Rail transport in Germany is provided predominantly by Deutsche Bahn. As of 2021, the railway network in Germany had a length of 33,399 km (20,753 mi), of which 20,540 km (12,760 mi) were electrified and 18,556 km (11,530 mi) were double track. About 1,658 km (1,030 mi) are high-speed railway lines. Germany has the 6th longest railway network in the world, and the largest in Europe after Russia.
Rail transport in Switzerland is noteworthy for the density of its network, its coordination between services, its integration with other modes of transport, timeliness and a thriving domestic and trans-Alp freight system. It is made necessary by strong regulations on truck transport, and is enabled by properly coordinated intermodal logistics.
The Gotthard Base Tunnel is a railway tunnel through the Alps in Switzerland. It opened in June 2016 and full service began the following December. With a route length of 57.09 km (35.5 mi), it is the world's longest railway and deepest traffic tunnel and the first flat, low-level route through the Alps. It lies at the heart of the Gotthard axis and constitutes the third tunnel connecting the cantons of Uri and Ticino, after the Gotthard Tunnel and the Gotthard Road Tunnel.
The Skitube Alpine Railway is an Australian standard gauge electric rack railway in the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. It provides access to the snowfields at Blue Cow Mountain and the Perisher Valley.
Semmering is a mountain pass in the Eastern Northern Limestone Alps connecting Lower Austria and Styria, between which it forms a natural border.
Linienzugbeeinflussung is a cab signalling and train protection system used on selected German and Austrian railway lines as well as on the AVE and some commuter rail lines in Spain. The system was mandatory where trains were allowed to exceed speeds of 160 km/h (99 mph) in Germany and 220 km/h (140 mph) in Spain. It is also used on some slower railway and urban rapid transit lines to increase capacity. The German Linienzugbeeinflussung translates to continuous train control, literally: linear train influencing. It is also called linienförmige Zugbeeinflussung.
The Simplon Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Simplon railway that connects Brig, Switzerland and Domodossola, Italy, through the Alps, providing a shortcut under the Simplon Pass route. It is straight except for short curves at either end. It consists of two single-track tunnels built nearly 15 years apart. The first to be opened is 19,803 m (64,970 ft) long; the second is 19,824 m (65,039 ft) long, making it the longest railway tunnel in the world for most of the twentieth century, from 1906 until 1982, when the Daishimizu Tunnel opened.
The Brenner Base Tunnel is a 55-kilometre-long (34 mi) railway tunnel under construction through the base of the Eastern Alps beneath the Brenner Pass. Once completed, the Brenner Base Tunnel will rank as either the second or third longest railway tunnel in the world, depending on the definition employed. It will be surpassed in length only by the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland and, depending on the relative completion dates of these projects, the Mont d'Ambin Base Tunnel between France and Italy. When combined with the Inntal Tunnel, which forms part of the existing Innsbruck bypass, the Brenner Base Tunnel will reach a length of 64 kilometres (40 mi), making it the longest underground railway connection in the world.
Rail transport in Austria is mainly provided by Austria's national rail transport company, the Austrian Federal Railways, which also manages rail transport in Liechtenstein. The Austrian railway network has a length of 6,123 km (3,805 mi), 3,523 km (2,189 mi) of which are electrified. Most lines are in 1,435 mmstandard gauge, while especially in the Alpine region there are several narrow-gauge railway lines and funiculars.
High-speed rail in Italy consists of two lines connecting most of the country's major cities. The first line connects Turin to Salerno via Milan, Bologna, Florence, Rome and Naples, the second runs from Turin to Venice via Milan and Verona, and is under construction in parts. Trains are operated with a top speed of 300 km/h (190 mph).
High-speed rail (HSR) has developed in Europe as an increasingly popular and efficient means of transport. The first high-speed rail lines on the continent, built in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, improved travel times on intra-national corridors.
The Lötschberg line is a railway in Switzerland, connecting Spiez in the canton of Bern with Brig in the canton of Valais. It crosses the Bernese Alps, from the Bernese Oberland to Upper Valais, through the Lötschberg Tunnel in the middle of the line. Together with the Simplon Tunnel south of Brig, it constitutes one of the major railways through the Alps and an important north-south axis in Europe. The Lötschberg axis is backed by the lower and longer Lötschberg Base Tunnel, part of the New Railway Links through the Alps project.
The Albula railway line is a single track metre gauge railway line forming part of the core network of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It links Thusis on the Hinterrhein at 697 m (2,287 ft) and Filisur at 1,080 m (3,540 ft) with the spa resort of St. Moritz in Engadine at 1,774 m (5,820 ft).
The Berlin–Dresden railway is a double track, electrified main line railway in the German states of Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony, which was originally built and operated by the Berlin-Dresden Railway Company. It runs from Berlin through the southern Teltow countryside and then between Lower Lusatia and Fläming Heath through Elsterwerda and the Großenhainer Pflege countryside to Dresden.
Saxon-Franconian trunk line is a modern term for a double-track railway route between the German cities of Dresden and Nuremberg. It is 390 kilometres long and currently electrified from Dresden to Hof. The concept of the Saxon-Franconian trunk route was developed in the transport policy debate in the 1990s during consideration of direct rail services connecting Dresden and Görlitz with Karlsruhe and Oberstdorf. The term is not traditionally used in relation to the railway lines now described by it.
The Turin–Lyon high-speed railway is an international rail line under construction between the cities of Turin and Lyon, which is intended to link the Italian and French high-speed rail networks. It will be 270 km (170 mi) long, of which over 100 km (62 mi) will be tunneled. The core of the project is its 70 kilometres (43 mi) long international section, which will cross the Alps through the Mont d'Ambin Base Tunnel between the Susa Valley in Piedmont and Maurienne in Savoie. At 57.5 kilometres (35.7 mi), that tunnel will be the longest rail tunnel in the world, ahead of the 57.1 km (35.5 mi) Gotthard Base Tunnel. The estimated total cost of the line is €25 billion, of which €8 billion is for the international section. The latter is the only part of the line where construction has started.
Track geometry is concerned with the properties and relations of points, lines, curves, and surfaces in the three-dimensional positioning of railroad track. The term is also applied to measurements used in design, construction and maintenance of track. Track geometry involves standards, speed limits and other regulations in the areas of track gauge, alignment, elevation, curvature and track surface. Standards are usually separately expressed for horizontal and vertical layouts although track geometry is three-dimensional.
The Ayaş Tunnel is a railway tunnel under construction near Ayaş town of Ankara Province in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It was initially projected to shorten the railway line connecting Ankara with Istanbul.
High-speed rail in Switzerland consists of two new lines and three new base tunnels, including the world's longest railway and deepest traffic tunnel: the Gotthard Base Tunnel whose length is 57 km (35 mi). Each of these tunnels have a technical maximum speed of 250 km/h (155 mph), which is reduced, at least in the Gotthard Base Tunnel and the Ceneri Base Tunnel, to a maximum authorized speed of 230 km/h (145 mph), for environmental and economic reasons.
The West railway between the capital Vienna and Salzburg is being upgraded. Most new sections have a continuous maximum design speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).
![Schematic representation of a normal base tunnel construction method in Europe; they have two tubes connected every few hundred meters in order to enable evacuation in case of emergency
[image shows an evacuation station of the base tunnel Gotthard, the longest railway tunnel in the world - 57 km (35 mi)] GBT-ESS.png](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/GBT-ESS.png/330px-GBT-ESS.png)