Track gauge
By transport mode
Rapid transit Tram Miniature Scale model
By size (list)
Minimum   Fifteen inch 381 mm (1 ft 3 in)   Narrow   600 mm 600 mm (1 ft11+5⁄8 in) Two foot 610 mm (2 ft) Two foot three inch 686 mm (2 ft 3 in)   750 mm 750 mm (2 ft5+1⁄2 in) Bosnian gauge 760 mm (2 ft5+15⁄16 in) Two foot six inch 762 mm (2 ft 6 in)   Swedish three-foot 891 mm (2 ft11+3⁄32 in) 900 mm 900 mm (2 ft11+7⁄16 in) Three-foot 914 mm (3 ft) Italian metre 950 mm (3 ft1+13⁄32 in)   Metre 1,000 mm (3 ft3+3⁄8 in)   Three foot six inch 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)   Four foot 1,219 mm (4 ft)   Four foot six inch 1,372 mm (4 ft 6 in)   1432 mm 1,432 mm (4 ft8+3⁄8 in)   Standard 1,435 mm (4 ft8+1⁄2 in)   Broad   Italian broad gauge 1,445 mm (4 ft8+7⁄8 in) Dresden gauge 1,450 mm (4 ft9+3⁄32 in)   Leipzig gauge 1,458 mm (4 ft9+13⁄32 in)   Toronto gauge 1,495 mm (4 ft10+7⁄8 in)   1520 mm 1,520 mm (4 ft11+27⁄32 in) Five foot 1,524 mm (5 ft)   Pennsylvania gauge 1,581 mm (5 ft2+1⁄4 in) Pennsylvania gauge 1,588 mm (5 ft2+1⁄2 in) Five foot three inch 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)   Baltimore gauge 1,638 mm (5 ft4+1⁄2 in)   Iberian gauge 1,668 mm (5 ft5+21⁄32 in) Five foot six inch 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)   Six foot 1,829 mm (6 ft)   Brunel 2,140 mm (7 ft1⁄4 in)   Breitspurbahn 3,000 mm (9 ft 101⁄8 in)
Change of gauge
Bogie exchange Break of gauge Dual gauge Conversion list Variable gauge
By location
North America South America Europe Australia

Railways with a railway trackgauge of5 ft (1,524 mm) first appeared in the United Kingdom and the United States. This gauge became commonly known as "Russian gauge", because the government of theRussian Empire chose it in 1843. Former areas and states (such asFinland) of the Empire have inherited this standard.^[1] However in 1970,Soviet Railways re-defined the gauge as 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in).^[2]

With about 225,000 km (140,000 mi) of track, 1,520 mm is the second-most common gauge in the world, after1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge.^[3]

In 1748, theWylam waggonway was built to a5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge for the shipment of coal fromWylam toLemington down theRiver Tyne.^[4]

In 1839, theEastern Counties Railway was constructed. In 1840, theNorthern and Eastern Railway was built. In 1844, both lines wereconverted to1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge. In 1903, theEast Hill Cliff Railway, afunicular, was opened.

In 1827,Horatio Allen, the chief engineer of theSouth Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company, prescribed the usage of5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge. Many other railroads in theSouthern United States adopted this gauge. The presence of several distinct gauges was a major disadvantage to theConfederate States of America during theAmerican Civil War. In 1886, when around 11,500 miles (18,500 km) of5 ft gauge track existed in the United States, almost all of the railroads using that gauge wereconverted to4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm), the gauge then used by thePennsylvania Railroad.^[5]

In 1837, the first railway built in Russia was a6 ft (1,829 mm) gauge, 17 km long experimental line connectingSaint Petersburg withTsarskoye Selo andPavlovsk. The choice of gauge was influenced byBrunel'sGreat Western Railway which used7 ft (2,134 mm). The Tsarskoye Selo railway's success proved that a larger gauge could be viable for railways isolated from the extant1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) gauge Western European network.^[6][7]

In 1840, work started on the second railway in theRussian Empire, theWarsaw–Vienna railway inCongress Poland. It was a1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge, with the express intention of allowing through-freight trains intoAustria-Hungary.^[6][7]

The modern Russian railway network solidified around theSaint Petersburg–Moscow railway, built in 1842. There, the Tsar established a committee to recommendtechnical standards for the building of Russia's first major railway. The team included devotees ofFranz Anton von Gerstner, who pushed to continue the Tsarskoye Selo gauge, and engineerPavel Melnikov and his consultantGeorge Washington Whistler, a prominent American railway engineer. Whistler recommended5 ft (1,524 mm) on the basis that it was cheaper to construct than6 ft (1,829 mm) and cheaper to maintain than1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in). His advice won over the Tsar.^[6][7]

At the time, questions of continuity with the European network did not arise. By the time difficulties arose in connecting the Prussian railroads to the Russian ones in Warsaw in the 1850s, it was too late to change.^[6]

A persistent myth holds thatImperial Russia chose a gauge broader than standard gauge for military reasons, namely to prevent potential invaders from using the rail system.^[8] The Russian military recognized as early as 1841 that operations to disrupt railway track did not depend on the gauge, and should instead focus on destroyingbridges andtunnels.^[6][7] However, in both World Wars thebreak of gauge did pose some amount of obstacle to the invading Germans.

