railroad

Introduction
Cars
- Freight cars
- Passenger cars
  - Brake systems
  - Automatic body tilting
  - Cars for daytime service
  - Cars for overnight travel
Railroad track and roadway
- Location and construction
- Rail
  - Rail fittings
  - Sleepers (crossties)
  - Track maintenance
- Auxiliary plant
  - Bridges
  - Buildings
  - Tunnels
Railroad operations and control
- Communications
  - Radio
  - Computers
- Signaling
  - Types of signals
  - Automated systems
  - Interlocking and routing
- The marshaling yard
Intermodal freight vehicles and systems
- Development
- Operations
- Passenger intermodals
Railroad history
- Source in inland water transport
- Early European railroads
  - The Stockton and Darlington Railway
  - The Liverpool and Manchester Railway
  - Characteristics of British railroads
  - The railroad in continental Europe
- Early American railroads
  - The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
  - Boston railroads
  - The South Carolina Railroad
- North American railroads in the late 19th and 20th centuries
  - American railroads
    - Expansion into the interior
    - The transcontinental railroad
    - Advances in traction systems
    - Railway company mergers
  - Canadian railroads
Modern railways
- Diesel-electric locomotion and electronic systems
- Growth in developing countries
- High-speed passenger lines
  - Japan
  - Western Europe
  - South Korea, Taiwan, and China
  - North America
- Maglev

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Historic black-and-white photo of the Dewitt Clinton steam locomotive pulling several stagecoach-style passenger cars on railroad tracks.

Learn about the American railroad history and the California State Railroad Museum

Historic black-and-white photo of a group of Chinese American railroad workers, some wearing hats, who contributed to building the Transcontinental Railroad.

Historic black and white photo of the Countess of Dufferin steam locomotive, labeled on the tender, with large wheels and a building in the background.

A Swiss Federal Railways high-speed train emerges from the concrete portal of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, surrounded by grassy slopes and forested mountains.

At a Glance

railroad summary

railroad

transportation

Also known as: railway

Written by

Thomas Clark SheddAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 6, 2026 •History

railroad, mode of land transportation in which flange-wheeled vehicles move over two parallel steel rails, or tracks, either by self-propulsion or by the propulsion of a locomotive. After the first crude beginnings, railroad-car design took divergent courses in North America and Europe, because of differing economic conditions and technological developments. Early cars on both continents were largely of two-axle design, but passenger-car builders soon began constructing cars with three and then four axles, the latter...

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