Sources:  CIA World Factbook

List Notes: This list states the total route length of the railway network and of its component parts by gauge: broad, standard, narrow, and dual. Other gauges are listed under note. Data Dec 2009.

1. There are an estimated 1,115,205 kilometers (692,956 miles) of railways all over the world.
2. Australia has the world's longest section of straight railway track which stretches 478 kilometres across Southern Australia.
3. The Indian Railway employs about 1.6 million people, making itself the second largest commercial or utility employer in the world.
4. Trains cannot stop quickly. An average freight train travelling at 100 km/h requires about 1.1 kilometres to stop. A passenger train travelling at 120 km/h requires about 1.6 kilometres to stop. which is equivalent to 14 football fields.
5. Measured in ton-miles (the movement of one ton of freight one mile), railroads in the United States move 42 percent of intercity freight, more than any other mode of transportation in that country.