The 5-foot gauge became the standard in theRussian Empire and later the Soviet Union.

Russian engineers used it on theChinese Eastern Railway, built in the closing years of the 19th century across theNortheastern China entry to provide a shortcut for theTrans-Siberian Railway toVladivostok. The railway's southern branch, fromHarbin viaChangchun toLüshun, used Russian gauge. As a result of theRusso-Japanese War of 1904-1905, itssouthernmost section from Changchun to Lüshun was lost to the Japanese, who promptlyregauged it tostandard gauge, after using the narrow3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) for a short time during the war.^[9] This formed abreak of gauge between Changchun andKuancheng, the station just to the north of Changchun, still in Russian hands,^[10] until the rest of the formerChinese Eastern Railway wasconverted to standard gauge, probably in the 1930s.

Unlike inSouth Manchuria, the Soviet Union'sreconquest ofsouthern Sakhalin from Japan did not result in immediate regauging of the railway system. Southern Sakhalin continued with the original Japanese1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge, simultaneously with the Russian gauge railway, constructed in the northern part of the island in 1930-1932 (Moskalvo-Okha). Sakhalin's railway network has no fixed connection with the mainland. Before 2019, rail cars coming from the mainland port ofVanino on theVanino-Kholmsk train ferry, operating since 1973, had to have theirbogies changed in the Sakhalin port ofKholmsk.^[11] In 2004 and 2008 plans were put forward toconvert the island's railway network to the Russian gauge. The conversion was completed in 2019.^[12]

There were proposals in 2013 for north-south and east-west lines in Afghanistan, with construction to start in 2013.^[13]

ThePanama Canal Railway, first constructed in ca. 1850, was built in5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge. During canal construction (1904–1914), this same gauge was chosen for both construction traffic, canal operating services along the quays, and the newly routed commercial cross-isthmus railway. In 2000 the gauge for the commercial parallel railway waschanged to1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) to usestandard gauge equipment. The original gauge was chosen under the influence of the pre-conversion southern United States railway companies. The electric manoeuvering locomotives along the locks (mules) still use the5 ft gauge that was laid during canal construction.

The first rail linein Finland was opened in January 1862. As Finland wasa grand duchy within theRussian Empire, railways were also built to the (5 ft) broad track gauge of1,524 mm (5 ft).^[14] However the railway systems were not connected until the bridge over the River Neva was built in 1913.^[15] Russian trains could not have run on Finnish tracks, because the Finnishloading gauge was narrower, until the connection was made and the Finnishstructure gauge was widened.

In the late 1960s the gauge was redefined to1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) in the Soviet Union.^[3] At the same time thetolerances were tightened. As the running gear (wheelsets) of therolling stock remained unaltered, the result was an increased speed and stability.^[14] The conversion took place between 1970 and the beginning of the 1990s.^[14]

In Finland, theFinnish State Railways kept the original definition of1,524 mm (5 ft), even though they also have tightened the tolerances in a similar way, but to a higher level.

After its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Estonia redefined its track gauge to1,524 mm, to match Finland's gauge.^[16] The redefinition did not mean that all the railways in Estonia were changed immediately. It was more a rule change, so that all renovated old tracks and new railways would be constructed in 1,524 mm gauge from then on. (SeeTrack gauge in Estonia.)

Finland allows its gauge to be 1,520–1,529 mm on first class lines (classes 1AA and 1A, speed 220–160 km/h).^[17]

If the rolling stock's tolerance is kept within certain limits, through running between1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) railways and Finnish1,524 mm (5 ft) railways is allowed. Since both 1,520 and 1,524 mm tolerances overlap, the difference is negligible. The international high-speedAllegro's gauge between Helsinki and St. Petersburg was specified as 1,522 mm.^[18]

Theloading gauge, which defines the maximum height and width for railway vehicles and their loads, is larger for Russian gauge. This means that if a standard gauge railway, in Europe, is adapted fordual gauge, bridges must be rebuilt, double tracks must be placed further apart and theoverhead wire must be raised. Or there must be restrictions on permitted rolling stock, which would restrict the benefit of such a railway. Dual gauge needs more width than single gauge. For double stacking on Russian gauge tracks, maximum height shall be 6.15 or 6.4 m (20 ft 2 in or 21 ft 0 in) above rails.

