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In rail transport, a train is a vehicle or (more frequently) a string of vehicles capable of being moved along a continuous line of rails or other guideway for the purpose of conveying freight or passengers between points on a predetermined route. The train may be hauled or propelled by one or more vehicles designed exclusively for that purpose (locomotives) or may be driven by a number of motors incorporated in all or several of the vehicles (multiple units).

As of 2018^[update], there are approximately 1,052,000 kilometres (654,000 mi) of railway track in use worldwide. (World Bank (via Archive.org))

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Selected article of the week

The Willow Creek / Southwest 185th Avenue Transit Center is a light rail station and transit center on the MAX Blue Line in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Located near the intersection of Baseline Road and 185th Avenue on the eastern edge of the city, it is the twelfth stop westbound on TriMet's Westside MAX, in the Portland metropolitan area. For 2006 to 2007, the station saw nearly 950,000 passengers. Opened in 1998, the station was originally conceived as the western terminus of the Westside MAX, but the line was extended further west into Hillsboro, due to population growth occurring at the time the line was being planned. Artwork at the stop represents a reading motif, as a library was planned for the station, but never built. Willow Creek is near the Oregon National Primate Research Center and the rest of the Oregon Health & Science University's West Campus in the Tanasbourne neighborhood.

Recently selected: Beijing Subway - Hell–Sunnan Line - Sinsen (station)

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Selected image of the week

A rubber-tyred multiple unit train leaves Jiantan Station on the Taipei Metro, Taiwan, in 2007. The architecture of the station was designed to resemble a dragon boat; the station was awarded the 19th Annual Taiwan Architecture Award in 1997.

Recently selected: Ballast tamper tines - LMS 5P5F class 5000 - PKP Pt47 class

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Did you know...

...that the opening ceremonies of the Galway to Clifden railway were very sparsely attended because the event date was a strict church holiday and was reserved for attending church services?
...that following heavy damage to the Galveston Island Trolley track and cars from Hurricane Ike in 2008, substitute service with replica buses was operated until service resumed in October 2021?
...that although the former Santa Fe Railway's Galesburg station was demolished after regular passenger service to the station ended in 1996, the site is still used if derailments cause trains to use the Chillicothe Subdivision instead of the Mendota Subdivision?
...that the Fuzhou–Xiamen railway, which opened in 2010, was so heavily used that it reached capacity in 2015, spurring construction on the parallel Fuzhou–Xiamen high-speed railway for CRH passenger train services?

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Selected anniversaries

May 9

1875 – H. P. M. Beames, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Western Railway 1920–1922, is born (d. 1948).
1878 – The final segment of the Romanian railway between Vârciorova in the south and Roman in the north opens.
1979 – Cyrus S. Eaton (pictured), president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in the 1950s, dies (b. 1883).
2004 – Construction begins on the Marmaray, a railway tunnel under the Bosphorus strait in Turkey.

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Train News

April 30, 2026 – American railroad companies Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern amend their plan for a merger. The plan involves connecting existing networks as well as adding new routes. (Railway-News)
April 30, 2026 – German company Siemens Mobility signs a 200-train contract with Swiss Federal Railways. The contract, which was awarded in November 2025, was until recently contested by Siemens’ competitor Stadler. (Railway Gazette)
April 26, 2026 – 2026 Bekasi train crash – The train Argo Bromo Anggrek collides with a Commuterline train near Jakarta, Indonesia. The crash left 16 people dead, all from the rear car of the Commuterline, and an additional 91 people injured. This happened after a separate train collided with a taxi earlier that day. (BBC, Reuters )

April 26, 2026 – In Mexico, tracks are opened for Tren Felipe Ángeles, a rail link that connects Felipe Ángeles International Airport with Mexico City. (Railway Gazette)

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General images

The following are images from various train-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Bombardier ALP-45DP, at the Innotrans convention in Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 2An interior of a Circle line S7 Stock in London (from Railroad car)
Image 3The "hump" of a hump yard. Railcars travel past retarders, which control their speed, and are directed onto tracks to be assembled into new trains. The control tower operates the retarders. (from Rail yard)
Image 4The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service (from Train)
Image 5Typical American extended vision caboose (from Railroad car)
Image 6The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 7A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 8A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London (from Railroad car)
Image 9A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 10Various types of railroad cars in a classification yard in the United States (from Train)
Image 11A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 12Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)
Image 13A London Underground battery–electric locomotive used for hauling engineers' trains, at West Ham station (from Locomotive)
Image 14Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 15This map of Cedar Hill Yard in Connecticut shows a variety of different facilities, including receiving yards, departure yards, classification yards, and a repair yard. (from Rail yard)
Image 16This GO train cab car includes a horn (top), a bell (top right), headlights (above the door), classification lights (red lights on side), and ditch lights (white lights on side). (from Train)
Image 17A gas turbine locomotive operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (from Train)
Image 18A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)
Image 19The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power. (from Train)
Image 20A preserved armored train (from Train)
Image 21A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 22A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars. (from Train)
Image 23A narrow-gauge battery–electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 24An Indian locomotive class WDM-3A diesel locomotive in India (from Locomotive)
Image 25Electric train on Djursholmsbanan in Stockholm in the 1890s. (from Train)
Image 26The first useful diesel locomotive (a diesel–electric) for long distances, the SŽD Eel2, 1924 in Kyiv (from Locomotive)
Image 27Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons. (from Train)
Image 28A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)
Image 29Trains carrying hazardous materials display information identifying their cargo and hazards. This tank car carrying chlorine displays, among other markings, a U.S. DOT placard showing a UN number that identifies the hazardous substance. (from Train)
Image 30Restored clerestory cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin (from Railroad car)
Image 31A China Railways HXD1D electric locomotive in China (from Locomotive)
Image 32Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 33Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 34The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)
Image 35Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 36Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 37US-style railroad truck (bogie) with journal bearings (from Train)
Image 38RegioCitadis light rail train in Zoetermeer (the Netherlands). (from Train)
Image 39Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 40A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 41Workington stabling point in 1981, with locomotives from Classes 25, 40 and 47 parked between duties. (from Rail yard)
Image 42A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom (from Railroad car)
Image 43Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 44A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 45Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both a pantograph and contact shoes. (from Locomotive)
Image 46The ESS 3200 electric locomotive was introduced in 1925 in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. (from Locomotive)
Image 47British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 48The New Orleans Streetcar System is the oldest in the world. (from Train)
Image 49A large Amtrak and Metra coach yard just south of Chicago Union Station. About 25 percent of all rail traffic in the United States travels through the Chicago area. (from Rail yard)
Image 50China operates an extensive high speed rail network. (from Train)
Image 51TGV Lacroix first class interior (from Train)
Image 52Schedule of train departure times in Indonesia stations (from Train)
Image 53Garratt locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)