List of rack railways

This is a list of rack railways, both operating and closed.

Africa

Angola

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Lobito and Tenke	Benguela railway	1905				Lengue gorge on Benguela railway – 1906. 1,067 mm gauge.

South Africa

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Waterval Boven and Waterval Onder	NZASM	1887	13 October 1908			There used to be a Riggenbach rack railway built by the NZASM between Waterval Boven and Waterval Onder. It was in operation until 1908. gauge.

Asia

China

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Dujiangyan	Dujiangyan–Siguniangshan mountain railway	2024~2025

Indonesia

The former State Railways of West Sumatra's line between Kayu Tanam and Batu Tabal, and Padang Panjang to Payakumbuh.
The former Netherlands East Indies Railways' line between Ambarawa and Gemawang, on the Kedungjati-Ambarawa-Magelang-Yogyakarta line. Only the Ambarawa-Bedono section is in operation as a tourist line.

Both railways used the Riggenbach system.

Japan

Ikawa Line, Oigawa Railway
Usui Pass was the first rack and pinion line in Japan, on the Shin-Etsu Line of the then Japanese National Railway. It was replaced in 1963 by a new parallel adhesion line, and in turn replaced by the Nagano Shinkansen line opened for the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano.

Lebanon

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Beirut	A rack railway used to exist on the climb from Beirut to Syria

Philippines

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Manila	The Manila Railway and Manila Railroad companies	1914	1917			Briefly operated oil burning cog locomotives starting in 1914 until 1917. One of these locomotives were named Mirador, named after one of the mountains along the proposed Aringay–Baguio line.

Vietnam

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Da Lat	Da Lat–Thap Cham railway	1932				The Đà Lạt-Tháp Chàm Railway in Southern Vietnam. Abandoned after the Vietnam War, although a 7 km section remains in use as a tourist attraction. Built in the 1920s, the 84 km line had a cogwheel part 34 km long, running through four tunnels with a total length of almost 1,000 meters, taking trains from the Krongpha Pass up the Ngoan Muc Pass to Da Lat.

Europe

Austria

Czech Republic

Cog railway Tanvald-Harrachov

France

Germany

Greece

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Diakopto to Kalavryta	Diakopto–Kalavryta railway	10 March 1896	-

Hungary

Fogaskerekű Vasút in Budapest, Hungary is a kind of cog-wheel tram in the hilly Buda part of the city.

Italy

Mont Cenis Pass Railway; temporary while main tunnel built.
Vesuvius Funicular
Opicina Tramway
Rittnerbahn
Sassi–Superga tramway
Principe–Granarolo rack railway in the city of Genoa
S.Ellero – Saltino
Lagonegro-Castrovillari-Spezzano Albanese of Ferrovie Calabro Lucane
Vibo Valentia-Mileto of Ferrovie Calabro Lucane
Rocchette-Asiago
Catanzaro Città – Catanzaro Sala of Ferrovie della Calabria
Paola-Cosenza of Ferrovie dello Stato
Saline-Volterra of Ferrovie dello Stato
Dittaino-Leonforte of Ferrovie dello Stato
Dittaino-Piazza Armerina of Ferrovie dello Stato
Lercara Bassa-Filaga-Palazzo Adriano-Magazzolo of Ferrovie dello Stato
Agrigento-Naro-Licata

Portugal

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Funchal and Terreiro da Luta	Monte Railway	16 July 1893	April 1943			Monte Railway – there was previously a cog railway from Funchal to Monte in Madeira Island, which operated between 1893 and 1943, and went further up to Terreiro da Luta at 867 m above sea level.

Romania

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Bouțari and Sarmizegetusa		1 May 1909	1978			Bouțari - Sarmizegetusa segment of Caransebeș - Subcetate railway, measuring 76.93 km, between 1909 and 1978.

