This entry states the total route length of the railway network and of its component parts by gauge, which is the measure of the distance between the inner sides of the load-bearing rails. The four typical types of gauges are: broad, standard, narrow, and dual. Other gauges are listed under note. Some 60% of the world's railways use the standard gauge of 1.4 m (4.7 ft). Gauges vary by country and sometimes within countries. The choice of gauge during initial construction was mainly in response to local conditions and the intent of the builder. Narrow-gauge railways were cheaper to build and could negotiate sharper curves, broad-gauge railways gave greater stability and permitted higher speeds. Standard-gauge railways were a compromise between narrow and broad gauges.

List in alphabetical order

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

Rank		Country	Value		Date of Info
1	.	United States	224,792		2010
2	.	Russia	87,157		2010
3	.	China	86,000		2009
4	.	India	63,974		2010
5	.	Canada	46,552		2009
6	.	Germany	41,981		2009
7	.	Australia	38,445		2010
8	.	Argentina	36,966		2010
9	.	France	29,640		2009
10	.	Brazil	28,538		2010
11	.	Japan	27,182		2011
12	.	Ukraine	21,684		2010
13	.	Italy	20,254		2010
14	.	South Africa	20,192		2010
15	.	Poland	19,428		2010
16	.	Mexico	17,166		2010
17	.	United Kingdom	16,454		2010
18	.	Spain	15,293		2010
19	.	Kazakhstan	15,079		2010
20	.	Sweden	11,633		2010
21	.	Romania	10,785		2010
22	.	Czech Republic	9,469		2011
23	.	Hungary	9,208		2009
24	.	Turkey	8,699		2010
25	.	Cuba	8,598		2009
26	.	Iran	8,442		2008
27	.	Pakistan	7,791		2010
28	.	Chile	7,082		2010
29	.	Austria	6,399		2010
30	.	Sudan	5,978		2010
31	.	Finland	5,919		2009
32	.	Belarus	5,537		2010
33	.	Korea, North	5,242		2009
34	.	Egypt	5,083		2010
35	.	Indonesia	5,042		2009
36	.	Burma	5,031		2010
37	.	Switzerland	4,876		2010
38	.	Mozambique	4,787		2010
39	.	Norway	4,169		2010
40	.	Bulgaria	4,151		2009
41	.	New Zealand	4,128		2010
42	.	Thailand	4,071		2010
43	.	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	4,007		2010
44	.	Algeria	3,973		2008
45	.	Tanzania	3,689		2010
46	.	Bolivia	3,652		2010
47	.	Uzbekistan	3,645		2010
48	.	Slovakia	3,622		2010
49	.	Nigeria	3,505		2010
50	.	Zimbabwe	3,427		2010
51	.	Korea, South	3,381		2008
52	.	Serbia	3,379		2010
53	.	Portugal	3,319		2010
54	.	Ireland	3,237		2011
55	.	Belgium	3,233		2010
56	.	Turkmenistan	2,980		2010
57	.	Azerbaijan	2,918		2009
58	.	Netherlands	2,896		2010
59	.	Angola	2,764		2010
60	.	Croatia	2,722		2009
61	.	Denmark	2,667		2008
62	.	Vietnam	2,631		2010
63	.	Namibia	2,626		2010
64	.	Bangladesh	2,622		2010
65	.	Greece	2,548		2009
66	.	Iraq	2,272		2008
67	.	Latvia	2,239		2010
68	.	Tunisia	2,165		2010
69	.	Zambia	2,157		2010
70	.	Morocco	2,067		2010
71	.	Kenya	2,066		2010
72	.	Syria	2,052		2010
73	.	Peru	2,020		2010
74	.	Mongolia	1,908		2010
75	.	Malaysia	1,849		2010
76	.	Lithuania	1,767		2010
77	.	Uruguay	1,641		2010
78	.	Georgia	1,612		2009
79	.	Taiwan	1,580		2010
80	.	Sri Lanka	1,449		2010
81	.	Saudi Arabia	1,378		2010
82	.	Uganda	1,244		2010
83	.	Slovenia	1,228		2009
84	.	Estonia	1,200		2011
85	.	Moldova	1,190		2010
86	.	Guinea	1,185		2009
87	.	Philippines	995		2010
88	.	Cameroon	987		2010
89	.	Israel	975		2010
90	.	Ecuador	965		2010
91	.	Ghana	947		2009
92	.	Senegal	906		2010
93	.	Botswana	888		2010
94	.	Congo, Republic of the	886		2010
95	.	Colombia	874		2010
96	.	Armenia	869		2010
97	.	Madagascar	854		2010
98	.	Venezuela	806		2010
99	.	Malawi	797		2010
100	.	Macedonia	699		2010
101	.	Cambodia	690		2010
102	.	Ethiopia	681		2008
103	.	Tajikistan	680		2010
104	.	Cote d'Ivoire	660		2010
105	.	Gabon	649		2009
106	.	Burkina Faso	622		2010
107	.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	601		2009
108	.	Fiji	597		2008
109	.	Mali	593		2010
110	.	Togo	568		2010
111	.	Jordan	507		2010
112	.	Kyrgyzstan	470		2010
113	.	Benin	438		2010
114	.	Kosovo	430		2007
115	.	Liberia	429		2010
116	.	Lebanon	401		2008
117	.	Albania	339		2010
118	.	Guatemala	332		2009
119	.	Eritrea	306		2010
120	.	Swaziland	301		2008
121	.	El Salvador	283		2010
122	.	Costa Rica	278		2010
