{{Short description|Type of railway}} {{For|light industrial railways in Britain in the 19th century|Tramway (industrial)}} {{original research|date=March 2025}} [[Image:Lingan Generating Station.jpg|thumb|225px|Two [[Sydney Coal Railway]] [[EMD GP38-2|GP38-2]] locomotives leave the [[Lingan Generating Station]] after unloading coal in [[Nova Scotia]].]]
An '''industrial railway''' is a type of [[railway]] (usually private) that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, [[logistics]], or military site. In regions of the world influenced by British railway culture and management practices, they are often referred to as [[Tramway (industrial)|tramways]] (which are distinct from [[tram]]s or streetcars, which are passenger technologies).{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} Industrial railways may connect the site to public freight networks through [[siding (rail)|sidings]], or may be isolated (sometimes very far away from public rail or surface roads) or located entirely within a served property.<ref name="krause">{{cite book| title=American Narrow Gauge |author=Krause, John |publisher=Golden West Books |year=1978 |page=51 |isbn=0-87095-059-2}}</ref>
== Overview == Industrial railways were once very common, but with the rise of [[road transport]], their numbers have greatly diminished.<ref name="krause"/>
An example of an industrial railway would transport bulk goods, for example [[clay]] from a quarry or [[coal]] from a mine, to an interchange point, called an '''exchange siding,''' with a main line railway, onwards from where it would be transported to its final destination.
The main reasons for industrial railways are normally for one of two reasons:{{cn|date=March 2025}} *'''Onsite shunting and consolidation:''' part-finished products or goods require movement between different parts of the process site to enable them to be manufactured, or made-ready for shipment. Moving relatively small amounts of goods over short distances is expensive if undertaken by mainline railway operators, who make money by charging for the shipment of goods over long distances in bulk *'''Control of manufacture:''' Many industrial lines only operate for short periods of time, requiring the shipment of time-sensitive goods to the factory or processing point, over relatively short distances. These are mainly food products, often operating on narrow-gauge lines to enable closer access to the originating point
As a result, most industrial railways are short, usually only a few miles/kilometers long. While these types of lines most often at some point connect via exchange sidings or transfer sidings to bulk mainline shipping railways, there are notable exceptions that are hundreds of miles long, which include the [[iron ore]]-carrying railways in [[Western Australia]], or in [[China]] to transport coal. At the same time, in [[Canada]] there are the [[Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway]] and the [[Cartier Railway]]. These lines can be thought of as dedicated shipment routes, where only products from that industry require shipment between those two points; hence, a dedicated line makes more economic sense, with only a limited possibility of consolidating shipments with other industries. See [[Compagnie de gestion de Matane]]
Industrial railways serve many different industries. In both [[Australia]] and [[Cuba]], a large number of industrial railways serve the [[sugarcane]] industry. In [[Colorado]], the [[Coors Brewing Company]] uses its own industrial railway at the brewery both for the delivery of raw materials and for shipping the finished product.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}}
==Military railways== {{main|Military railways}} [[Image:Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft transported by railcar.jpg|thumb|right|Russian spacecraft transported to the launch pad by the Baikonur intra-spaceport railway.]] Some industrial railways are [[military]] in purpose and serve [[ammunition dump]]s, transportation hubs, and storage facilities. The world's largest industrial railway serves the [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]], and has long been operated by a [[Russian Railway Troops|military rail unit]] of the [[Russian Armed Forces]]. The railway plays a key role in [[space launch]] events, transporting space vehicles to their immediate [[launch pad]]s. {{clear}}
== Gallery == <gallery mode="packed" heights="150px"> Image:NASA Railroad cars in front of Vehicle Assembly Building.jpg|An [[EMD SW1500|SW1500]] hauls [[NASA]] equipment cars along the [[NASA Railroad]] in [[Cape Canaveral, Florida]]. Image:Industrial railway display.jpg|A display of a [[narrow-gauge railway|narrow-gauge]] industrial sand train at [[Leighton Buzzard Light Railway|Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway]] Image:Hibbing Open-pit iron mining 1906.jpg|An [[Open-cast mining|open-cast]] iron mining industrial railway in [[Hibbing, Minnesota]], circa 1906 Image:Comandau train cff.jpg|Steam-powered logging train in [[Comandău|Comandău, Romania]] </gallery>
== See also == {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * [[British industrial narrow-gauge railways]] * [[British narrow-gauge railways]] * [[British quarrying and mining narrow-gauge railways]] * [[Decauville]] * [[Forest railway]] * [[Light railway]] * [[Mine railway]] * [[Minimum-gauge railway]] * [[Forest railway#Other railways for the transport of goods|Other railways for the transport of goods]] * [[Rail transport in Queensland#Sugar tramways|Queensland sugar tramways]] * [[S. D. Warren Paper Mill]] * [[Short-line railroad]] * [[Taiwan Sugar Railways]] {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Industrial railways}} * [http://www.irsociety.co.uk/ The Industrial Railway Society] (UK) * [http://www.lrrsa.org.au Light Railway Research Society of Australia] (AU)
{{Fuel Transport}}
{{Authority control}} [[Category:Industrial railways| ]]