Transandine Railway, former rail line, 156 mi (251 km) long, between Mendoza, Argentina, and Los Andes, Chile, traversing the Andes at Uspallata Pass. Opened to traffic in 1910, the railway rose to c.10,500 ft (3,200 m) at the long tunnel on the international boundary. Tunnels and snowsheds protected sections of the line. A glacial flood in 1934 destroyed 77 mi (124 km) of the Argentine section, but it was later rebuilt. The last passenger train ran in 1978, and freight traffic ceased in 1982.

South Manchurian Railway, Japanese-developed enterprise, with a trackage of 701 mi (1128 km). The line from Changchun to Lüshun (Port Arthur), originally belonging to the Russian-built Chinese Eastern Railway, was part of Japan's indemnity in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5). Japan later constructed a line to connect Shenyang (Mukden) and Dandong. Other cities served by the railroad are Dalian (Dairen), Anshan, and Fushun. The prosperity of Manchuria is in large part attributable to the linking by the railroad of the coastal ports and the hinterland. The South Manchurian Railway Company, formerly the largest economic enterprise in Manchuria and the main agency of Japanese penetration, was organized shortly after the Russo-Japanese War. It undertook construction of towns, harbor improvements, coal and iron mining, utility development, and agricultural experimentation. When the Manchurian warlord Chang Hsüeh-liang refused to halt construction of a competing Chinese railway network, the Japanese Kwantung army staged the Manchurian Incident (1931) and set up the state of Manchukuo (1932). At the end of World War II, China expropriated the company's property.

Northern Pacific Railway, former American rail line, following the northern route from Duluth and St. Paul, Minn., to Seattle, Wash., and Portland, Oreg. The Northern Pacific RR Company was chartered by special act of Congress in 1864, and construction was begun in 1870. Jay Cooke at first managed the enterprise, but after the Panic of 1873 the railroad company went into bankruptcy. Under the leadership of Henry Billard, the Northern Pacific was opened in 1883 from Ashland, Wis., to Portland, Oreg. The company became the Northern Pacific Railway in 1896. In 1901 there was a spectacular financial contest between the interests of E. H. Harriman and those of James Hill and J. P. Morgan for control of the Northern Pacific. The Hill-Morgan group secured control, but an agreement between the two groups resulted in the organization of the Northern Securities Company, a giant holding company that controlled the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. When the trust was dissolved (1904) as a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Hill-Morgan interests came into control of the Northern Pacific. In spite of the breakup of the Northern Securities Company, a proposal for a very similar merger was made by a consultant for the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1921. The plan was never acted upon, but 40 years later the Northern Pacific again asked for permission to merge with the Great Northern and the Burlington lines. Finally, in 1970 the Supreme Court approved the consolidation. The merged company became the Burlington Northern RR, which in 1995 merged with the Santa Fe line to form the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

Lötschberg Railway, electrical railroad, crossing the Bernese Alps from Thun, W central Switzerland, to Brig, on the Rhône River, S Switzerland. It passes through the Lötschberg Tunnel (9 mi/14 km long; alt. 4,078 ft/1,243 m) under Lötschen Pass and emerges in the Lötschen Valley. Built in 1911, it is one of the world's longer railway tunnels.

The significantly longer Lötschberg Base Tunnel (21.5 mi/34.6 km long), is the longest railway tunnel on land. Built 1999-2007, it runs from Raron (alt. 2,146 ft/654 m) in the Rhône valley (Valais Canton) under the Lötschen Valley to Frutigen (alt. 2,548 ft/777 m) in the Kander valley (Bern Canton). In conjunction with the Simplon Tunnel to the south, it forms an uninterrupted north-south European high-speed rail line through Switzerland; it is not part of the Lötschberg Railway.

Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O), former U.S. transportation company with railroad lines in eight states, Washington, D.C., and Ontario, Canada. Founded as the Louisa RR Company in Virginia in 1836, the railroad changed its name to the Virginia Central Company in 1850. It served the Confederate armies during the Civil War and was severely damaged by Union raids. In 1869 financier Collis P. Huntington purchased the line; it became the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway in 1878. In the 1960s the C&O received nearly all of its net income from carrying freight and was the nation's largest carrier of bituminous coal. The C&O merged with the Baltimore & Ohio RR in 1965 and in 1980 the combined company became part of the newly formed CSX Corporation.

Canadian Pacific Railway, transcontinental transportation system in Canada and extending into the United States, privately owned and operated. The construction of a railroad crossing the continent in Canadian territory was one of the conditions on which British Columbia entered the confederation in 1871. After many difficulties and a political scandal, intensive work began in 1880. The main line from Montreal to the Pacific coast was completed in 1885. The company subsequently developed into a conglomerate, Canadian Pacific Ltd., with holdings encompassing shipping, petroleum, coal, and hotels and real estate in addition to rail lines.