Slovakia

Štrbské Pleso – Štrba rack railway
Brezno – Tisovec rack railway
Žakarovce rack railway

Spain

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Monistrol de Montserrat, Barcelona	Montserrat Rack Railway	1892 re-opened 6 June 2003	12 May 1957			Cogwheel railway that transports visitors from Monistrol de Montserrat train station up to the Monastery at the summit of Montserrat Mountain.
Pyrenees, Catalonia	Vall de N%C3%BAria Rack Railway	22 March 1931				Connects Ribes de Freser and Queralbs to the Vall de Núria resort, which is inaccessible by road.

Switzerland

Altstätten–Gais railway
Aigle–Leysin railway line
Aigle–Ollon–Monthey–Champéry railway line
Chemin de fer Bex-Villars-Bretaye
Chemins de fer électriques Veveysans
Brienz Rothorn Railway
Martigny–Châtelard Railway
Montreux–Glion–Rochers-de-Naye railway line
Dampfbahn Furka-Bergstrecke
Dolderbahn
Gornergrat Railway
Joweid Zahnradbahn
Jungfrau Railway – the highest rack railway in Europe
Lausanne-Ouchy, see Métro Lausanne–Ouchy#History; now Lausanne Metro's M2 line
Lausanne Flon-Gare
Matterhorn Gotthard Railway
Mühleggbahn
Monte Generoso railway
Pilatus Railway
Rigi Railways
Rorschach–Heiden railway, Rorschach to Heiden
Wengernalp Railway – the longest continuous rack railway in the world
Zentralbahn

United Kingdom

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Beamish, County Durham	Beamish Cog Railway

North America

Mexico

The gauge Mapimi Railroad in Durango State had a short Abt rack section from El Cambio to Ojuela. The maximum grade was 13.6% and it was worked by two Baldwin 0-6-2T steam locomotives built in 1896 and two Baldwin 2-6-2T steam locomotives built in 1898 and 1900. The railroad closed in the early 1930s.

Panama

Large ships are guided through the Panama Canal Locks by electric locomotives known as mulas, running on rack rails on the lock walls. The new locks, projected to open in 2015, will use tugs.

United States

The Chicago Tunnel Company used the Morgan rack system on the steep grade up to Grant Park.
Pikes Peak Cog Railway, Manitou Springs, Colorado. Swiss-made Diesel-Pneumatic railcars, 1- or 2-car trains. Strub rack system, originally Abt.
Mount Washington Cog Railway, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Bio Diesel & live steam cog train operations with Marsh rack system, world's first to be used as a mountain railway.
Quincy and Torch Lake Cog Railway, cog rail tram opened in 1997. Hancock, Michigan.

South America

Argentina

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Mendoza and Los Andes	Transandine Railway	1910	1984			Transandine Railway between Mendoza and [Los Andes, Chile\|Santa Rosa de Los Andes, Chile], see Chile below.

Brazil

Corcovado Rack Railway
The Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí which became part of Rede Ferroviária Federal Sociedade Anônima 1957–1997, now owned by MRS Logística. gauge between Paranapiacaba and Raiz de Serra.
Teresopolis and Petropolis railways, both out of service, near Rio de Janeiro.

Chile

Arica–La Paz railway, Arica–La Paz
Santa Lucía Hill tramway, Santiago
The Transandine Railway, Santa Rosa de Los Andes – Mendoza, Argentina The rebuild will be adhesion only and use a base tunnel.

Venezuela

Location	Name of system	Date opened	Date closed	Route length	Gauge	Notes
Valencia	Valencia Railway">Valencia, Venezuela">Valencia Railway	1883				The Puerto Cabello and Valencia Railway was constructed in the 1880s. It used rack and pinion on a steep section at Trincheras.

Oceania

Australia

West Coast Wilderness Railway in Tasmania, originally opened in 1896 to service the Mount Lyell copper mine and closed and lifted in 1960s. Rebuilt and re-opened for tourists in 2003. Uses the Abt rack system. gauge.
Dawson Valley railway line on Mount Morgan – rack system existed until 1952 when the line was deviated. Used the Abt rack system. gauge.
Ellalong Colliery – underground Lamella rack – installed in 1984
Skitube Alpine Railway – Lamella rack – in the Snowy Mountains, opened in 1987; gauge.
Blue Mountains sewerage project – temporary gauge construction railway, 1995