List of highest railways by country

This is a list of the highest railways by country. It includes the name of the railway, its highest point and highest elevation and its opening year.

List

Country	Railway line	Highest point	Highest elevation	Opened
China	Xining-Golmud-Lhasa	Tanggula	5,068 m (16,627 ft) [1]	2006
Peru	Lima-Huancayo	Ticlio	4,829 m (15,843 ft) [2] [3]	1893
Bolivia	Rio Mulatos-Potosí	Cóndor	4,786 m (15,702 ft)
United States	Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway	Pikes Peak Summit	4,301 m (14,111 ft) [4]	1891
Argentina	Salta–Antofagasta	Viaducto La Polvorilla	4,220 m (13,845 ft)	1948
Ecuador	Quito-Guayaquil	Urbina	3,609 m (11,841 ft)	1908
China	Lanzhou–Xinjiang High-Speed Railway	Qilianshan No.2 Tunnel	3,608 m (11,837 ft)	2014
Switzerland	Jungfrau Railway	Jungfraujoch	3,454 m (11,332 ft) [5]	1912
Kenya	Uganda Railway	Baringo County	2,785 m (9,137 ft)	1930
Germany	Bavarian Zugspitze Railway [6]	Schneefernerhaus	2,650 m (8,694 ft)	1930
Taiwan	Alishan Forest Railway	Chushan	2,451 m (8,041 ft)	1986
Eritrea	Massawa–Asmara Railway	Asmara	2,394 m (7,854 ft)	1911
France	Tramway du Mont-Blanc [7]	Nid d'aigle de Bionnassay	2,380 m (7,808 ft)	1909
Ethiopia	Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway	Addis Ababa	2,293 m (7,523 ft)	2018
India	Darjeeling Himalayan Railway	Ghum	2,257 m (7,405 ft)	1880
Pakistan	Zhob Valley Railway	Kan Mehtarzai Railway Station	2,224 m (7,297 ft)	1921
Spain	Vall de Núria [8]	Vall de Núria Rack Railway	1,968 m (6,457 ft)	1931
Australia	Skitube	Bullock Terminal	1,905 m (6,250 ft)	1987
Sri Lanka	Main Line (Sri Lanka)	Pattipola	1,892 m (6,207 ft) [9] [10]	1894
Austria	Schneeberg Railway [11]	Hochschneeberg	1,792 m (5,879 ft)	1897
Georgia	Borjomi-Bakuriani	Bakuriani	1,650 m (5,413 ft)	1902
Italy	Brenner Line [12]	Brenner	1,371 m (4,498 ft)	1867
Slovakia	Tatra Electric Railway	Štrbské Pleso	1,350 m (4,429 ft)	1896
Japan	Koumi Line	Nobeyama	1,346 m (4,416 ft)	1935
Canada	Canadian Pacific Railway Mountain Subdivision	Rogers Pass	1,330 m (4,364 ft)	1889
Russia	Baikal-Amur Mainline	Mururin Pass  [ ru ]	1,323 m (4,341 ft)	1984
Bulgaria	Septemvri-Dobrinishte narrow gauge line [13]	Avramovo	1,267 m (4,157 ft)	1939
Norway	Bergen Line	Finse	1,222 m (4,009 ft) [14]	1908
United Kingdom	Snowdon Mountain Railway	Snowdon Summit	1,065 m (3,494 ft)	1896
Czech Republic	Strakonice-Volary line	Kubova Huť	997 m (3,271 ft)	1893
South Korea	Taebaek Line	Chujeon	901 m (2,956 ft) [15]	1973
Poland	Izera railway	Szklarska Poręba (Jakuszyce)	886 m (2,907 ft) [16]	1902
Portugal	Linha do Tua	Rossas railway station	849 m (2,785 ft) [17]	1906 [note 1] [note 2]
Indonesia	Padalarang-Kasugihan	Nagreg	848 m (2,782 ft)	1890
New Zealand	North Island Main Trunk	Waiouru	832 m (2,730 ft)	1908
Slovenia	Ljubljana–Trieste [18] [19]	Postojna Gate	610 m (2,001 ft)	1856
Sweden	Mittbanan [20]	Near Storlien	601 m (1,972 ft)
Liechtenstein	Feldkirch–Buchs [21]	Near Schaanwald	452 m (1,483 ft)	1872
Ireland	Mallow–Tralee line [22]	Near Rathmore	150 m (492 ft)	1853

See also

• Rail transport
• List of highest railways in the world
• List of countries by highest point

Notes

1. Opening year of the highest-point stretch; the opening year of the railway's first stretch was 1887.
2. Highest-point stretch closed in 1992; railway fully closed in 2008.

References

1. "World's highest railway station enters key construction period". Canada Tibet Committee. July 28, 2005. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
2. Bennett, Suzy (October 2003). "A train journey through the Peruvian Andes". Wanderlust. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
3. "Our Train - The Highest in the World". Incas del Peru. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
4. Manitou & Pike's Peak Cog Railway. "Along The Route". Pikes Peak Cog Railway. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
5. Jungfraubahnen. "Jungfraujoch - Top of Europe". Jungfrau Ski Region. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
6. Ride the Zugspitzbahn rack railway up Germany's highest mountain
7. "Tramway du Mont-Blanc (TMB) - Train à crémaillère - Ouvertures / Horaires / Tarifs".
8. Insight Guides Great Railway Journeys of Europe, Spain's highest station. ["Núria is the highest station in Spain"]
9. "Top 10 highest train stations in Sri Lanka". Train Journey to the Green Zone in Sri Lanka. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
10. "Pattipola Railway Station of Sri Lanka". SariSara Sri Lanka. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
11. Station Puchberg am Schneeberg, lower-austria.info. ["Fans of nostalgia can be transported in around 40 minutes by the Schneebergbahn to Austria's highest railway station"]
12. SULMONA, AQ, ABRUZZO, magazine.dooid.it. ["At the Rivisondoli-Pescocostanzo station, the line reaches 1268 m above sea level making it the highest station on the Italian FS network after the Brenner Pass."]
13. The Most Beautiful Train Journeys in Bulgaria, theculturetrip.com. ["It runs through three mountains and stops at the highest railway station in the Balkan Peninsula, Avramovo Station."]
14. "Finse Railway Station Webcam – The Highest Station in Norway". Camscape. October 13, 2012. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
15. Korea Tourism Organization. "Chujeon Station". Visit Korea. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
16. "Najwyższa linia kolejowa w Polsce - Szklarska Poręba". www.szklarskaporeba.pl. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
17. Esteves, João Sena; Ramos, Luís; Nóbrega, João Miguel; Souto, António Pedro; Sepúlveda, Manuel João (2012). "Gaining Insight into Tua Railway Line through Interactive Experiments" (PDF). Railroads in Historical Contexts. 2. Universidade do Minho: 360. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
18. Retrieved from the Google Earth geoinformation system. The highest point on the line is north of Postojna railway station, at the Postojna Gate
19. "Rail network". slo-zeleznice.si. Slovenian Railways . Retrieved 30 April 2021. Station located at the highest point above sea level: Postojna station at 582m
20. "Banverkets årsredovisning 2009" (PDF) (in Swedish). Banverket. 2009. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
21. Retrieved from the Swisstopo topographic map (only line in Liechtenstein)
22. Retrieved from the Google Earth geoinformation system