Canadian National Railway, rail system in Canada and the United States, extending from coast to coast in Canada with many branch lines in each province and in the United States. The system began as an amalgamation of five separate railroad enterprises that were unified in 1922 under the ownership of the Canadian government. The company also operated telegraph, steamship, and hotel services; Canadian National divested its nonrail businesses during the 1980s and 90s. The company was privatized in 1995, and when the railroad purchased the Illinois Central in 1998, it became the fifth largest system in North America. In 1999, Canadian National announced a $6 billion merger with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to create the largest railroad in North America, but the deal was scuttled the following year after the U.S. Surface Transportation Board froze such mergers. Canadian National resumed its expansion in the United States in 2001, however, when it purchased the Wisconsin Central.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, railroad system in much of the United States (except the Northeast) and in S Canada, created in 1995 from the merger of Burlington Northern Inc. and the Santa Fe Pacific Corp. (see Santa Fe RR). The Burlington Northern RR, with headquarters in Fort Worth, Tex, was itself created (1970) from the merger of four older regional railroads: the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy RR (est. 1864), the Northern Pacific Railway (1864), the Great Northern Railway (1857), and the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway (1905). In 1980, Burlington Northern acquired the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (chartered 1849). By the late 1990s the system had over 34,000 miles of track in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. In 1999 the system announced a $6 billion merger with the Canadian National Railway to create the largest railroad in North America, but in 2000 the deal was scrapped after the U.S. Surface Transportation Board froze all such mergers.

Baghdad Railway, railroad of international importance linking Europe with Asia Minor and the Middle East. The line runs from Istanbul, Turkey, to Basra, Iraq; it connected what were distant regions of the Ottoman Empire. The railroad was initially financed chiefly by German capital; its Anatolian sections were completed in 1896. The ambitious project was then formed to extend the railroad to Baghdad, and a company, again backed chiefly by German capital, was organized for the purpose. Immediate protests were made to Turkey by France, Russia, and, particularly, Great Britain, which saw in the projected line a direct threat to its empire in India. Operations were held up for several years by these international representations and by engineering difficulties, but in 1911 work was resumed. By playing on imperialistic rivalries, the construction of the railroad was a factor in bringing about World War I. By the end of the war only a stretch between Mosul and Samarra remained to be completed on the main line, which Syria and Iraq later undertook and finished.

Underground railway system used to transport passengers within urban and suburban areas. The first subway line, 3.75 mi (6 km) long, opened in London in 1863 and carried 912 million passengers in its first year. The first electrified subway opened in 1890 in London (where it is called the underground or tube). Subways opened in Budapest in 1896 (the first on the European continent), Boston in 1897, Paris in 1900 (where it is called the métro), Berlin in 1902, New York in 1904, and later in Madrid (1919), Tokyo (1927), and Moscow (1935). Improvements in systems built from the 1970s on (including San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles) include computer technology to run subway trains by remote control, and refinements in track and car construction for faster, smoother, and quieter rides.

Learn more about subway with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Mode of land transportation in which flange-wheeled vehicles move over two parallel steel rails or tracks, drawn by a locomotive or propelled by self-contained motors. The earliest railroads were built in European mines in the 16th century, using cars pulled on tracks by men or horses. With the advent of the steam locomotive and construction of the first railway in 1825, the modern railroad developed quickly. The first U.S. railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio, began operation in 1827. Specialized railroad cars were built to transport freight and passengers, including the sleeping cars developed by George Pullman in 1859. In the 19th century the railroad had an important influence on every country's economic and social development. In the U.S. the transcontinental railroad, completed in 1869, began an era of railroad expansion and consolidation that involved such financial empire builders as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Edward H. Harriman, James J. Hill, and Leland Stanford. The railroad's importance in the U.S. began to diminish from the early 20th century, but in Europe, Asia, and Africa it continues to provide vital transportation links within and between countries. Seealso Orient Express, Trans-Siberian Railroad.

Learn more about railroad with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Secret system in northern U.S. states to help escaping slaves. Its name derived from the need for secrecy and the railway terms used in the conduct of the system. Various routes in 14 states, called lines, provided safe stopping places (stations) for the leaders (conductors) and their charges (packages) while fleeing north, sometimes to Canada. The system developed in defiance of the Fugitive Slave Acts and was active mainly from 1830 to 1860. An estimated 40,000 to 100,000 slaves used the network. Assistance was provided mainly by free blacks, including Harriet Tubman, and philanthropists, church leaders, and abolitionists. Its existence aroused support for the antislavery cause and convinced Southerners that the North would never allow slavery to remain unchallenged.

Learn more about Underground Railroad with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Longest single rail system in Russia, running from Moscow to Vladivostok, a distance of 5,778 mi (9,198 km). Conceived by Tsar Alexander III, its construction began in 1891 and proceeded simultaneously along its entire length, which traversed a section of Manchuria. It was completed in 1904, but the impending Japanese takeover of Manchuria compelled construction of a parallel section within Russian territory, completed in 1916. The railroad opened large areas of Siberia to settlement and industrialization by means of spur lines linking outlying areas with the main line. The complete trip takes about eight days.

Learn more about Trans-Siberian Railroad with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Corporation created by the Canadian government in 1918 to operate a number of nationalized railroads (including the old Grand Trunk lines, Intercolonial Railway, National Transcontinental Railway, and Canadian Northern Railway) as one of Canada's two transcontinental railroad systems. Its passenger services were taken over by VIA Rail Canada in 1978, and the company was privatized in 1995. The Canadian National Railway stretches across Canada from Nova Scotia to Vancouver. It bought the Illinois Central Corp. in 1999, thus acquiring a railroad network that links Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Learn more about Canadian National Railway Co. with a free trial on Britannica.com.