This is a list of the world's railway operating companies listed alphabetically by continent and country. This list includes companies operating both now and in the past.
Note also that in some countries, the railway operating bodies are not companies, but are government departments or authorities.
Particularly in Europe, with privatizations in the 1980s and the separation of the track ownership and management from running the trains, there are now many track-only companies and train-only companies.
See also: Rail transport by countryFamous quotes containing the words list of, list, railway and/or companies:
“I made a list of things I have
to remember and a list
of things I want to forget,
but I see they are the same list.”
—Linda Pastan (b. 1932)
“Lastly, his tomb
Shall list and founder in the troughs of grass
And none shall speak his name.”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“In the U.S. for instance, the value of a homemaker’s productive work has been imputed mostly when she was maimed or killed and insurance companies and/or the courts had to calculate the amount to pay her family in damages. Even at that, the rates were mostly pink collar and the big number was attributed to the husband’s pain and suffering.”
—Gloria Steinem (20th century)