Transport in Russia - Rail Transport

Rail Transport

Main article: Rail transport in Russia See also: History of rail transport in Russia and Russian Railways

Russia has the world's second-largest railway network, second only to that of the United States, with a total track length of 87,157 kilometres (54,157 mi) as of 2011. Of this, 86,200 kilometres (53,600 mi) uses a broad rail gauge of 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 5⁄₆ in), while a narrow gauge of 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) is used on a 957-km (595-mile) stretch of railway on Sakhalin Island. Electrified track accounts for around half of the Russian railway network - totalling 40,300 kilometres (25,000 mi) - but carries the majority of railway traffic.

Russian Railways, the state-owned national rail carrier, is one of the world's largest transport companies, enjoying a monopoly over rail transport in Russia. Established in 1992, it employs an estimated 950,000 people, and accounted for 2.5% of the entire national GDP in 2009. In 2007 alone, Russian Railways carried a total of 1.3 billion passengers and 1.3 billion tons of freight on its common-carrier routes.