Key:railway

railway
Description
The railway key is used to mark all kinds of railways, railway infrastructure or other transports using rails. 
Group: Railways
Used on these elements
Documented values: 52
Useful combination
Status: de facto

Using this key

railway=* is used to tag the ways for many kinds of railways including light rail, mainline freight and industrial railways, metros, monorails, trams and more. Besides the actual rails, it is also used for tagging railway infrastructure, like signals and switches.

Values

There are a lot more values for railway=*. They are documented at OpenRailwayMap/Tagging and the documentation of country-specific tagging (especially signals and other infrastructure which differ from country to country).

Key Value Element Comment Rendering carto Photo

Tracks

railway abandoned The course of a former railway which has been abandoned and the track removed. The course is still recognized through embankments, cuttings, tree rows, bridges, tunnels, remaining track ties, building shapes and rolling or straight ways. For demolished rails that are no longer identifiable, e.g. that have been built over, some use the highly questionable railway=razed. Not rendered by osm-carto
railway construction Railway under construction.
railway disused A section of railway which is no longer used but where the track and infrastructure remains in place. The track is likely overgrown with endemic vegetation, but could be brought back into useful service with only minor effort.
railway funicular Cable driven inclined railways on a steep slope, with a pair of cars connected by one cable
railway light_rail A higher-standard tram system, normally in its own right-of-way. Often it connects towns and thus reaches a considerable length (tens of kilometres).
railway miniature Miniature railways are narrower than narrow gauge and carry passengers, frequently at an exact scale of "standard-sized" rail (for example "1/4 scale"). They can often be found in parks.
railway monorail A railway with only a single rail. A monorail can run above the rail like in Las Vegas and Disneyland or can suspend below the rail like the Wuppertal Schwebebahn (Germany).
railway narrow_gauge Narrow-gauge passenger or freight trains. Narrow gauge railways can have mainline railway service like the Rhaetian Railway in Switzerland or can be a small light industrial railway. Use gauge=* to specify the actual width of rails in mm.
railway preserved This is the old tag for historic trains. Use railway:preserved=yes for historical railway instead.
railway rail Full sized passenger or freight trains in the standard gauge for the country or state.
railway subway A city passenger rail service running mostly grade separated (see Wikipedia:rapid transit). Often a significant portion of the line or its system/network is underground.
railway tram One or two carriage rail vehicles, usually sharing motor road, sometimes called "street running" (Other languages).

Additional track features or attributes

bridge yes If the railway goes over a street, waterway or other railway on an elevated structure.
cutting yes A section where the railway is significantly lower than ground level, but not underground.
electrified contact_line
rail
yes
no
contact_line: a power line over the train head
rail: a third rail near the track supplying the train with power
yes: electrified track, but no details available
no: track with no power supply.
embankment yes A section where the railway is raised significantly higher than ground level.
embedded_rails yes/<type of railway> Specifies that a highway on which non-railway traffic is also allowed has railway tracks embedded in it but the rails are mapped as separate ways.
frequency number [Hz] The frequency with which a line is electrified. Use 0 for DC. Also see the voltage tag.
railway:track_ref number Track number
service crossover Relatively short lengths of track which switch traffic from one parallel line to another
service siding Relatively short lengths of track, running parallel to (and connected to) a main route
service spur Relatively short lengths of track, built to give one company or entity access to a main or branch line.
service yard Tracks within railway company operated marshalling or maintenance yards.
tunnel yes If the railway goes below ground. Most subways have this tag.
tracks number Number of parallel tracks in close proximity when mapped as one single way representing all tracks. If not given means unknown and defaults to 1. In many parts of the world the tracks are being drawn out separately so that there is more detail, in which case this tag isn't used.
usage main
branch
industrial
military
tourism
scientific
test
main line: heavy traffic
branch line: connecting places with a mainline
industrial: servicing large plants (iron, chemical etc.), surface mining, …
military: servicing military area
tourism: most mountain rails (rack-rails, funicular) and preserved railways
scientific: rail transport at spaceports, large array telescopes, etc.
test: track for testing new wheels, rails, tracks and rail technologies.
voltage number The voltage with which a line is electrified. Also see the frequency tag.

Stations and stops

railway halt A small station without switches
public_transport stop_position The position on the railway track where the train (its centre) stops at a platform. This is useful for routing on long platforms where also short trains stop and on long platforms where multiple trains stop behind each other. See also public_transport=stop_area.
public_transport platform This is parallel to the rail line for showing where the actual platforms are. It is also to know where you can change platform and enter the station, so use footpaths to connect them. This is really useful for routing too. Use only if the platform is served by public transport.
railway platform This is parallel to the rail line for showing where the actual platforms are. It is also to know where you can change platform and enter the station, so use footpaths to connect them. This is really useful for routing too. Use in addition to public_transport=platform.
public_transport station Railway passenger-only station.
railway station Railway passenger and/or cargo station. Use in addition to public_transport=station.
railway subway_entrance The entrance to a subway station, usually going from surface to underground.
railway tram_stop A tram stop is a place where a passenger can embark / disembark a tram.

Other railways

railway buffer_stop Stops the train at the end of a track. See buffer stop. Not rendered by osm-carto
railway derail A device used to prevent fouling of a rail track by unauthorized movements of trains or unattended rolling stock. See Derail (railroad). Not rendered by osm-carto
railway crossing A point where pedestrians may cross.
railway level_crossing A point where rails and roads cross.
railway tram_level_crossing A point where trams and roads cross.
railway signal Any kind of railway signal. Not rendered by osm-carto
railway switch Full connections between railways (aka 'points'). Not rendered by osm-carto
railway railway_crossing Crossing rails with no interconnection. Not rendered by osm-carto
landuse railway Ground used around railways and railway-stations. Except no border, as landuse=industrial
railway turntable These are used for changing the direction that part of a train is pointing in. : Not rendered by osm-carto

:

railway roundhouse A semicircular building with many stalls for servicing engines. Not rendered by osm-carto
railway traverser These are used for changing trains between railways. Also known as transfer table. : Not rendered by osm-carto
railway wash A railroad carriage/car wash Not rendered by osm-carto
railway water_crane A structure to deliver water to steam locomotives Not rendered by osm-carto
railway ventilation_shaft A structure that allows ventilation in underground tunnels Not rendered by osm-carto
railway user defined All commonly used values according to Taginfo – – – – – –

This table is a wiki template with a default description in English. Editable here.

Possible tagging mistakes

  • transport=subway
If you know places with this tag, verify if it could be tagged with another tag.
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