Uzbekistan, and some line sections in Spain.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The distance between the inside edges of the heads 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/British Imperial units as exactly "four feet eight and one half inches",<ref>[1] Thirty-Seventh Congress Session III Chap CXII March 3, 1863 Retrieved on 2019-01-08.</ref> which is equivalent to 1,435.1Template:Nbspmm.

History

As railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge (the distance, or width, between the inner sides of the rail heads) to be used, as the wheels of the rolling stock (locomotives, cars, etc.) must match this distance. Different railways used different gauges, and where track of different gauges 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 Template:Track gauge, allowing interconnectivity and interoperability.

Origins

A popular legend that has circulated since at least 1937<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> traces the origin of the Template:Track gauge 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.Template:Efn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Snopes categorised this legend as "false", but commented that it "is perhaps more fairly labeled as 'Partly true, but for trivial and unremarkable reasons.Template:'"<ref name="Snopes, Roman chariots" >{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The historical tendency to place the wheels of horse-drawn vehicles around Template:Track gauge apart probably derives from the width needed to fit a carthorse in between the shafts.<ref name="Snopes, Roman chariots" /> 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".<ref>Template:Cite conference</ref>

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 Template:Track gauge.Template:Sfn Wylam colliery's system, built before 1763, was Template:Track gauge, as was John Blenkinsop's Middleton Railway; the old Template:Track gauge plateway was relaid to Template:Track gauge so that Blenkinsop's engine could be used.Template:Sfn Others were Template:Track gauge (in Beamish) or Template:Track gauge (in Bigges Main (in Wallsend), Kenton, and Coxlodge).Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

English railway pioneer George Stephenson spent much of his early engineering career working for the coal mines of County Durham. He favoured [[4 ft 8 in gauge railways| Template:Track gauge]] (Template:Track gauge) for wagonways in Northumberland and Durham, and used it on his Killingworth line.Template:Sfn 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 Template:Track gauge was set to accommodate the existing gauge of hundreds of horse-drawn chaldron wagons<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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 Template:Track gauge gauge.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Page needed 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 Template:Track gauge gauge since its inauguration in 1868.

George Stephenson introduced the Template:Track gauge gauge (including a belated extra Template:Cvt of free movement to reduce binding on curvesTemplate:Sfn) 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The success of this project led to Stephenson and his son Robert being employed to engineer several other larger railway projects. Thus the Template:Track gauge 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 Template:Track gauge.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> "I would take a few inches more, but a very few".<ref name="Jones, II" >Template:Harvp.</ref>

During the "gauge war" with the Great Western Railway, standard gauge was called "narrow gauge", in contrast to the Great Western's Template:Track gauge 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.Template:Citation needed

Adoption

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 Template:Track gauge, and those in Ireland to a new standard gauge of Template:Track gauge. 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 Template:Track gauge (later Template:Track gauge) 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 Template:Track gauge, while in Scotland some early lines were Template:Track gauge. 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 Template:Track gauge broad gauge track in the South was converted to "almost standard" gauge Template:Track gauge over the course of two days beginning on 31 May 1886.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> See Track gauge in the United States.

In continental Europe, France and Belgium adopted a Template:Track gauge gauge (measured between the midpoints of each rail's profile) for their early railways.<ref>Auguste Perdonnet, mémoire sur les chemins à ornières, 1830</ref> 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, Template:Track gauge to Template:Track gauge in France). The first tracks in Austria and in the Netherlands had other gauges (Template:Track gauge in Austria for the Donau Moldau line and Template:Track gauge 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.<ref>Revue générale des chemins de fer, July 1928.</ref>

