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The Czech Republic formerly had a large number of narrow-gauge railways. Apart from the public lines listed below, there were many non-public industrial, forest and agricultural narrow-gauge systems; only a few of these are still running.
In 2024, the interurban Liberec–Jablonec and Nisou tram line was regauged to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) gauge.[ citation needed ]
Transport in Hungary relies on several main modes, including transport by road, rail, air and water.
A narrow-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge narrower than 1,435 mmstandard gauge. Most narrow-gauge railways are between 600 mm and 1,067 mm.
In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to carry railway vehicles with wheels matched to two different gauges. Such track is described as dual gauge – achieved either by addition of a third rail, if it will fit, or by two additional rails. Dual-gauge tracks are more expensive to configure with signals and sidings, and to maintain, than two separate single-gauge tracks. It is therefore usual to build dual-gauge or other multi-gauge tracks only when necessitated by lack of space or when tracks of two different gauges meet in marshalling yards or passenger stations. Dual-gauge tracks are by far the most common configuration, but triple-gauge tracks have been built in some situations.
The National Company of Light Railways was a state-owned transportation provider which comprised a system of narrow-gauge tramways or local railways in Belgium, which covered the whole country, including the countryside, and had a greater route length than the mainline railway system. They were 1,000 mmmetre gauge and included electrified city lines and rural lines using steam locomotives and diesel railcars; half the system was electrified.
With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot run through without some form of conversion between gauges, leading to passengers having to change trains and freight requiring transloading or transshipping; this can add delays, costs, and inconvenience to travel on such a route.
The city of Liberec is one of the seven cities in the Czech Republic where tram transport is present. The tram system is conjoined with an interurban tramway branch to Jablonec nad Nisou. It is operated by Dopravní podnik měst Liberce a Jablonce nad Nisou, a.s. The track system is approximately 21.5 km (13.4 mi) long with the branch between Liberec and Jablonec nad Nisou measuring around 13 km (8 mi).
Railways with a track gauge of 3 ft 6 in were first constructed as horse-drawn wagonways. The first intercity passenger railway to use 3 ft 6 in was constructed in Norway by Carl Abraham Pihl. From the mid-nineteenth century, the 3 ft 6 in gauge became widespread in the British Empire. In Africa it became known as the Cape gauge as it was adopted as the standard gauge for the Cape Government Railways in 1873, although it had already been established in Australia and New Zealand before that. It was adopted as a standard in New Zealand, South Africa, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Queensland in Australia.
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.
Rail transport in Montenegro is operated by four separate companies, which independently handle railway infrastructure, passenger transport, cargo transport and maintenance of the rolling stock. The four companies were a part of public company Railways of Montenegro until it was split up in 2008.
Rail transport in Slovakia began on September 21, 1840, with the opening of the first horse-powered line from Bratislava to Svätý Jur. The first steam-powered line, from Bratislava to Vienna, opened on August 20, 1848.
Jindřichohradecké místní dráhy was the company which Operated the narrow gauge railway lines from Jindřichův Hradec to Nová Bystřice and Obrataň in the Czech Republic. Both lines are 760 mm gauge.
The DB Class V 51 and DB Class V 52 are classes of almost identical narrow gauge 4 axle diesel hydraulic locomotives built in 1964 for the Deutsche Bundesbahn, being built for 750 mm and 1,000 mm gauge lines respectively.
Steam traction was the predominant form of motive power used by the Deutsche Reichsbahn on its narrow-gauge railways. For certain duties diesel locomotives were also used, albeit these were usually second-hand or rebuilt engines.
Bosnian-gauge railways are railways with track gauge of 760 mm. These were found extensively in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire as a standardised form of narrow gauge. The name is also used for lines of the same gauge outside Bosnia, for example in Austria. Similar track gauges are the 2 ft 6 in and 750 mm gauge.
Historically, Italy had two unusual dominant track gauges which were legally defined depending on the terrain encountered. The gauge of 1,445 mm was used for the national Italian rail network and was very similar to the 1,435 mm standard gauge commonly used elsewhere in the world.
The first railway in Austria was the narrow-gauge line from Gmunden in the Salzkammergut to Budweis, now in the Czech Republic, this was 1,106 mm gauge. Some two dozen lines were built in 760 mm gauge, a few in 1,000 mmmetre gauge gauge. The first was the Steyrtalbahn. Others were built by provincial governments, some lines are still in common carrier use and a number of others are preservation projects. The tramway network in Innsbruck is also metre gauge; in Linz the rather unusual gauge of 900 mm is in use.
Most narrow-gauge railways in Italy were built with Italian metre gauge, which is actually 950 mm because historically the Italian track gauge was defined from the centres of the rail instead of the internationally accepted method of measuring the gauge from the inside edges of the rails. Several metre-gauge lines were built in northern Italy.
Most Slovenian railway lines were built during the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Europe inherited a diversity of rail gauges. Extensive narrow-gauge railway networks exist in Spain, Central Europe and Southeastern Europe.
Metre and 3 ft gauge lines are found in South America. Some of the 1,000 mm gauge lines cross international borders, though not as efficiently as they might.
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