Railway Facts from around the world

• india - The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system in India, employing over 1.6 million people.  
• Japan - On the 27th Feb 2005 railway engineers have blasted through Mount Hokkaido to crete the worlds longest overland tunnel - it runs a record 16.4 miles.

• Great Britain - EWS is the only rail freight operator to provide a full nationwide level of service provision, with access to continental Europe through the Channel Tunnel.

• Great Britain - EWS is the largest rail operator in Britain, providing a range of freight, engineering support and hire services.

• Great Britain - EWS and General Motors pioneered the development of the innovative class 66 locomotive, which has become the diesel freight locomotive of choice for rail freight operators across Europe.

• Great Britain - EWS operates over 8,000 services each week. An EWS service starts its journey every 90 seconds - all day, every day.

• Great Britain - Railway crime costs an estimated £264 million each year

• Great Britain - The longest station platform in England is at Gloucester. At 602.6 metres long, it is about six times longer than a football pitch.

• Great Britain - The longest railway tunnel in Britain is the Severn Tunnel. It is over 7 km (about 4 ½ miles) long and would take you over two hours to walk.

• Great Britain - The longest station seat in the world was at Scarborough station. It was 139 metres long

• Great Britain - There are over 40,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts, over 9,000 level crossings, and more than 1,100 signal boxes

• Russia - The longest possible journey on one train can be taken between Moscow and Vladivostok in 
• Russia, on the Trans-Siberian Express. The journey is 9,297 kilometers (5,857 miles) long - which is ten times longer than Land's End to John O'Groats.

• Australia - The heaviest train in the world was a freight train in Australia in 2001. It was 7.3 kilometers (4.6 miles) long and weighed 95,000 tonnes. That is as heavy as 2.8 million ten-year-olds or more than 27,000 elephants

• U.S.A. - Grand Central Station is the worlds largest with 44 platforms.

• Tibet - Qinghai Railway is the world's highest railway. Some 960 kilometers of its tracks are located 4,000 meters above sea level and the highest point is 5,072 meters, at least 200 meters higher than the Peruvian railway in the Andes, which was formerly the world's most elevated track.

• Tibet - Kunlun Mountain Tunnel, running 1,686 meters, is the world's longest plateau tunnel built on frozen earth.

• Tibet - Tanggula Railway Station, 5,068 meters above sea level, is the highest railway station in the world.

• Great Britain - Snowdon Railway, Before the railway, ponies used to take tourists to the summit of Snowdon.  Sir Richard Moon and Mr George Assheton Smith were responsible for the idea of the Snowdon Railway. The only accident on the railway occurred on the day it opened to the public in 1896. The railway was closed.  Since it reopened the following year there have been no further accidents!

• Great Britain - On 25 March 1807, a railroad carriage converted to carry people was conveyed by horse along the perimeter of Swansea Bay, traveling between "the dunes" at Swansea, and destined for Mumbles, an oyster harvesting and fishing village on the west of the bay. The people who undertook this journey were unknowing pioneers - they were the first railway passengers in world history.