Fun facts about trains

The very first passenger tram
was horse-drawn
and entered in service
in 1807 in Wales, UK.

There are 200 kilometers of cables
inside a high speed train,
that’s as many as
in an Airbus A380!

Football legend
Dennis Bergkamp,
« the non-flying Dutchman »,
travelled only by car or by train,
for fear of taking the plane.

More than 500
additional trains have
been put into service
during the 2018 Football
World Cup in Russia.

The first ever dining-car
entered service
in the United-States
in 1868, onboard
the Delmonico train.

A train is referred to
as "high speed" if
it can exceed 250 km/h.

Patrick and Sophie celebrate
their 40th birthday!
In March 1978,
the 1st high speed
trains were born
in Belfort, France

The Qinghai-Tibet line
in China, which culminates
at 5.072m, is the highest
railway line in the world.

50%
of urban
railway lines
have concrete
tracks.

More than 80 of the
world’s 100 busiest
stations are Japanese.

The 57.1 km-long Gotthard
Base Tunnel is the longest
railway tunnel in the world.

One train alone can
carry more passengers
than an Airbus A380.

A 200 metre-long
high speed train
weighs about 385 tonnes.

The steam locomotive
used for the Hogwarts Express
in the Harry Potter films
was manufactured
on 30 april 1937.

The average lifespan
of a train
is 40 years.

Only the width of the train
can be a potential
problem when
crossing borders.

The first metro on tires
entered service
on line 11 of
the Paris metro.

To deliver a train,
the least used
mode of transport is…
the train!

Train toilets
are guaranteed
3 to 5 years
(26,000 hours
of operation)

In Australia, to improved
the accessibility of the trains,
you can install
your surfboard
on board the train.

Track gauges may vary by more
than 1 m from one country
to another.

Trains run on the left
in nearly half
the world.

A train can run 30%
faster if it leans
in the curves.

The world’s longest bridge
is a railway bridge in China
(Danyang-Kunshan), 164.8 km long.

The USA has the largest
railway network in the world
with 224,792 km of rail track.

The total area of contact
between the steel wheel
of a metro and the rail
is the size of a coin.

Up to 40% of the braking
energy from one train can
be recovered to provide power
for either another train or
a passenger station.

The "deadman" function
ensures that
the driver
of the train
is present
and conscious.

There are 1 million km
of railway tracks
in the world
i.e. 25 times
the circumference
of the Earth.

Motion
sickness
affects about
1 in 3 people.

The Channel Tunnel,
which runs under
the sea for 38 km,
is the tunnel with
the longest underwater
section in the world.

To supply power
to the engine of a train,
the electricity needs
to be at 3000 volts.

A rail convoy
can be up to 7 km
which is twice the width
of Manhattan

Nearly
10%
of metros
run on
rubber tyres