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		2007
2	.	Russia	87,157		2006
3	.	China	86,000		2008
4	.	India	63,974		2009
5	.	Canada	46,552		2008
6	.	Germany	41,981		2008
7	.	Australia	38,445		2008
8	.	Argentina	36,966		2008
9	.	France	29,640		2008
10	.	Brazil	28,538		2008
11	.	Japan	27,182		2009
12	.	Ukraine	21,684		2009
13	.	Italy	20,255		2008
14	.	South Africa	20,192		2008
15	.	Poland	19,428		2007
16	.	Mexico	17,166		2008
17	.	United Kingdom	16,454		2008
18	.	Spain	15,293		2008
19	.	Kazakhstan	15,079		2008
20	.	Sweden	11,633		2008
21	.	Romania	10,785		2010
22	.	Czech Republic	9,469		2008
23	.	Turkey	8,699		2008
24	.	Cuba	8,598		2006
25	.	Iran	8,442		2008
26	.	Hungary	8,057		2009
27	.	Pakistan	7,791		2007
28	.	Chile	7,082		2008
29	.	Austria	6,399		2008
30	.	Sudan	5,978		2008
31	.	Finland	5,919		2008
32	.	Belarus	5,537		2008
33	.	Korea, North	5,242		2009
34	.	Egypt	5,083		2009
35	.	Indonesia	5,042		2008
36	.	Burma	5,031		2008
37	.	Switzerland	4,876		2008
38	.	Mozambique	4,787		2008
39	.	Norway	4,169		2009
40	.	Bulgaria	4,152		2011
41	.	New Zealand	4,128		2008
42	.	Thailand	4,071		2008
43	.	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	4,007		2008
44	.	Algeria	3,973		2008
45	.	Tanzania	3,689		2008
46	.	Bolivia	3,652		2010
47	.	Uzbekistan	3,645		2008
48	.	Slovakia	3,622		2008
49	.	Nigeria	3,505		2008
50	.	Zimbabwe	3,427		2008
51	.	Korea, South	3,381		2008
52	.	Serbia	3,379		2006
53	.	Portugal	3,319		2008
54	.	Ireland	3,237		2008
55	.	Belgium	3,233		2008
56	.	Turkmenistan	2,980		2008
57	.	Azerbaijan	2,918		2009
58	.	Netherlands	2,896		2009
59	.	Angola	2,764		2008
60	.	Croatia	2,722		2009
61	.	Denmark	2,667		2008
62	.	Vietnam	2,632		2008
63	.	Namibia	2,626		2008
64	.	Bangladesh	2,622		2008
65	.	Greece	2,548		2008
66	.	Iraq	2,272		2008
67	.	Latvia	2,239		2008
68	.	Tunisia	2,165		2008
69	.	Zambia	2,157		2008
70	.	Morocco	2,067		2008
71	.	Kenya	2,066		2008
72	.	Syria	2,052		2008
73	.	Mongolia	1,908		2010
74	.	Peru	1,906		2010
75	.	Malaysia	1,849		2008
76	.	Lithuania	1,767		2011
77	.	Uruguay	1,641		2010
78	.	Georgia	1,612		2008
79	.	Taiwan	1,580		2009
80	.	Sri Lanka	1,449		2007
81	.	Saudi Arabia	1,378		2008
82	.	Cameroon	1,245		2008
83	.	Uganda	1,244		2008
84	.	Slovenia	1,228		2007
85	.	Estonia	1,200		2008
86	.	Moldova	1,190		2008
87	.	Guinea	1,185		2008
88	.	Philippines	995		2010
89	.	Israel	975		2008
90	.	Ecuador	965		2008
91	.	Ghana	947		2008
92	.	Senegal	906		2008
93	.	Botswana	888		2008
94	.	Congo, Republic of the	886		2008
95	.	Colombia	874		2008
96	.	Armenia	869		2009
97	.	Madagascar	854		2008
98	.	Venezuela	806		2008
99	.	Malawi	797		2008
100	.	Macedonia	699		2010
101	.	Cambodia	690		2010
102	.	Ethiopia	681		2008
103	.	Tajikistan	680		2008
104	.	Cote d'Ivoire	660		2008
105	.	Gabon	649		2008
106	.	Burkina Faso	622		2008
107	.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	601		2009
108	.	Fiji	597		2008
109	.	Mali	593		2008
110	.	Togo	568		2008
111	.	Jordan	507		2008
112	.	Kyrgyzstan	470		2008
113	.	Benin	438		2008
114	.	Kosovo	430		2007
115	.	Liberia	429		2008
116	.	Lebanon	401		2008
117	.	Albania	339		2009
118	.	Guatemala	332		2008
119	.	Eritrea	306		2008
120	.	Swaziland	301		2008
121	.	El Salvador	283		2008
122	.	Costa Rica	278		2008
123	.	Luxembourg	275		2008
124	.	Montenegro	250		2007
125	.	Dominican Republic	142		2008
126	.	Djibouti	100		2008
127	.	Panama	76		2008
128	.	Honduras	75		2009
129	.	Isle of Man	63		2008
130	.	Nepal	59		2008
131	.	Saint Kitts and Nevis	50		2008
132	.	Paraguay	36		2008
133	.	Christmas Island	18		2010
