The following list is non-inclusive of tram and light rail systems and is otherwise non-exhaustive.
Argentina over the dam •
Buenos Aires: in the past street-running trains ran through the city streets. • Trains run by Villa 21-24
Australia Operational instances: •
Maryborough, Queensland: Kent Street 610mm gauge •
Mossman, Queensland: A narrow-gauge
sugar-cane railway runs down Mill Street. •
Rockhampton, Queensland: The
North Coast main line runs down Denison Street, double track line singled in 1996. •
Wycheproof, Victoria: The
Sea Lake railway line runs down the wide
median strip of the town's main street. Historical instances: •
Nambour, Queensland: The
Moreton Central Sugar Mill Cane Tramway ran down Mill Street, was also street running on a bridge at
Bli Bli, closed 2003. The rails in the street remained in place and a tourist tram is planned on it. •
Port Pirie, South Australia: The
Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line ran down the centre of Ellen Street until 1967. •
Yass, New South Wales: The Yass Tramway from
Yass Junction to
Yass Town ran down Dutton Street, closed 1988. The route is no longer connected, but the tracks in Dutton street and by the station are still present and are on the heritage list.
Canada Notable examples in Canada include: •
Port Hope, Ontario: from Walton Street, along Ontario street to the
Ganaraska River, where it split off and followed the river north out of the city limits, eventually reaching
Midland, Ontario with a branch line to
Peterborough, Ontario. Lots of railway facilities still exist, the old station, now Furby's books and lent travel are opposite the corner of Walton street and Ontario, with the old station masters office just south of that along lent lane, which is the old track bed, and the Ganaraska Hotel, which is the old Railway Hostel. •
Oshawa, Ontario: from
Michael Starr trail (near court street) along Bruce street, east to Ritson road, then north on Ritson road to the GM North Plant. (removed) •
Brantford, Ontario: Clarence Street (From Nelson Street to Icomm Drive, formerly
Canadian National Railway; now
Southern Ontario Railway, still in use) (not on the road although tracks do occupy the right turn lane at Colborne Street) •
Guelph, Ontario (also not real street running): • Kent Street (from Glasgow Street to Gordon Street), CNR, still in use •
St. Catharines, Ontario: • Ontario Street (removed) (to the disappeared car factory) (continues to Louisa St.) (diagonal between the houses) (former track partly still visible from the air) • Louisa Street (From just east of Thomas Street to Catherine Street, Canadian National Railway, originally Niagara St. Catharines Toronto Railway. Electric interurban (branch from Port Dalhousie-west) (until 1959) removed, continues to Welland Avenue below) • Welland Avenue (From Francis Street to Balfour Street, removed) (continues to Niagara St.) • Raymond Street (depot only) • Niagara Street (continues to Facer St.) • Facer Street (branch to Niagara~on~the~Lake) • Electric interurban network to Port Dalhousie-west, Port Dalhousie-east, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Port Colborne, and Niagara Falls. All tracks on the streets are removed in all places, except(?) Pine Street in Thorold. Freight trains with diesel engines on the streets only from 1959 to the closing in about 2005. • St. Catharines was the center of the
Niagara St. Catharines Toronto Railway. •
Waterloo, Ontario: • Caroline Street (from Erb Street West to Allen Street West, (CP Rail) tracks removed in 1994. Later reinstalled for ION light rail, in service again as of 2019)(the lightrail follows a different route) The former railway is now a trail - path. (To the south)
Croatia •
Rijeka, freight trains (and occasional passenger trains) run from western to eastern cargo terminal of
Port of Rijeka through the city centre.
Czechia •
Brno: the railway line that connects
Brno Exhibition Centre and mainline runs about . along Poříčí street. Touristic (steam) trains run on the Highway, with police escorts. Line was abandoned in 2022.
Germany For tramways the legal separation of a street running trackbed and an exclusive trackbed in urban traffic is given in
§ 16 BOStrab tramway regulations. Germany has some street-running railways: " train running through
Bad Doberan, Germany • A freight branch of the
Main-Neckar Railway features some street running sections in
Darmstadt. The line is no longer in regular use, but a short
dual gauge section (Kirschen Allee)(Evonik) was until 2015 connected to the
metre gauge Darmstadt tram network allowed old trams to be loaded onto mainline vehicles for export. • The access track that connects the mainline to
Bombardier factory in
Bautzen passes through a short section of street running at Fabrikstrasse.
Hong Kong The
KCR British Section had two street running stretches: a spur line to
Whampoa Dockyard through , another across
Salisbury Road and
Canton Road to the
Kowloon Godowns.