123	.	Luxembourg	275		2010
124	.	Montenegro	250		2010
125	.	Dominican Republic	142		2010
126	.	Djibouti	100		2010
127	.	Panama	76		2010
128	.	Honduras	75		2009
129	.	Isle of Man	63		2008
130	.	Nepal	59		2010
131	.	Saint Kitts and Nevis	50		2008
132	.	Paraguay	36		2010
133	.	Christmas Island	18		2010
134	.	Liechtenstein	9		2011
135	.	Yemen	NA		NA
136	.	Palau	NA		NA
137	.	Pitcairn Islands	NA		NA
138	.	New Caledonia	NA		NA
139	.	Nicaragua	NA		NA
140	.	Qatar	NA		NA
141	.	Pacific Ocean	NA		NA
142	.	Norfolk Island	NA		NA
143	.	Paracel Islands	NA		NA
144	.	Oman	NA		NA
145	.	Niger	NA		NA
146	.	Puerto Rico	NA		NA
147	.	Northern Mariana Islands	NA		NA
148	.	Niue	NA		NA
149	.	Papua New Guinea	NA		NA
150	.	Seychelles	NA		NA
151	.	Solomon Islands	NA		NA
152	.	Sao Tome and Principe	NA		NA
153	.	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	NA		NA
154	.	Singapore	NA		NA
155	.	Sierra Leone	NA		NA
156	.	Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha	NA		NA
157	.	Saint Lucia	NA		NA
158	.	Sint Maarten	NA		NA
159	.	Saint Martin	NA		NA
160	.	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	NA		NA
161	.	San Marino	NA		NA
162	.	Saint Barthelemy	NA		NA
163	.	Rwanda	NA		NA
164	.	Samoa	NA		NA
165	.	Timor-Leste	NA		NA
166	.	Spratly Islands	NA		NA
167	.	South Sudan	NA		NA
168	.	Tonga	NA		NA
169	.	Suriname	NA		NA
170	.	Somalia	NA		NA
171	.	South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands	NA		NA
172	.	Tokelau	NA		NA
173	.	Southern Ocean	NA		NA
174	.	Svalbard	NA		NA
175	.	Trinidad and Tobago	NA		NA
176	.	Bhutan	NA		NA
177	.	Belize	NA		NA
178	.	Barbados	NA		NA
179	.	Chad	NA		NA
180	.	Central African Republic	NA		NA
181	.	British Indian Ocean Territory	NA		NA
182	.	Cayman Islands	NA		NA
183	.	Brunei	NA		NA
184	.	Burundi	NA		NA
185	.	Cape Verde	NA		NA
186	.	Bouvet Island	NA		NA
187	.	Bermuda	NA		NA
188	.	Cook Islands	NA		NA
189	.	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	NA		NA
190	.	Clipperton Island	NA		NA
191	.	Curacao	NA		NA
192	.	Dominica	NA		NA
193	.	Comoros	NA		NA
194	.	Cyprus	NA		NA
195	.	Coral Sea Islands	NA		NA
196	.	Gibraltar	NA		NA
197	.	Greenland	NA		NA
198	.	Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)	NA		NA
199	.	Gambia, The	NA		NA
200	.	Equatorial Guinea	NA		NA
201	.	French Polynesia	NA		NA
202	.	Gaza Strip	NA		NA
203	.	French Southern and Antarctic Lands	NA		NA
204	.	European Union	NA		NA
205	.	Faroe Islands	NA		NA
206	.	Virgin Islands	NA		NA
207	.	Vanuatu	NA		NA
208	.	Turks and Caicos Islands	NA		NA
209	.	Tuvalu	NA		NA
210	.	United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges	NA		NA
211	.	Wallis and Futuna	NA		NA
212	.	World	NA		NA
213	.	Western Sahara	NA		NA
214	.	United Arab Emirates	NA		NA
215	.	Wake Island	NA		NA
216	.	West Bank	NA		NA
217	.	Montserrat	NA		NA
218	.	Mauritania	NA		NA
219	.	Malta	NA		NA
220	.	Nauru	NA		NA
221	.	Mauritius	NA		NA
222	.	Navassa Island	NA		NA
223	.	Marshall Islands	NA		NA
224	.	Micronesia, Federated States of	NA		NA
225	.	Mayotte	NA		NA
226	.	Monaco	NA		NA
227	.	Maldives	NA		NA
228	.	Indian Ocean	NA		NA
229	.	Guam	NA		NA
230	.	Haiti	NA		NA
231	.	Hong Kong	NA		NA
232	.	Grenada	NA		NA
233	.	Heard Island and McDonald Islands	NA		NA
234	.	Guinea-Bissau	NA		NA
235	.	Guernsey	NA		NA
236	.	Jamaica	NA		NA
237	.	Guyana	NA		NA
238	.	Iceland	NA		NA
239	.	Macau	NA		NA
240	.	Libya	NA		NA
241	.	Lesotho	NA		NA
242	.	Kiribati	NA		NA
243	.	Laos	NA		NA
244	.	Jan Mayen	NA		NA
245	.	Kuwait	NA		NA
246	.	Jersey	NA		NA
247	.	Antigua and Barbuda	NA		NA
248	.	Andorra	NA		NA
249	.	American Samoa	NA		NA
250	.	Bahamas, The	NA		NA
251	.	Antarctica	NA		NA
252	.	Ashmore and Cartier Islands	NA		NA
253	.	Aruba	NA		NA
254	.	Bahrain	NA		NA
255	.	Anguilla	NA		NA
256	.	Afghanistan	NA		NA
257	.	Arctic Ocean	NA		NA
258	.	Atlantic Ocean	NA		NA
259	.	British Virgin Islands	NA		NA

NOTE: The information regarding Railways(km) 2012 on this page is re-published from the CIA World Factbook 2012. No claims are made regarding theaccuracy of Railways(km) 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Railways(km) 2012 should be addressed to the CIA.