Standard-gauge railway

This article is about railway track gauge. For loading gauges, see Standard loading gauge. For gauge in toy trains, see Standard Gauge (toy trains).

Track gauge
By transport mode
By size (list)
Graphic list of track gauges
  Minimum
  Fifteen inch 381 mm (15 in)
  Narrow
  600 mm 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in)
Two foot 610 mm (2 ft)
Two foot three inch 686 mm (2 ft 3 in)
  750 mm 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in)
Bosnian gauge 760 mm (2 ft 5+15⁄16 in)
Two foot six inch 762 mm (2 ft 6 in)
  Swedish three foot 891 mm (2 ft 11+3⁄32 in)
900 mm 900 mm (2 ft 11+7⁄16 in)
Three foot 914 mm (3 ft)
Italian metre 950 mm (3 ft1+13⁄32 in)
  Metre 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)
  Three foot six inch 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
  Four foot 1,219 mm (4 ft)
  Four foot six inch 1,372 mm (4 ft 6 in)
  1432 mm 1,432 mm (4 ft 8+3⁄8 in)
  Standard 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
  Broad
  Italian broad gauge 1,445 mm (4 ft 8+7⁄8 in)
Dresden gauge 1,450 mm (4 ft 9+3⁄32 in)
  Leipzig gauge 1,458 mm (4 ft 9+13⁄32 in)
  Toronto gauge 1,495 mm (4 ft 10+7⁄8 in)
  1520 mm 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)
Five foot 1,524 mm (5 ft)
  Pennsylvania gauge 1,581 mm (5 ft 2+1⁄4 in)
Pennsylvania gauge 1,588 mm (5 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Five foot three inch 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
  Baltimore gauge 1,638 mm (5 ft 4+1⁄2 in)
  Iberian gauge 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in)
Five foot six inch 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
  Six foot 1,829 mm (6 ft)
  Brunel 2,140 mm (7 ft 1⁄4 in)
  Breitspurbahn 3,000 mm (9 ft 101⁄8 in)
Change of gauge
By location
World map, rail gauge by region

A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in). 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, Uzbekistan, and some line sections in Spain.[6] 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",[7] which is equivalent to 1,435.1 mm.

  1. ^ Falco, Francesco (31 December 2012). "2007-ee-27010-s". TEN-T Executive Agency. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  2. ^ "Japan". Speedrail.ru. 1 October 1964. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  3. ^ Falco, Francesco (23 January 2013). "EU support to help convert the Port of Barcelona's rail network to UIC gauge". TEN-T Executive Agency. Archived from the original on 11 February 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  4. ^ "Spain: opening of the first standard UIC gauge cross-border corridor between Spain and France". UIC Communications. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  5. ^ "Displaceable rolling bogie for railway vehicles". IP.com. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  6. ^ "Talgo Avril high-speed EMUs have entered service in Spain". ROLLINGSTOCK. 21 May 2024. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  7. ^ [1] Thirty-Seventh Congress Session III Chap CXII March 3, 1863 Retrieved on 2019-01-08.