Africa inter-city train at the
Rabat station Railways in
Africa are still developing or not practically used for passenger purposes in many countries, but the following countries have inter-city services between major cities: • Algeria:
SNTF • Egypt:
Egyptian National Railways • Kenya:
Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway • Morocco:
ONCF (in French - Office National des Chemins de Fer du Maroc, National Office for Railways of Morocco) • Nigeria:
Nigerian Railway Corporation • South Africa:
Shosholoza Meyl • Tunisia:
Tunisian Railways (SNCFT)
Asia East Asia China Trains run by
China Railway link almost every town and city in the
People's Republic of China, including
Beijing,
Guangzhou,
Shanghai,
Shenzhen, and
Xi'an, and onwards from
Shenzhen across the border to
Kowloon, in
Hong Kong. New high-speed lines from operation are constructed, and many conventional lines are also upgraded to operation. Currently, there are seven
High-Speed Inter-City lines in China, with up to 21 planned. They are operated independently of the often-parallel High-Speed Rail Lines.
Japan tilting train express
Super Ōzora in
Japan Japan has six main regional passenger railway companies, collectively known as the
Japan Railways Group (JR). Five JR companies operate the "bullet trains" on very fast and frequent
Shinkansen lines that link all the larger cities, including
Tokyo,
Yokohama,
Nagoya,
Kyoto,
Osaka,
Hiroshima,
Fukuoka and many more. Many other cities are covered by a network of JR's
limited express inter-city trains on
narrow-gauge lines. Major cities are covered by convenient train services every hour or more frequently. In addition to the JR Group, Japan has major private rail operators such as the
Kintetsu,
Meitetsu,
Tobu Railway, and
Odakyu Electric Railway that operate "limited express" inter-city services.
Hong Kong , hauled by a
SS8 electric locomotive, passing through
Kowloon Tong station in
Hong Kong Inter-city railway services crossing the Hong Kong-China border (often known as
through trains) were jointly operated by Hong Kong's
MTR Corporation Limited and the
Ministry of Railways of the People's Republic of China.
Hung Hom station was the only station in the territory where passengers could catch these cross-border trains. Passengers are required to go through immigration and customs inspections of Hong Kong before boarding a cross-border train or alighting from such a train. There were three cross-border train services on the conventional line: • Between Hong Kong and
Beijing (
Beijing–Kowloon through train) • Between Hong Kong and
Shanghai (
Shanghai–Kowloon through train) • Between Hong Kong and
Guangzhou (
Guangzhou–Kowloon through train) A new border-crossing service, the
Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link, has been approved and has been granted HKD 6.6 billion in funding by the Legislative Council's Finance Committee. The line opened in 2018 with a new station,
West Kowloon Terminus, in the city center. In response to the opening of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link, demand for the Through Train service dwindled, and such services have since been discontinued
Taiwan Taiwan's coastline is connected by frequent inter-city train services by
Taiwan Railway Administration. Taiwan High Speed Rail, opened in 2007, covers the most populated west-coast corridor. Chinese：對號列車 There are Chu-kuang express (莒光號) and
Tze-chiang limited express (自強號).
South Korea 's
ITX-Saemaeul Almost every major town and city in
South Korea is linked by railway, run by
Korail.
ITX-Saemaeul operates on most
Main railway lines, such as Japanese limited express services and German
Intercity. Also,
Mugunghwa-ho is the most common and popular type of intercity rail travel, similar to the German
Regional-Express. In addition,
Seoul and
Busan are connected by a high-speed train line known as
KTX, built using French TGV technology.
South Asia Bangladesh India at
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus India's
inter-city trains are run by
Indian Railways. With of rail routes and 7,308 stations, the railway network in India is the third-largest in the world (after Russia and China) and the largest in the world in terms of passenger kilometres. It connects almost every part of the country, linking major cities such as
New Delhi,
Mumbai,
Bengaluru,
Kolkata,
Hyderabad,
Chennai,
Ahmedabad,
Pune,
Kochi,
Jaipur,
Chandigarh,
Bhubaneswar,
Surat,
Vadodara,
Agra and countless others. The
Vande Bharat Express,
Gatimaan Express,
Tejas Express,
Tejas-Rajdhani Express,
Rajdhani Express,
Shatabdi Express,
Jan Shatabdi Express and
Duronto Express are the fastest inter-city services in India; of these, the Vande Bharat is the fastest one. All long-distance journeys generally require a reservation, although unreserved travel is allowed in some trains.
Pakistan Sri Lanka Southeast Asia Burma Cambodia There is only one train service in
Cambodia, from
Phnom Penh to
Sihanoukville, stopping at
Doun Kaev (Takeo) and
Kampot.