Indonesia Historically, Indonesia used to have many street running lines. Those were mostly found on the rural tramlines in Java. The former network of smaller railway companies, such as
Samarang–Joana Stoomtram Maatschappij,
Oost-Java Stoomtram Maatschappij,
Serajoedal Stoomtram Maatschappij, or rural branchline of the major company like
Staatsspoorwegen were often built next to the main road to save cost and later became street running when the road widened. By the late 1970s, the majority of them were closed. The last of the classic street running line that saw operation was the
Madiun-Ponorogo branchline which closed around 1984. Only three of them survive in the present day: •
Madiun,
East Java. The
Pertamina branch line which passes the Jalan Yos Sudarso in front of
INKA factory. The line branched off to the west of
Madiun railway station, where the train need to reverse to its destination 500 meters down the road. •
Malang,
East Java. The
Pertamina branch line which diverges from Malang Kotalama station. The short street running section runs to the east of Jalan Halmahera, between the junction with Jalan Tanimbar and Jalan Bingkil. •
Surakarta,
Central Java: The Solo Purwosari to
Wonogiri line runs along Jalan Slamet Riyadi through the center of Surakarta. The
Batara Kresna Railbus service between Solo Purwosari and Wonogiri, operates along the line, with two trips in each direction. A special charter-only tourist steam train called the Sepur Kluthuk Jaladara also runs along this stretch of the line between Solo Purwosari and Solo Kota stations.
Ireland •
Cork City Railways from 1911 had street-running goods trains between
Albert Quay station and
Glanmire Road station, authorised by the
local act of Parliament incorporating the railway. The stations were on opposite sides of the
River Lee, which the railway crossed via two bridges shared with road traffic. The line was closed in 1976 because of the increase in road traffic.
Italy •
Genoa–Casella railway in
Casella •
Bernina railway line in
Tirano •
Ferrovia Circumetnea in
Catania (discontinued in 1999) On-street running on Piazza Basilica Tirano 05.jpg|
Bernina railway line in
Tirano Japan • The
Keihan Keishin,
Enoden Enoshima, and
Ishiyama-Sakamoto lines have street running sections.
Laos • The rail link across the
Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge over the Mekong River between
Thailand and
Laos is shared-use, although road traffic stops while trains cross the bridge.
New Zealand • Kawakawa : The
Bay of Islands Vintage Railway, part of the former
Opua Branch of the
New Zealand Railways, runs down the middle of
State Highway 1 in the centre of
Kawakawa. • Hindon : The
Taieri Gorge Railway, part of the former
Otago Central Railway runs down the middle of a one lane road bridge in
Hindon. These tourist passenger trains have the right of way, with only signs warning motorists of trains.
Poland •
Kołobrzeg : The
Port of Kołobrzeg has railway access through approximately 750 meters of street-running tracks. The route sees semi-regular freight traffic, along with a yearly passenger excursion. •
Luboń : An industrial track connects to the
Wrocław-Poznań mainline to the
Fertilizer factory owned by Luvena S.A. in Luboń, it runs 180 meters through the Romana Maya street along with the 66 meter road bridge on the
old riverbeds of the
Warta River. The industrial track was built in 1907 along with the bridge, factory and also with the
river port while the town was under German rule. The bridge parts from the 86 meter bridge were built by the royal steelworks in
Chorzów, although during the construction they didn't use the
welding techniques so the individual parts were connected with
rivets. The bridge in the later years was refurbished and repaired throughout the time causing it to deteriorate in which Luvena decided to replace it with the newer wider bridge made by Gotowski BKiP Sp. z o.o. from
Bydgoszcz that got replaced in 2014. The route only operates freight traffic in which
PKP Cargo,
Grupa Azoty and other private railway companies use it to bring empty trains and take loaded trains from the factory, although in late december 2014 there was a special train "POWSTANIEC" that operated on this route.
Switzerland train crossing the main square in
Tirano Swiss law does not distinguish between trams and railways, making the distinction between street running by trams and that by railways legally indistinct. In many places, passenger trains run on the streets because there is no room for their own track. •
Zürich : grain trains make up to 4 journeys a day between
Bahnhof Hardbrücke and the
Swissmill Tower on Sihlquai, following a route along Zahnradstrasse, Hardstrasse and Zöllystrasse, including a
tram crossing. The driver controls traffic lights manually.