Early railways by gauge

Non-standard gauge

Name	Authorised	Opened	Gauge
Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway	1824	1825	Template:Track gauge
Dundee and Newtyle Railway	1829	1831	Template:Track gauge
Eastern Counties Railway	1836, 4 July	1839, 20 June	Template:Track gauge<ref name="Whishaw, 91" >Template:Harvp.</ref>
London and Blackwall Railway	1838, 28 July	1840	Template:Track gauge<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Whishaw, 260">Template:Harvp.</ref>
Dundee and Arbroath Railway	1836, 19 May incorporated	1838, October	Template:Track gauge Until standardised in 1847
Arbroath and Forfar Railway	1836, 19 May incorporated	1838, November	Template:Track gauge
Northern and Eastern Railway	1836, 4 July	1840, 15 September	Template:Track gauge<ref name="Whishaw, 363" >Template:Harvp.</ref>
Aberdeen Railway	1845	1848	Template:Track gauge Until standardised
Great Western Railway	1835	1838	Template:Track gauge Until standardised
Ulster Railway	1836	1839	Template:Track gauge Until 5ft 3in

Almost standard gauge

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• The Huddersfield Corporation Tramways, used Template:Track gauge
• The Portsdown and Horndean Light Railway, used Template:Track gauge
• The Portsmouth Corporation Transport, used Template:Track gauge
• The Killingworth colliery railway, used Template:Track gauge.<ref name="The Rocket Men p33">Template:Harvp.</ref>
• The Hetton colliery railway, opened 1822, used Template:Track gauge.<ref name="The Rocket Men p33" />
• The Stockton and Darlington Railway, authorised 1821, opened 1825, used Template:Track gauge.
• The New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad used Template:Track gauge
• The Pontchartrain Railroad used Template:Track gauge
• The trams in Nuremberg nominally used Template:Track gauge during much of their existence, but have since been converted to standard gauge in name as well as fact.

Standard gauge

Name	Authorised	Opened	Remarks
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	1827	1830	A 13 mile section, between Baltimore and Elliot's Mill started revenue operation, with horse-drawn cars, on 24 May 1830.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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 Template:Track gauge 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

Small deviations from standard gauge

• The Manchester and Leeds Railway, authorised on 4 July 1836, used Template:Track gauge.<ref name="Whishaw, 319" >Template:Harvp.</ref>
  • The Template:Track gauge railways were intended to take Template:Track gauge gauge vehicles and allow a (second) running tolerance.
• The Chester and Birkenhead Railway, authorised on 12 July 1837, used Template:Track gauge.<ref name="Whishaw, 54" >Template:Harvp.</ref>
• The London and Brighton Railway, authorised on 15 July 1837, used Template:Track gauge.<ref name="Whishaw, 273" >Template:Harvp.</ref>
• The Manchester and Birmingham Railway, authorised on 30 June 1837, used Template:Track gauge.<ref name="Whishaw, 303" >Template:Harvp.</ref>
• The Pennsylvania Railroad originally used Template:Track gauge
• The trams in Dresden, authorised in 1872 as horsecars, used Template:Track gauge gauge vehicles. Converted to 600 V DC electric trams in 1893, they now use Template:Track gauge; both gauges are within the tolerance for standard gauge.
• The Ohio gauge of Template:Track gauge

Dual gauge

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

• Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway, authorised 1836, opened 1840, dual gauge 1843 Template:Track gauge and Template:Track gauge.

Initially standard gauge

Several lines were initially built as standard gauge but were later converted to another gauge for cost or for compatibility reasons.Template:Citation needed

• South Africa became Template:Railgauge
• Thailand became Template:Railgauge
• Indonesia became Template:Railgauge
• Ireland became Template:Railgauge – Dublin and Kingstown Railway
• Australia became Template:Railgauge – Victoria & South Australia – partly converted to Template:Railgauge
• India became Template:Railgauge – initial freight lines
• some private Japanese railways

