railroad

railroad or railway, form of transportation most commonly consisting of steel rails, called tracks, on which trains of freight cars, passenger cars, and other rolling stock are drawn by one locomotive or more. However, there are other types of railways, including those whose units consist of single self-propelled cars, cable-drawn railways used to ascend steep grades, and monorails whose cars are usually propelled along a single rail.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• High-Speed Passenger Service
• Railroads in Other Countries
• Amtrak
• Decline and Revival
• Abuses and Regulation
• Technological Innovations
• An Era of Rapid Expansion
• The Early Nineteenth Century
• American Railroads
• Early Railroads
• Bibliography

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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