Railways
 Feature page: Railways
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| Description |
| All forms of transport using metal rails, including mainline services, subways, heritage lines and trams |
| Tags |
| railway=rail railway=subway railway=station |
Covering all forms of transport using metal rails, including mainline services, subways, heritage lines and trams
Contents |
Railway lines
Railway lines should be tagged based on the type of operation. Where tracks are shared between multiple types of service, the more major service should be used (generally the longer distance or heavier line).
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| Funicular | railway=funicular - Cable driven inclined railways. |
| Light rail | railway=light_rail - A higher-standard tram system, normally in its own right-of-way. |
| Miniature | railway=miniature - Smaller trains, normally operated as a tourism=attraction |
| Monorail | railway=monorail - A railway with only a single rail, often inner city and above street level. Also used for monorail-like automated people-mover systems like Miami's Metromover. |
| Narrow-gauge | railway=narrow_gauge - Narrow-gauge passenger or freight trains, often tourist/scenic routes. In some regions narrow gauge railways are used for full sized passenger or freight trains service. See the Rhätische Bahn (RhB) and Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB) in Switzerland as examples for such full featered narrow gauge railways. Use gauge=* to specify how small narrow is for this railway. |
| Preserved | railway=preserved - A railway running historic trains, usually a tourist attraction. |
| Mainline | railway=rail - Full sized passenger or freight trains in the standard gauge for the country or state. |
| Subway | railway=subway - A city passenger rail service running mostly grade separated (see Wikipedia:rapid transit). |
| Tram | railway=tram - City based rail systems with one/two carriage vehicles, often share roads with cars. |
Lines are generally assumed to be primarily for use by passenger unless tagged as usage=industrial for freight only lines, usage=military for lines only used by the military, and usage=tourism for lines used only as a tourist attraction. The electrified=* key, together with frequency=* and voltage=* can be used to specify details of how the track is powered. Use electrified=no of the line is not electrified, electrified=contact_line if it powered from an overhead wire and electrified=rail if it is powered from a '3rd (or 4th) rail'. For short sections of track used for storage of trains add a service=siding, for tracks within a place used for maintenance of trains use service=yard and for short spur lines leading to an industrial or military facility use service=spur. Add a node with railway=level_crossing for points where a road crosses a railway line at-grade and railway=crossing for a point where pedestrians may cross. The railway=turntable tag is used for turntables. The gauge can be specified using gauge=* which should contain the nominal width of the track in millimeters (1435 for standard gauge). Buffers can be marked with using railway=buffer_stop on a node.
When modeling multi-track parallel railway lines in close proximity they can either be modeled as a single way with tracks=*, or as a number of parallel ways. If individual tracks have different tagging requirements (max-speed, electrification, gauge etc) then the tracks should be modelled appropriately. The tracks=* tag should be used to record the number of tracks with a default value of 1 being assumed where this is not supplied.
Where a line goes over a bridge the relevant section should be tagged with either bridge=yes for shorter bridges or bridge=viaduct for long elevated sections. {{tag|layer|} should normally be added with a value of 1 or more as appropriate. Where a track goes through a tunnel it should be tagged with tunnel=yes often at layer=-1. Where the tracks are on ground raised for the purpose use embankment=yes and when in a cutting use cutting=yes. If necessary split the way at the point where the bridge or cutting or whatever starts and ends. Track using embankmenets and cutting does not normally need a layer tag.
Where a line has a recognised name this can be included in name=*.
Relations
Railway ways are commonly members of two types of relations:
- railway route - a sequence of interconnected railway ways, often between two major junctions, sometimes including minor branches.
- train route - a route of a train in regular service, including railway ways/routes traveled and stations served.
Stations and stops
- Main article: Railway stations
Please see the main article about station tagging as it is beyond the scope of this guide.
Life-cycle
Generally, features in OpenStreetMap may be in a number of stages of operation
- Proposed - used for features that have a strong likelihood of being constructed. For a proposed railway line tag it with railway=proposed and also proposed=* where * is the type of railway being proposed (rail, subway,light-rail etc). An aspiration on the part of an authority or from an advocacy group which is not funded or approved should not be added.
- Construction - features that are in the process of being constructed with actual work on the ground. For a railway line under construction tag it with railway=construction and also construction=* where * is the type of railway being constructed (rail, subway,light-rail etc). Often this will be a feature that has previously been 'proposed'.
- Operation - the normal situation for most features. No additional tagging needed and the construction tags should be removed. Consider adding a start_date=* tag.
- Preserved - a former mainline railway which is now operated as a tourist attraction. Use railway=preserved.
- Disused - the feature is still in working order, or could be brought back to working order easily. Use railway=disused.
- Dismantled - the tracks have been removed but the right-of-way is still intact. Use railway=dismantled (although some prefer railway=abandoned). (this usage is disputed and is currently being discussed on the talk page).
- Abandoned - The feature has been dismantled, been reused or left to decay but is still visible, possibly being reused as a cycle path or purely as a line of trees around the original cutting or embankment. Use railway=abandoned. Where is has been reused as a cycle path then add highway=cycleway. Consider adding a end_date=* tag or more specifically a railway:end_date=* tag. (the definition of abandoned is being discussion on the talk page at present).
- Obliterated - The feature is no longer visible in the geography. It may have been replaced by new buildings and roads that don't refer to the old alignment, or may have been plowed up. Some mappers advocate not tagging these sections at all given that they are purely historical, others feel strongly that they should be tagged as railway=abandoned.
Proposals
This section provides details of experimental tagging methods that have not yet been adopted and may not be supported by all rendering or tools.
Tag life-cycle
Some users are adding the prefix of 'proposed:', 'construction:', 'disused:' and 'abandoned:' to tags to indicate changes to the tag values over time.
Using this scheme an un-electrified line for which it is being converted into an electrified line at 25KV at 50Hz using an overhead line might would be tagged with electrified=no and also with additional 'construction' tags: construction:electrified=contact_line, construction:voltage=25000 and construction:frequency=50. A disused railway line with a proposal that it is brought back into service might be tagged railway=disused and proposed:railway=rail. A freight only line that is likely to be converted to passenger operation would be tagged with usage=freight and proposed:usage=main (really? What if it's a main freight-only line?).
Rendering
Mapnik
Besides the basic railway=rail line style, Mapnik renders railway=construction, railway=disused, and railway=abandoned with a dotted line. railway=spur, railway=rail+service=siding, railway=rail+service=spur, and railway=rail+service=yard in a thinner form of the normal railway=rail line style.
Osmarender
Timeline supported by Osmarender from above: official projects, not yet in construction: railway=proposed|planned proposed|planned=... or railway=... proposed|planned=yes
- rails in construction: railway=construction construction=... or railway=... construction =yes
- rails in use: railway=rail (other colors for tram|subway|...)
- rails not in use, but existent: railway=disused disused=... or railway=... disused=yes
- rails abandoned, whether or not traces (gravel, cutting, ...) are still visible: railway=abandoned|dismantled abandoned|dismantled=... or railway=... abandoned|dismantled=yes
- alternately: no traces anymore, ploughed, overbuilt, ...: railway=razed razed=... or railway=... razed=yes
ITO Map
ITO Map has a selection of layers which display many of the more common railway=* tags. railway=rail is shown in all layers. The "Former Railways" layer focuses on railway=dismantled, railway=disused, railway=preserved and railway=abandoned. The "Railway tracks" layer exists to show tracks=*, including tracks=1 in the case of showing two parallel, separately mapped, tracks. The "Railways" layer focuses on the types of rail that are shown, such as railway=light_rail and the relevant service=* tags. A "Metro" layer also exists for metro systems.
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