134	.	Liechtenstein	9		2008
135	.	Sint Maarten	NA		NA
136	.	South Sudan	NA		NA
137	.	Solomon Islands	NA		NA
138	.	Suriname	NA		NA
139	.	Singapore	NA		NA
140	.	South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands	NA		NA
141	.	Southern Ocean	NA		NA
142	.	Svalbard	NA		NA
143	.	Somalia	NA		NA
144	.	Spratly Islands	NA		NA
145	.	Tokelau	NA		NA
146	.	Turks and Caicos Islands	NA		NA
147	.	Trinidad and Tobago	NA		NA
148	.	Tuvalu	NA		NA
149	.	United Arab Emirates	NA		NA
150	.	Tonga	NA		NA
151	.	Timor-Leste	NA		NA
152	.	Virgin Islands	NA		NA
153	.	West Bank	NA		NA
154	.	Wake Island	NA		NA
155	.	Western Sahara	NA		NA
156	.	Vanuatu	NA		NA
157	.	United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges	NA		NA
158	.	Wallis and Futuna	NA		NA
159	.	World	NA		NA
160	.	Palau	NA		NA
161	.	Papua New Guinea	NA		NA
162	.	Niue	NA		NA
163	.	Northern Mariana Islands	NA		NA
164	.	Pitcairn Islands	NA		NA
165	.	Puerto Rico	NA		NA
166	.	Niger	NA		NA
167	.	Pacific Ocean	NA		NA
168	.	Paracel Islands	NA		NA
169	.	Oman	NA		NA
170	.	Norfolk Island	NA		NA
171	.	Malta	NA		NA
172	.	Laos	NA		NA
173	.	Maldives	NA		NA
174	.	Macau	NA		NA
175	.	Mauritania	NA		NA
176	.	Libya	NA		NA
177	.	Marshall Islands	NA		NA
178	.	Lesotho	NA		NA
179	.	Nauru	NA		NA
180	.	Monaco	NA		NA
181	.	New Caledonia	NA		NA
182	.	Montserrat	NA		NA
183	.	Nicaragua	NA		NA
184	.	Mauritius	NA		NA
185	.	Navassa Island	NA		NA
186	.	Mayotte	NA		NA
187	.	Micronesia, Federated States of	NA		NA
188	.	Cook Islands	NA		NA
189	.	Coral Sea Islands	NA		NA
190	.	Cyprus	NA		NA
191	.	Curacao	NA		NA
192	.	Dominica	NA		NA
193	.	Qatar	NA		NA
194	.	Saint Barthelemy	NA		NA
195	.	Saint Lucia	NA		NA
196	.	Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha	NA		NA
197	.	Saint Martin	NA		NA
198	.	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	NA		NA
199	.	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	NA		NA
200	.	Seychelles	NA		NA
201	.	Samoa	NA		NA
202	.	Rwanda	NA		NA
203	.	San Marino	NA		NA
204	.	Sierra Leone	NA		NA
205	.	Sao Tome and Principe	NA		NA
206	.	Jan Mayen	NA		NA
207	.	Jamaica	NA		NA
208	.	Kuwait	NA		NA
209	.	Kiribati	NA		NA
210	.	Jersey	NA		NA
211	.	Cayman Islands	NA		NA
212	.	Cape Verde	NA		NA
213	.	Clipperton Island	NA		NA
214	.	Brunei	NA		NA
215	.	Central African Republic	NA		NA
216	.	Comoros	NA		NA
217	.	Burundi	NA		NA
218	.	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	NA		NA
219	.	Chad	NA		NA
220	.	Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)	NA		NA
221	.	Faroe Islands	NA		NA
222	.	Gaza Strip	NA		NA
223	.	French Southern and Antarctic Lands	NA		NA
224	.	French Polynesia	NA		NA
225	.	Gambia, The	NA		NA
226	.	Equatorial Guinea	NA		NA
227	.	European Union	NA		NA
228	.	Indian Ocean	NA		NA
229	.	Gibraltar	NA		NA
230	.	Grenada	NA		NA
231	.	Haiti	NA		NA
232	.	Guernsey	NA		NA
233	.	Guyana	NA		NA
234	.	Guam	NA		NA
235	.	Heard Island and McDonald Islands	NA		NA
236	.	Guinea-Bissau	NA		NA
237	.	Iceland	NA		NA
238	.	Hong Kong	NA		NA
239	.	Greenland	NA		NA
240	.	Antigua and Barbuda	NA		NA
241	.	Arctic Ocean	NA		NA
242	.	Antarctica	NA		NA
243	.	Afghanistan	NA		NA
244	.	Anguilla	NA		NA
245	.	Atlantic Ocean	NA		NA
246	.	Ashmore and Cartier Islands	NA		NA
247	.	Aruba	NA		NA
248	.	Andorra	NA		NA
249	.	American Samoa	NA		NA
250	.	Yemen	NA		NA
251	.	Bahrain	NA		NA
252	.	Bermuda	NA		NA
253	.	Bouvet Island	NA		NA
254	.	Belize	NA		NA
255	.	Bhutan	NA		NA
256	.	British Virgin Islands	NA		NA
257	.	Bahamas, The	NA		NA
258	.	Barbados	NA		NA
259	.	British Indian Ocean Territory	NA		NA