![]() You can see this practice of using railway instead of railroad in many countries of the world such as Hong Kong, Australia, and Canada. However, instead of being written as railroad, it was written as rail road, but with railways becoming popular around the country, the use of the word rail road was discontinued and railways became the preferred word. Not many people, especially kids, know that before 1850 railroad was a term that was used in the UK. While other countries use both railway and railroad to refer to the tracks on which a train runs, US only uses railroad to refer to this track. Railroad is the only term used to refer to trains running long distances on rails or tracks in the US. ![]() However, there is one exception when it comes to the United States. So, it basically means the same as railways. Railroad is also a track on which trains run. It is common to thus see, a company changing over from one of these two terms when there are mergers or takeover cases. There are some more railways in the US such as Staten Island Railway and New York and Atlantic railway that makes it clear that companies choose to be called what they prefer and there is no convention in this regard. Prominent among such companies is BNSF that was formed with the merger of BN and ATSF railroad systems in late nineties. There is no hard and fast rule in this regard and there are certain companies that prefer to call themselves as railways and not railroad. However, such trains are called trams or streetcars in rest of the world because they are not exactly trains as they are much smaller and contain a less number of coaches. Interestingly, trains running on road in cities in the US were traditionally called railways and it continues till date. Even in countries like Australia, the term railway is commonly used. If you take Hong Kong, which was a former British territory that still uses English as an official language, you will see that they use the term railway to refer to train tracks. This may be a result of the British influence in the world during the days of the British Empire. In addition, it has to be understood that railway is the international term that is commonly used in most parts of the world. Railway is the track on which a train runs. ![]() Actually, it all boils down to convention and usage, and while railway is a much more popular term to refer to a system of trains and tracks these trains run on, railroad also refers to the same system. Even in Canada, the word used is railway. The same railway becomes railroad, if you are in the US. ![]() If you are from UK or any of the commonwealth countries, railway is the term that is used to refer to a system of rails and trains that move at a fast speed on these rails or tracks carrying hundreds of passengers and cargo to long distances. The difference between railway and railroad is in the practice rather than in the meaning of the two words. ![]()
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