Indonesia In Indonesia,
PT Kereta Api operates inter-city services between some of the country's major cities like
Jakarta,
Bandung,
Semarang,
Yogyakarta,
Surakarta,
Surabaya,
Medan,
Padang, and
Palembang. In the
Jakarta metropolitan area (or
Jabodetabek),
KRL Jabotabek operates inter-city and
commuter services. Indonesia also currently operates Southeast Asia's first high-speed rail line between
Jakarta and
Bandung.
Laos In recent years, construction has started on a
China-funded higher-speed railway link, the
Boten–Vientiane railway, commonly referred to as the China-Laos Railway. It is a fully electrified high-speed railway line, part of a long-term goal of connecting China with the rest of
Southeast Asia. The line runs from
Boten near the China-
Laos border to
Vientiane, the capital of Laos, using CRRC high/higher-speed EMU trains.
Malaysia in
Malaysia Keretapi Tanah Melayu (Malayan Railways) operates loco-hauled express trains called
KTM Intercity along
Peninsular Malaysia and into
Singapore. At the
Malaysia–
Thailand border, connections to
State Railway of Thailand trains are available. KTM Intercity trains are diesel-powered and run on a
single-track system. The rail track is gradually being duplicated and electrified. On the completed Central to Northern section (border), KTM runs the higher-speed
Electric Train Service (ETS).
Philippines As of February 2020, the
Philippine National Railways does not have a regular intercity rail service, although the agency is planning to rebuild railway lines. Before the 1970s, the main island of Luzon had a relatively extensive narrow-gauge railway network. Still, government prioritization towards highway construction and the effects of multiple natural disasters gradually led to the decline and abandonment of most intercity rail services. Until the 2000s, PNR had two inter-city rail services: the Bicol Express and the Mayon Limited. The Bicol Express leaves
Manila and passes through Manila,
Pasay, and
Muntinlupa and the provinces of
Laguna,
Quezon, and
Camarines Sur before arriving at
Naga. The trip takes 10 hours, or 600 minutes. The Mayon Limited connects Minola and Ligao in hours. The Philippine government is planning the revival of inter-city rail with projects such as the
PNR South Long Haul, which aims to reconstruct the railway in Southern Luzon.
Thailand Thailand has a sizable meter-gauge intercity rail network radiating outwards from
Bangkok, transporting around 60 million passengers every year. Construction is underway to connect Bangkok with
Nakhon Ratchasima using a dedicated high-speed rail line.
Vietnam Trains in
Vietnam, run by
Vietnam Railways, link
Hanoi,
Hué,
Da Nang,
Nha Trang, and
Ho Chi Minh City.
Southwest Asia Iran Israel Israel Railways operates inter-city services between all four major metropolitan areas of
Israel:
Tel Aviv,
Jerusalem,
Be'er Sheva, and
Haifa. However, due to Israel's small geography, most railway services follow a more
suburban pattern, with many short stops between the major city centers.
Europe Western and Central Europe passes
Ealing Broadway station in London. This is the world's fastest
diesel train and was used on various intercity services in Great Britain until 2021. In Europe, many long-distance inter-city trains are operated under the
InterCity (often simply IC) brand.
InterCity (or, initially, "Inter-City" with a hyphen) was first conceived as a brand name by
British Rail for the launch of its electrification of the major part of the
West Coast Main Line in 1966, which brought new express services between London and the major cities of
Manchester,
Birmingham and
Liverpool. It later became the name of one of British Rail's new business sectors in the 1980s and was used to describe the whole network of mainline passenger routes in Great Britain. Still, it was taken out of official use following
privatisation. The introduction of the
British Rail Class 43 (HST) helped InterCity become a familiar brand in the 1970s. The principal network of international express trains in continental Europe is called
EuroCity, even though some InterCity trains also cross borders.
High-speed railways have relatively few stops. The German high-speed train service was named
InterCityExpress, indicating its evolution from older InterCity trains. Other high-speed lines include the
TGV (France),
AVE (Spain),
Treno Alta Velocità (Italy),
Eurostar (United Kingdom–France and Belgium),
Thalys (Netherlands–Belgium–Germany and France),
Lyria (France-Switzerland), and
Railjet (Germany-Austria–Czechia/Hungary).
Great Britain In
Great Britain, the inter-city rail links are now operated by
many private companies such as
Avanti West Coast,
LNER,
EMR,
CrossCountry,
TransPennine Express,
Greater Anglia,
ScotRail and
GWR.
Ireland Ireland's inter-city rail network is maintained by
Iarnród Éireann. A joint operation with
Northern Ireland Railways runs the cross-border
"Enterprise" inter-city service.
