The World's Longest Rail Network

There are many reasons why train travel trumps flying - from the lack of officious security personnel to the fact that travelers are deposited in the heart of the city, rather than the outskirts of Cities. It's also far better for the environment than journeys by plane or car.

The United States has the world's longest railway network, followed by China, Russia, and India.

The US rail network, with an operating route length over 250,000km, is the biggest in the world. Freight lines constitute about 80% of the country's total rail network, while the total passenger network spans about 35,000km.

China's rail network, with a route length of over 100,000km, ranks as the second biggest rail network in the world. The extensive network, operated by state-owned China Railway Corporation, carried 2.08 billion passengers the second highest after Indian Railways.

Russia's rail network with over 86,000 km, ranks third biggest rail network in the world. Russia's whole network, operated by state-owned monopoly Russian Railways (RZD), runs for over 85,500km. In 2013, the network carried 1.08 billion passengers and 1.2 billion tonnes of freight - the third highest freight volume after the US and China.

The Russian railway network incorporates12 main lines, many of which provide direct connections to the European and Asian national railway systems such as Finland, France, Germany, Poland, China, Mongolia and North Korea. The Trans-Siberian Railway (the Moscow-Vladivostok line), spanning a length of 9,289km, is the longest and one of the busiest railway lines in the world.

The Indian nationwide rail network, the fourth longest in the world, is owned and operated by state-owned Indian Railways and includes an operating route length of more than 65,000km. The network carried about eight billion passengers the highest in the world.

The Indian railway network is divided into 17 zones and operates more than 19,000 trains per day, including 12,000 passenger trains and 7,000 freight trains.

Canada's 48,000km of rail lines makes its national network the fifth longest in the world. Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) are the two major freight rail networks operating in the country, while Via Rail operates the 12,500km intercity passenger rail service. Algoma Central Railway and Ontario Northland Railway are among the other smaller railways providing passenger services to certain rural areas in the country.

Three Canadian cities - Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver - have extensive commuter train systems. In addition, the Rocky Mountaineer and Royal Canadian Pacific offer luxury rail tours to view the scenic beauty of certain mountainous areas in the country.

Many destinations don't have any railways, often due to the harsh, mountainous or densely forested surroundings. They include Iceland, Greenland, Yemen, Oman, Bhutan, Libya and Papua New Guinea.

source - http://www.factall.com/worlds-longest-railway-networks/

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