United Kingdom Street running railways have been much rarer in the United Kingdom than elsewhere. This is due to 19th-century laws requiring railways to be enclosed by fences, which had the consequence that railways could not be built along existing roads and had to use their own
rights of way. In cases where street running was unavoidable, the roads were often legally treated as
level crossings with trains and road vehicles not permitted to use them at the same time. Some examples are: •
Weymouth: The most notable street running track was the
Weymouth Harbour Tramway (despite the name, it was never used for
trams and was a heavy-rail route); however this ended service to regular traffic since 1987, and to all traffic since 1999, with track removal starting in 2020. •
Porthmadog: The
Porthmadog cross town link links the narrow-gauge
Welsh Highland and
Ffestiniog railways and includes 50 metres of street running over the Britannia Bridge in
Porthmadog. The section that runs along a street is closed to road traffic by alternating red stop lights, as if it were an extended level crossing. •
Trafford Park: The
Trafford Park Railway was A freight-only street-running railway network was through Trafford Park; only one section alongside Barton Dock Road has seen use in recent years. This branch is abandoned and partially removed. •
Preston: The
heritage Ribble Steam Railway runs across a swing bridge at the entrance to Preston Marina. The bridge is used by both road and rail traffic, but closed by barriers to road traffic when a train is crossing. •
Fivemiletown and
Caledon, County Tyrone in
Northern Ireland: the narrow gauge
Clogher Valley Railway (closed 1942) had street running through both of these villages.
United States running on 9th Street in downtown
Columbus, Georgia train running through
Jack London Square in
Oakland, California A selection of the many examples:
Alabama •
Gadsden • Locust Street, between N1 Street and N6 Street.
Alaska •
Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel: A one-lane tunnel that must be shared by cars and trains. •
Skagway: Unofficial government allows railroad tracks up Broadway in 1898. They were shifted in 1947.
California •
Anaheim • Santa Ana Street —
Union Pacific Santa Ana Branch •
Oakland • Embarcadero West, Union Pacific
Niles Subdivision between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Webster Street; the only double street running train track in the USA; the only Amtrak street running trackage in the USA; freight trains also run here; third track is no longer in use.
Colorado •
Fort Collins One train can be 5 km. long, waiting times for other traffic can be up to 30 minutes, and each train must use the horn more than 40 times within three minutes
Florida •
Clearwater • N East Ave. •
Tampa • E Polk street.
Illinois •
Rockford • Madison Street.
Indiana •
Terre Haute - 1st Street CSX (ex New York Central)
Louisiana •
Gretna • Madison Street.
Massachusetts •
Boston •
Union Freight Railroad, running along
Atlantic Avenue (demolished after 1970) •
Holyoke •
Holyoke and Westfield Railroad, branch running along Water Street in use, other lines demolished or separated.
Minnesota •
International Falls •
Fort Frances–International Falls International Bridge, connecting to
Fort Frances, Ontario Canada. There is no connection to the Canadian rail network through this bridge. No more trains to cross the bridge since the paper mill closed in 2014. The municipality is still hoping to be taken over by another company. •
Shakopee • 2nd Avenue East and West,
Union Pacific Railroad main line of the
Mankato Subdivision still in use, former
Chicago and Northwestern Railway (Omaha Road)
Missouri •
St. Louis - 2nd Street Manufacturers Railway
New York •
Utica • Schuyler Street, operated by the
New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway.
GP38-2 locomotive in Utica, New York.
North Carolina •
Gastonia • South Broad Street •
Fayetteville - Hillsboro St.Scheduled Trains Run Down Center of Street M-F
Oregon •
Hillsboro • Adams Street •
Salem • Front Street NE.
Pennsylvania •
Erie • East 19th. Street. Secretly laid in 1882, abandoned in 2001 •
Uniontown • Beeson Blvd from West Penn St. to Library Pl. -
Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, trackage abandoned 2016) •
West Brownsville • Main Street.
Tennessee •
Paris • N Fentress St.-S Caldwell-McNeil St.
Texas •
San Antonio • N Comal St. -
San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway, then
SP, then
UP. Removed and bypassed in 2005. • Jones Ave. and Emma Koehler -
Texas Transportation Company, electric trolley freight railway, most tracks removed 2002.
Virginia •
Richmond • On a street without a name under the
Triple Railroad Bridge Crossing.
Washington •
Renton • Houser Way S. •
Olympia • Jefferson Street SE.
West Virginia •
Saint Marys • 2nd. Street.
Vietnam While the
Vietnamese railway network has many level crossings, street running trains in Vietnam are rare. One example is the branch line between
Dĩ An station and Dĩ An train workshop, which has a few street running sections in small neighborhoods. The rails in these sections are embedded in roads that are normally used by local pedestrians and mopeds. ==See also==