Italy With the introduction of high-speed trains, intercity trains are limited to a few services per day on mainline and regional tracks. The daytime services (
InterCity IC), while infrequent and limited to one or two trains per route, are essential for providing access to cities and towns off the railway's mainline network. The main routes are
Trieste to
Rome (stopping at
Venice,
Bologna,
Prato,
Florence and
Arezzo),
Milan to Rome (stopping at
Genoa,
La Spezia,
Pisa and
Livorno / stopping at
Parma,
Modena, Bologna, Prato, Florence and Arezzo), Bologna to
Lecce (stopping at
Rimini,
Ancona,
Pescara,
Bari and
Brindisi) and Rome to
Reggio di Calabria (stopping at
Latina and
Naples). In addition, the Intercity trains provide a more economical means of long-distance rail travel within Italy. The night trains (
Intercity Notte ICN) have sleeper compartments and washrooms, but no showers on board. Main routes are Rome to
Bolzano/Bozen (calling at Florence, Bologna,
Verona,
Rovereto and
Trento), Milan to
Lecce (calling at Piacenza, Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, Faenza, Forlì, Cesena, Rimini, Ancona, Pescara, Bari and Brindisi),
Turin to Lecce (calling at
Alessandria,
Voghera,
Piacenza, Parma, Bologna, Rimini, Pescara, Termoli, San Severo, Foggia, Barletta, Bisceglie, Molfetta, Bari, Monopoli, Fasano, Ostuni and Brindisi) and Reggio di Calabria to Turin (calling at Naples, Rome,
Livorno, La Spezia and Genova). Most of these ICN services run at night; since most services take 10 to 15 hours to complete a one-way journey, their daytime portion provides additional train connections to complement the Intercity services.
Central and Eastern Europe passenger train travelling from
Berlin to
Novosibirsk, Russia
Poland The
Polish State Railways (PKP), a state-owned corporate group, is the main provider of railway services. The PKP group holds an almost unrivaled
monopoly over rail services in Poland since it is both supported and partly funded by the national government. As of 2018, foreign services operate on the Polish Railways network. These include EuroCity and
EuroNight trains operating between Western and Eastern European destinations, including by the EN 440/441 from
Berlin via
Warsaw to
Moscow operated by a Talgo train of the Russian Railways company. In 2019, new
nightjet train from
Vienna to Berlin via
Ostrava (CZ) and
Wrocław (PL) starts the service. .
Russia Russia has a dense network of long-distance railways all over its vast territory, the longest and most famous being the
Trans-Siberian Railway from
Moscow to
Vladivostok. Long-distance train routes of more than are common, with many trips taking two or three days. Speed is relatively low: trains average .
North America Canada train at
London station in
London, Ontario Canada's inter-city trains are mostly run by
Via Rail, a Canadian
crown corporation mandated to operate inter-city passenger rail service in Canada. The majority of its services connect major cities in the most populous part of the country, known as the
Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, straddling the provinces of
Ontario and
Quebec. It also operates long-distance trains to
western Canada and
the Maritimes on the
Canadian and
Ocean lines and by smaller trains to more remote areas of Canada. Much like the
United States, Canada previously had a larger intercity rail network before the 1970s; certain major cities such as
Calgary and
Regina lack connections to the extant Via Rail network, and passenger rail usage outside of the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor is infrequent and geared towards the tourism market. International trains, run jointly by
Amtrak and Via Rail, connect
New York City with
Toronto.
Amtrak also operates the
Adirondack between New York City and
Montreal, and the
Amtrak Cascades service linking Vancouver and
Seattle. In addition, the
White Pass and Yukon Route links
Skagway and
Whitehorse on an isolated northern route. Other inter-city passenger rail operators include the
Ontario Northland Railway, which operates passenger services between
Cochrane and
Moosonee in rural
northern Ontario and
luxury train operators such as the
Royal Canadian Pacific and
Rocky Mountaineer, which operate rail tours in
Western Canada.
Mexico (Chihuahua-Pacific Railway) in
Mexico In
Mexico, the federal government discontinued almost all scheduled inter-city passenger trains in June 2001.
Ferromex operates trains on three routes:
Chihuahua City to
Los Mochis,
Torreón to
Felipe Pescador, and
Guadalajara to
Amatitán. Mexican President
Enrique Peña Nieto has proposed intercity trains, including from
Mexico City to
Toluca (construction began 7 July 2014), the Peninsular train from
Yucatán to
Riviera Maya, and the Mexico-Querétaro high-speed train from
Puebla to
Tlaxcala and
Mexico City with future expansion to Guadalajara. In recent years, passenger trains have seen a revival, with the construction of the tourist-oriented
Tren Maya route traversing the Yucatán Peninsula.