Modern almost standard gauge railways

• The Toronto Transit Commission uses a Toronto gauge of Template:Track gauge on its streetcar and heavy-rail subway lines, which was actually closer to Template:Track gauge gauge.
  • The Toronto Transit Commission light-metro lines and light-rail lines (whether existing, under construction or proposed) use standard gauge.
• Trams in Leipzig, Germany use Template:Track gauge.
• Trams in Dresden, Germany use Template:Track gauge.
• Template:Track gauge gauge is in use on several urban rail transit systems in Europe:
  • Trams in Italy
  • Madrid Metro (only metro system. Light rail system uses standard gauge.)
• The MTR in Hong Kong uses Template:Track gauge gauge on lines owned by the MTR Corporation. However, lines formerly operated (but which continue to be owned) by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, including the Light Rail network, use Template:Track gauge gauge. New lines and extensions to the MTR after 2014 use Template:Track gauge gauge, including the South Island line, Kwun Tong line extension and West Island line.
• The Bucharest Metro uses Template:Track gauge gauge.
• The Washington Metro uses [[Washington Metro rolling stock|Template:Track gauge]], Template:Convert narrower than standard gauge.
• The Mount Washington Cog Railway, the world's oldest mountain-climbing rack-and-pinion railway, uses a Template:Track gauge gauge.

