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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

One of the platforms at Frøen station in July 2015

Frøen is a rapid transit station of the Oslo Metro's Holmenkollen Line and previously also the Sognsvann Line. It is situated Frøen neighborhood of the Oslo, Norway, borough of Vestre Aker. Located 3.2 kilometers (2.0 mi) from Stortinget, the station is served by Line 1 of the metro every fifteen minutes. Travel time to Stortinget is six minutes. The initial station opened on 31 May 1898. With the construction of the Sognsvann Line, Frøen became both a stop on it as well as the interchange between the two lines. It therefore received four separate platforms at three different elevations. It served trains on the Sognsvann Line from 10 October 1934 until 1992. Frøen received a slight upgrade in 2010. However, Ruter plans to close it down and replace it and Steinerud with a new station.

Recently selected: GE 25-ton switcher - Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College station - First Hill Streetcar

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Selected image of the week

SNCB electric locomotives #2635 (a Class 26) and #2013 (a Class 20) await their next assignments on a sunny July day in Belgium in 2011.

Recently selected: charter train in Jordan - trains at an Egyptian station - trains under the Ringgaden bridge

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Did you know...

...that in 1984, Pfizer installed four closed circuit TVs and talk-back boxes on the Flushing Avenue station platforms, monitoring them from the Pfizer plant security area one block away from the station?
...that excluding the Toronto Transit Commission's heritage collection of a few older streetcars, the TTC's entire active streetcar fleet consists of the Flexity Outlook?
...that the original Bourton station was the first station out of Bristol on the Great Western Railway's line until Bedminster opened in 1871?
...that Flamborough railway station was located several miles away from Flamborough?

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Selected anniversaries

June 30

1889 – The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (the Big Four Railroad) is formed through the merger of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway, the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Railway and the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railway.
1948 – Vladimir Yakunin, CEO of Russian Railways 2005-present, is born.
2004 – In Ireland the first stage of Dublin's LUAS light rail system (pictured) opens, the "Green Line" from Sandyford to St. Stephen's Green in the city centre. The route follows the old Harcourt Street railway line for the most part.
2005 – The Gerrards Cross Tunnel partially collapses during construction blocking the Chiltern Main Line for two months.

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Train News

July 24, 2021 – Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe No. 2926, a 4-8-4 steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1944, moves under its own power for the first time since Christmas Eve of 1953, after nearly twenty-two years of being rebuilt by volunteers. The locomotive will be put into mainline excursion service. (NMSL&RHS, Trains Magazine on Facebook)
May 5, 2021 – Steamtown National Historic Site completes thorough cosmetic overhaul on Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy No. 4012, which is moved back on static display before National Train Day. (NEPA Scene)
April 2, 2021 – 2021 Hualien train derailment – A Taroko Express train operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) derails at the north entrance of Qingshui Tunnel in Heren Section, Xiulin Township, Hualien County, Taiwan, killing 49 people and injuring at least 200 others. North of Hualien City a construction truck had fallen down a slope onto the tracks. The eight-carriage train derailed after colliding with the truck, and then came to a rest in the tunnel, with severe damage and many casualties. (Bloomberg, CNN, CNA, New York Times, Financial Times)

December 31, 2020 – Following a complete restoration, Chesapeake and Ohio 1309, a 2-6-6-2 Mallet locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1949, the last steam locomotive built by Baldwin for the North American market, is operated under its own power for test runs. When returned to service on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, it will be the largest steam locomotive in regular scheduled service in the United States and take 2-8-0 No. 734’s place as the largest active steam locomotive in the state of Maryland. (Trains.com Newswire)

September 28, 2020 – Amtrak operates a test run using one of the 28 new Avelia Liberty trains manufactured by Alstom along the full length of the Northeast Corridor to Boston South Station. Previous test runs had occurred from Washington, D.C., only as far north as New Jersey and Delaware. Barring any problems, the trains are expected to enter regular service on the route in 2021. (Universal Hub)

June 13, 2020 – The Bay Area Rapid Transit Silicon Valley BART extension opened its stations in Milpitas and North San Jose. (San Jose Spotlight, SF Gate)

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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 2A hump classification type of yard. The camera is positioned near where cars are decoupled and begin to accelerate downhill past a scale. The speed regulation (retarder brakes and speed sensors) devices shown in the foreground adjust the car speed for the calculated soft-coupling on arrival along the sorting track for the consist it is being routed to join. (from Rail yard)
Image 3A preserved armored train (from Train)
Image 4A large Amtrak and Metra coach yard in Chicago, Illinois. About 25 percent of all rail traffic in the United States travels through the Chicago area. (from Rail yard)
Image 5Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 6Wainwright SECR Class P on the Bluebell Railway, England (from Locomotive)
Image 7The 1902 Maudslay Petrol Locomotive (from Locomotive)
Image 8Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons (from Train)
Image 9Second-class compartment of a China Railways CRH1A-A train (from Train)
Image 10China operates an extensive high speed rail network (from Train)
Image 11Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 12A German DB Class V 200 diesel-hydraulic locomotive at Technikmuseum, Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 13This 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 14A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 15US-style railroad truck (bogie) with journal bearings (from Train)
Image 16A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)
Image 17Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 18The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service (from Train)
Image 19A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 20A narrow gauge battery-electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 21A China Railways HXD1D electric locomotive in China (from Locomotive)
Image 22Union Pacific 18, a gas turbine-electric locomotive preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum (from Locomotive)
Image 23Typical American extended vision caboose (from Railroad car)
Image 24Variety of rolling stock in rail yard (from Rolling stock)
Image 25An early Diesel-mechanical locomotive at the North Alabama Railroad Museum (from Locomotive)
Image 26The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power (from Train)
Image 27Trevithick's 1802 locomotive (from Locomotive)
Image 28A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom. (from Railroad car)
Image 29A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars (from Train)
Image 30Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 31A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 32A passenger car from Taiwan Railway (from Railroad car)
Image 33The New Orleans Streetcar System is one of the oldest in the world (from Train)
Image 34Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)
Image 35A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 36A London Underground battery-electric locomotive at West Ham station used for hauling engineers' trains (from Locomotive)
Image 37Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 38Various types of railroad cars in a classification yard in the United States (from Train)
Image 39The Locomotion No. 1 at Darlington Railway Centre and Museum (from Locomotive)
Image 40World's first useful diesel locomotive (a diesel-electric locomotive) for long distances SŽD Eel2, 1924 in Kyiv (from Locomotive)
Image 41A gas turbine locomotive operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (from Train)
Image 42A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London. (from Railroad car)
Image 43A Soviet steam-diesel hybrid locomotive TP1 (from Locomotive)
Image 44An interior of a S7 Stock in London. (from Railroad car)
Image 45Pacific National diesel locomotives in Australia showing three body types, cab unit (front), hood unit (middle) and box cab (rear) (from Locomotive)
Image 46A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 47British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 48Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both pantograph and contact shoes (from Locomotive)
Image 49Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 50Smaller local hydraulic "dowty retarders" finesse the speed of a car being sorted as it approaches a switch or the new consists to which it is being joined. (from Rail yard)
Image 51The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 52VR Class Tk3 steam locomotive in the town of Kokkola in Central Ostrobothnia, Finland (from Locomotive)
Image 53Steam locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)
Image 54Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 55A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 56A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)
Image 57The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)