United States '' in
Book Cliffs in
Utah There was a dense system of inter-city railways in the
United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After the decline of passenger railroads in
North America in the 1960s, intercity lines declined sharply, and today the national system is far less dense. The most heavily used routes with the greatest ridership and schedule frequencies are in the
Northeastern United States on
Amtrak's
Northeast Corridor. About one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in
New York City. The two busiest passenger rail stations in the United States are
Penn Station and
Grand Central Terminal, both in
Manhattan, New York City. Passenger rail outside the Northeast,
Northwest,
California, and the
Chicago metropolitan area is infrequent and rarely used relative to networks in Europe and Japan. Passenger lines in most of the United States are operated by the
quasi-public corporation Amtrak. The separate
Alaska Railroad, which is also government-owned, runs passenger trains in
Alaska, and the privately owned
Brightline rail service operates in
Florida. The
California High-Speed Rail system began construction in 2015 and aims to connect major job centers in
California. Multiple new rail corridors have been identified for private development throughout the country. These include the
Brightline West corridor from
Las Vegas to
Los Angeles, California, the
Texas Central Railway between
Dallas and
Houston in
Texas, and others.
Oceania Australia In
Australia, the national interstate network operated by
Journey Beyond connects all mainland Australian capital cities except
Canberra. However, it is catered towards the luxury tourism market.
NSW TrainLink operates interstate services from Sydney to Canberra, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Intrastate inter-city trains that traverse shorter distances are operated by
V/Line, NSW TrainLink,
Sydney Trains,
Queensland Rail and
Transwa. The fastest intercity trains in regular service have a top service speed of 160 km/h. In Australia, electrified interurban commuter railway systems are used to connect urban areas separated by long distances and use
heavy-rail equipment: • In
New South Wales, Sydney Trains operates an extensive interurban network of four main routes from
Sydney. These run to
Newcastle and the
Central Coast, the
Blue Mountains, the
Southern Highlands and the
South Coast. Sydney Trains brands its interurban commuter services as "Intercity". • In
Brisbane,
QR's City network operates a smaller interurban commuter network of three lines which connect Brisbane to the
Gold Coast in the south,
Caboolture and the
Sunshine Coast in the north and
Rosewood in the west. • In
Perth, an electric interurban rail line running down the middle of the
Kwinana Freeway to serve
Mandurah opened on 23 December 2007. On these systems, services either run as limited-stop express trains in the suburban area or as shuttles terminating at the ends of the suburban lines. A large-scale non-electric project comprising four regional lines, known as the
Regional Fast Rail, is operational in
Victoria. Current interurban and intercity journeys outside the suburban area are often locomotive-hauled, particularly for longer-distance services, due to Victoria's lack of electrification outside of Melbourne.
New Zealand In
New Zealand, there are currently three long-distance passenger services classed as inter-city: the
Coastal Pacific, the
Northern Explorer, and the
TranzAlpine. The rugged country limits their average speed, particularly in the middle of the
North Island, where the
North Island Main Trunk has many sharp curves and steep gradients. Given these speeds and the prioritization of
rail transport in New Zealand for freight, these passenger services primarily cater to the tourist market, similar to long-distance routes in Australia. Other current commuter passenger services include the
Capital Connection,
Te Huia, and the
Wairarapa Connection. A network of regional and long-distance rail passenger services, which existed until the mid-twentieth century, has largely been replaced by air or bus services.
South America International train services once connected a few countries in South America, but today they are almost nonexistent, with the notable exceptions of Argentina and Chile. Most governments on the continent have favored roads and automobile transportation since the mid-20th century.
Argentina Argentina has intercity services on several routes, operated by
Operadora Ferroviaria Sociedad del Estado. Trains in Argentina are experiencing a revival, since the government intends to re-establish long-distance passenger trains between major cities.
Bolivia Inter-city train services in
Bolivia are operated by two train companies: Eastern and Western. The western network runs daily trains from
Oruro to
Tupiza, with both espresso (fast) and WaraWara (slow) trains. The eastern rail hub is
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, with connections to
Puerto Suárez and
Villamontes, and international lines to
Brazil and Argentina.
Brazil Brazil's inter-city services operate on two routes, one from
Vitória to
Belo Horizonte (
Vitória-Minas Railway) and another from
Parauapebas to
São Luís. A
third service was proposed by
São Paulo state government to operate from
São Paulo to
Americana.
Chile 's fastest inter-city rail service, reaching 150 kmh on the fastest section of its route
Chile has inter-city services connecting
Santiago to
Chillán and occasionally to
Temuco, run by
Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado. The fastest in Chile (and South America) is
TerraSur, reaching around . ==See also==