Railways

Country/territory	Railway	Notes
Albania	National rail network	Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Algeria	Template:Plainlist	Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Angola		Template:Convert
Argentina	Template:Plainlist	Other major lines are mostly Template:Track gauge broad gauge, with the exception of the Template:Track gauge General Belgrano Railway. Template:Further
Australia	Template:Plainlist	Template:Further Victoria built the first railways to the Template:Track gauge 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	Template:Convert The Semmering railway has UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
Bangladesh	Dhaka Metro Rail	Template:Convert
Belgium	NMBS/SNCB, Brussels Metro and tramway	NMBS/SNCB Template:Convert <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Brussels Metro Template:Convert Trams in Brussels Template:Convert
Bolivia	Mi Tren	42 km (26.1 mi)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Template:Plainlist	Template:Further
Brazil	Estrada de Ferro do Amapá;<ref>Template:Harvp.</ref> from Uruguaiana to the border with Argentina and from Santana do Livramento to the border with Uruguay (both mixed gauge Template:Track gauge and Template:Track gauge); remaining tracks at Jaguarão, Rio Grande do Sul (currently inoperable); Rio de Janeiro Light Rail; São Paulo Metro lines 4 and 5; Salvador Metro Baixada Santista Light Rail	Template:Convert
Bulgaria	Template:Plainlist
Canada	National rail network (including commuter rail operators like GO Transit, West Coast Express, Exo and Union Pearson Express).	Template:Convert The Toronto Transit Commission uses Template:Track gauge gauge on its streetcar and subway lines.
China	National rail network	Template:Convert
Chile	Santiago Metro	Template:Convert
Croatia	Hrvatske željeznice	Template:Further
Colombia	Metro de Medellín, Tren del Cerrejón, Metro de Bogotá
Cuba	Ferrocarriles de Cuba	Template:Convert
Czech Republic	Template:Plainlist	Template:Convert
Denmark	Banedanmark and Copenhagen Metro
Djibouti	Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway	Template:Convert
Egypt	Egyptian National Railways
Estonia	Rail Baltica	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Ethiopia	Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway; Addis Ababa Light Rail	Template:Convert Other standard gauge lines under construction.
Finland	Template:Plainlist
France	SNCF, RATP (on RER lines)
Gabon	Trans-Gabon Railway	Template:Convert
Germany	Deutsche Bahn, numerous local public transport providers	Template:Convert
Georgia	Georgian Railway Template:Track gauge constructed between Akhalkalaki to Karstakhi for Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway	Template:Convert
Ghana	Tema-Mpakadan Railway Line Takoradi 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		Template:Convert
Hong Kong	MTR (former KCR network – East Rail line, Tuen Ma line, Light Rail)	Other MTR lines use 1,432 mm (4 ft Template:Frac in) instead of 4 ft Template:Frac in<ref name=HK>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Harvp.Template:Page needed</ref>
Hungary	Template:Plainlist
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 (Green Line), 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	Template:Convert Indian nationwide rail system (Indian Railways) uses Template:Track gauge broad gauge. 96% of the broad gauge network is electrified.
Indonesia	Aceh rail, Bali MRT (under construction), Jakarta LRT, Jabodebek LRT, Trans-Sulawesi Railway (Makassar-Parepare section), 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Standard gauge railway lines made a return in 2014 on experimental railway line in Aceh. The railway tracks of Java and Sumatra use Template:Track gauge.
Iran	Islamic Republic of Iran Railways	Template:Convert
Iraq	Iraqi Republic Railways	Template:Convert
Ireland	Transport Infrastructure Ireland	Luas in Dublin
Israel	Template:Plainlist
Italy	Ferrovie dello Stato	Template:Convert
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 (Kotoden), Nishi-Nippon Railroad (Tenjin Ōmuta, Dazaifu and Amagi lines)	Template:Convert, all electrified
Kenya	Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway	Template:Convert Inaugurated 31 May 2017. An extension from Nairobi to Naivasha is under construction. A further extension east to the Ugandan border is planned.
Kosovo	Trainkos	Template:Convert<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Laos	Boten–Vientiane railway	Template:Convert, 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	Template:Plainlist	Template:Convert
citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Template:Further	Template:Convert
Monaco
Montenegro	Željeznice Crne Gore	3
Morocco	Rail transport in Morocco	Template:Convert
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; Lagos Rail Mass Transit	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	Template:Convert
Pakistan	To be used only for the rapid transit system, Lahore Metro<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Pakistan's nationwide rail system (Pakistan Railways) uses Template:Track gauge broad gauge. Any future additions to this system would also be in broad gauge.
Panama	Panama Railway; Panama Metro	Regauged from Template:Track gauge 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,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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	Template:Convert
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.	Template:Convert operational, Template:Convert under construction, all electrified as of March 2022.
	Philippine National Railways network, future LRT and MRT Lines (proposed)	Template:Circa Template:Convert, Template:Convert will be electrified.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn
Poland	Polskie Koleje Państwowe, Warsaw Metro, most tramway systems throughout the country
Portugal	Braga and Porto (Guindais) funiculars, Lisbon Metro, Porto Metro (partly adapted from former Template:Track gauge; tracks), Metro Transportes do Sul light rail in Almada.	All other railways use Template:Track gauge (broad gauge); some use Template:Track gauge; Decauville uses Template:Track gauge gauge. Planned and under construction high-speed railways to use Template:Track gauge to maintain interoperability with the rest of the network.
Romania	Template:Plainlist
Russia	Rostov-on-Don tramway, lines connecting Kaliningrad with Poland
Rwanda	Isaka–Kigali Standard Gauge Railway	Template:Convert New railway between Kigali and the Tanzanian town of Isaka is planned.
Saudi Arabia	Rail transport in Saudi Arabia
Senegal	Template:Plainlist
Serbia	Serbian Railways
Singapore	Mass Rapid Transit	Template:Convert
Slovakia	Železnice Slovenskej republiky, Košice tramway system
Slovenia	Slovenske železnice
South Africa	Gautrain in Gauteng Province. Rest of country uses Template:Track gauge	Template:Convert
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 Template:Track gauge (broad gauge) and/or Template:Track gauge.	Template:Convert
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)	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> 449 kmTemplate:Clarify
Syria	Chemins de Fer Syriens	Template:Convert
Taiwan	Template:Plainlist	Template:Convert
Tanzania	Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway	Template:Convert line from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro has been completed in April 2022 currently in live testing phase.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Contract awarded in 2019 for a Template:Convert extension from Morogoro to Makutupora.
Thailand	Template:Plainlist	Template:Convert
Tunisia	Northern part of the network	Template:Convert
Turkey	Turkish State Railways (also operates Marmaray), metro networks, and tram networks	Some tram networks use Template:Track gauge. Template:Further
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 Template:Track gauge.
United States	Template:Plainlist	Template:Convert
Uruguay	National rail network	Template:Convert
Vietnam	Template:Plainlist	Template:Convert. Includes dual gauge (standard/metre) to the Chinese border.

Non-rail use

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• Standard Gauge (toy trains)
• Template:Section link
• List of tram systems by gauge and electrification
• Track gauge
• Regulating the Gauge of Railways Act 1846

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
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• Template:Cite journal
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External links

• Template:Cite news, a discussion of gauge in Australia Template:Circa
• Template:Cite news, a discussion of the Roman gauge origin theory.