List of largest tram and light rail transit systems
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This is a list of the largest town tramway systems that have ever operated. Town tramway systems include all light rail, tram, interurban, streetcar, or other comparable modes of public transport which uses rails while mainly traveling among other traffic. All figures reflect the system at its height. To keep the list manageable, only systems with over 90km of track are included.
List
| System | Country | Length (km) | Notes | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vicinal tramway | Belgium | 4,095[1] | Networks between towns ceased in the 1970s, but one line (the Coast Tram) remains in operation. | |
| Streetcars in Montreal | Canada | 500 | Network dismantled in 1959 in favour of buses. | 1959 |
| Streetcars in Toronto | Canada | 405+ | most dismantled throughout the opening and extension of the subway system. 83km as of 2025 | |
| Streetcars in Los Angeles | USA | 1,770+[2] | Composed of Los Angeles Railway and Pacific Electric. | 1963[2] |
| Chicago Surface Lines | 1,600+[3] | 1958[3] | ||
| Trams in Paris | France | 1,111[4] | Original network stopped service in 1938. Since then, a new 196.6 km network has been built.[5] | |
| Trams in Buenos Aires | Argentina | 875[6][7] | Still operating some lines. | |
| Trams in Saint Petersburg | Russia | 700+[8] | 205 km of lines remain. | |
| Boston Elevated Railway | USA | 677 [9] | West End Street Railway system under lease. Remaining lines are operated by the MBTA within the Green Line system | |
| Detroit United Railway | 640 | 1956 | ||
| Trams in Berlin | Germany | 624[10] | 194 km of lines remain. | |
| Tram in Moscow | Russia | 560[11] | 208[Note 1] | |
| Trams in London | UK | 523[12] | All trams removed by 1952, but a much smaller modern tramway network, Tramlink, reintroduced in 2000. | 1952 |
| SFMTA | USA | 489[13] | Length in 1921. | |
| Manchester Corporation Tramways | UK | 470[14] | Length could relate to all track in current Greater Manchester including neighbouring operators (but with much inter-running/shared routes).[15] Others suggest about 470 km.[16] All trams removed by 1950s, but modern light rail, Manchester Metrolink introduced 1992. | 1949 |
| Market Street Railway | USA | 457[17] | 1944 | |
| Trams in Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | 433[18] | ||
| Streetcars in Washington, D.C. | USA | 320[19] | 1962[19] | |
| Trams in Vienna | Austria | 318[20] | Today 172 km remain.[21] | |
| Sacramento Northern | USA | 295 | 1941 | |
| Trams in Sydney | Australia | 291[22] | 1961[22] | |
| San Diego Electric Railway | USA | 266 | 1949 | |
| Trams in Melbourne | Australia | 256 | Current largest tram system by route length. | |
| Glasgow Corporation Tramways | UK | 227.51 | 1962 | |
| Trams in Oslo | Norway | 200+ | Today 94 km remain, several lines have been ripped out and high frequency buses are run on the lines instead and five lines have had their rights of way used for the current metrosystem. | |
| Trams in Brisbane | Australia | 199 | 1969 | |
| Cologne Stadtbahn | Germany | 194.8 | ||
| Trams in Milan | Italy | 181.8[23] | Data as of 2017. The network was longer in the past. | |
| Silesian Tramways | Poland | 178 | ||
| Tidewater Southern Railway | USA | 137 | ||
| Trams in Geneva | Switzerland | 170[24] | The network was reduced to only one surviving line in the 1960s. It has been re-expanding since then, back to over 40 km. | |
| Trams in Budapest | Hungary | 158 | ||
| Trams in Sofia | Bulgaria | 154 | ||
| Trams in Leipzig | Germany | 148 | ||
| Peninsular Railway | USA | 146.6 | ||
| Trams in Prague | Czech Rep. | 145.7 | As of 2019, the Prague tram network operates 882 tram vehicles. | |
| Trams in Bucharest | Romania | 144 | ||
| Liverpool Corporation Tramways | UK | 140 | 1957 | |
| Trams in Kyiv | Ukraine | 139.9 | ||
| Trams in Brussels | Belgium | 139 | ||
| Trams in Dresden | Germany | 134.3 | ||
| Trams in Munich | Germany | 134 | ||
| Trams in Warsaw | Poland | 132 | ||
| Trams in Stuttgart | Germany | 131 | ||
| Trams in Hanover | 127 | |||
| Birmingham Corporation Tramways | UK | 129.6[25] | 1953 | |
| Central California Traction Company | USA | 126[26] | ||
| Trams in Lodz | Poland | 124.1 | ||
| Tram in Zürich | Switzerland | 122 | ||
| Trams in Greater Cairo | Egypt | 120[27] | 2019[28] | |
| Trams in Zagreb | Croatia | 116 | ||
| Trams in Adelaide | Australia | 113[29] | As of 2024, only 15 km remain. | |
| Visalia Electric Railroad | USA | 109 | ||
| Key System | 106 | 1959 | ||
| Dublin tramways | Ireland | 97 | No original tramways still exist, but modern light rail, the Luas, was introduced in 2004 and operates 42 km of track. | 1959 |
| Trams in Gothenburg | Sweden | 95 | ||
| Trams in Kraków | Poland | 97 | ||
| Trams in Christchurch | New Zealand | 86.1 | A new heritage loop was built totalling 3.9 km. | 1954 |
| Pittsburgh Railways | USA | 975.2[30] | Replaced with a much smaller light rail network still in use today. As of 2026, only 42.2 km remain. |
- This reference ("Евгений Михайлов: Обособление трамвайных путей положительно сказывается на регулярности движения наземного городского транспорта" [Yevgeny Mikhailov: The separation of tramways' positive impact on the reliability of urban transport traffic] (in Russian). Мосгортранс [Mosgortrans]. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2015.) quotes the 2014 single track length of Moscow's tram network to be 416 kilometres (258 mi) – for the purposes of this table, the double track system length of Moscow's tram network is assumed to be roughly half that figure, or approximately 208 kilometres (129 mi).