For standard gauge railways, double stacking maximum height shall be 6.15 m (20 ft 2 in). For Indian gauge railways, double stacking maximum height shall be 7.1 m (23 ft 4 in), and minimum overhead wiring height shall be 6.5 or 6.75 m (21 ft 4 in or 22 ft 2 in) above rails. Minimum overhead wiring height for double stacking, standard gauge railways shall be 6.5 m (21 ft 4 in), and Indian gauge railways shall be 7.45 m (24 ft 5 in) above rails, respectively. This would apply to Russia and Europe (or North America), rather than to Russia and China (or Iran).

The primary countries currently using the gauge of 5 ft or 1,520 mm, include:^[19]

Short sections of Russian or 5 ft gauge extendinto Poland,eastern Slovakia, Sweden (at the Finnish border atHaparanda), and northernAfghanistan.^[20]

There is an approximately 150 km long section in Hungary in theZáhony logistics area close to theUkrainian border.^[21]

Following renovations in 2014, a 32 km section of dualStandard/Russian gauge was installed betweenTumangang andRajin stations in North Korea.^[22]

The most western1,520 mm gauge railway is the PolishLHS (Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa) from the Ukrainian border to the eastern end of theUpper Silesian Industrial Region.

Although broad gauge is quite rare onlighter railways and streettramways worldwide, almost all tramways in theformer USSR are broad gauge (according to terminology in use in these countries, gauges narrower than1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) are considered to be narrow). Many tramway networks initially built to narrow gauges (750 mm or2 ft 5+1⁄2 in or1,000 mm or3 ft 3+3⁄8 inmetre gauge) were converted to broad gauge. As of 2015, only a few out of more than sixtytram systems in Russia are not broad gauge:1,000 mm inKaliningrad andPyatigorsk,1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) inRostov-on-Don. There are two tram systems in and aroundYevpatoria that use1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge.^{[note 1]}

Finland'sHelsinki trams and Latvia'sLiepāja trams use1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in). Estonia'sTallinn trams use similar1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in). Warsaw's tramway system, constructed with 1525 mm gauge, was regauged to 1435 mm during post-WWII reconstruction.^[23]Tampere tramway, built in 2021, uses1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in).

Underground urbanrapid transit systems in the former USSR, like theMoscow Metro,Saint Petersburg Metro,Kyiv Metro andYerevan Metro use Russian gauge (1,520 mm). Outside the former USSR, theHelsinki Metro in Finland that utilizes a unique track gauge of 1,522 mm, falls between the Russian gauge (1,520 mm) and broad gauge1,524 mm.

These gauges cannot make 3-raildual gauge with Russian gauge.

• 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Indian gauge
• 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in) Iberian gauge
• 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Irish gauge
• 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge

These gauges are within tolerance.

• 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)Russian gauge
• 1,522 mm (4 ft 11+29⁄32 in) as used byHelsinki Metro^[24]
• 1,524 mm (5 ft)

Dual gauge between Russian gauge and another similar gauge can make these bonus gauges.

• 1,829 mm (6 ft)
• 1,945 mm (6 ft 4+9⁄16 in)
• 2,134 mm (7 ft)
• 2,140 mm (7 ft 1⁄4 in) (Brunel gauge)
• 2,503 mm (8 ft 2+1⁄2 in) (the maximum bonus gauge from the1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gaugegauntlet tracks).

• The Museum of the Moscow Railway
• History of rail transport in Azerbaijan
• History of rail transport in Belarus
• History of rail transport in Estonia
• History of rail transport in Finland
• History of rail transport in Latvia
• History of rail transport in Lithuania
• History of rail transport in Russia
• History of rail transport in Turkmenistan
• History of rail transport in Ukraine
• Rail transport in Armenia
• Rail transport in Azerbaijan
• Rail transport in Belarus
• Rail transport in Estonia
• Rail transport in Finland
• Rail transport in Kazakhstan
• Rail transport in Kyrgyzstan
• Rail transport in Latvia
• Rail transport in Lithuania
• Rail transport in Moldova
• Rail transport in Mongolia
• Rail transport in Russia
• Rail transport in Tajikistan
• Rail transport in Turkmenistan
• Rail transport in Ukraine
• Rail transport in Uzbekistan
• Track gauge in Estonia

• 1520 Strategic PartnershipArchived 2009-10-16 at theWayback Machinewww.forum1520.com
• "Railway gauge width : 1 519 / 1 520 / 1 524 / 1 525".www.parovoz.com
• "Traffic between Finland and Russia in 2020 and 2030". 18 March 2013.www.etla.fi

• Rail infrastructure in Russia
• Russian-gauge railways
• 1520 mm gauge railways
• 5 ft gauge railways

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