Based on a comparison of 77 countries in 2019, USA ranked the highest in rail lines with 150,462 km followed by Russia and India. On the other end of the scale was Montenegro with 249 km, United Arab Emirates with 261 km and Luxembourg with 288 km.
Data for more countries are available at Rail Lines (km) indicator page.
| Rail Lines (km) | Unit | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| Argentina | km | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 18,097 | 18,097 | 28,527 | 17,609 | 17,609 | ... | |||||||||
| Canada | km | ... | 255 | 58,651 | 57,264 | 48,498 | 48,150 | ... | ||||||||||||||
| China | km | 66,585 | 66,989 | 67,212 | 83,717 | 67,278 | ||||||||||||||||
| France | km | 29,979 | 58.0 | 28,866 | 29,237 | 29,248 | ... | |||||||||||||||
| Germany | km | 33,449 | 33,426 | 33,332 | 33,380 | 33,488 | ||||||||||||||||
| India | km | 65,436 | 65,808 | 66,030 | 66,687 | 67,368 | ||||||||||||||||
| Italy | km | 16,752 | 16,723 | 16,724 | 16,788 | 16,787 | ||||||||||||||||
| Japan | km | 19,436 | 16,703 | 16,704 | 15,108 | 19,249 | ... | |||||||||||||||
| Kazakhstan | km | 14,767 | 14,767 | 14,767 | 15,529 | 16,040 | ... | |||||||||||||||
| Poland | km | 18,959 | 18,942 | 18,510 | 18,429 | 18,513 | ||||||||||||||||
| Russia | km | 85,266 | 85,266 | 85,262 | 85,375 | 85,545 | ||||||||||||||||
| South Africa | km | 20,500 | 20,500 | 20,953 | 20,953 | 20,953 | ... | ... | ||||||||||||||
| USA | km | 154,322 | 152,933 | 151,735 | 151,270 | 150,966 | ... | |||||||||||||||
| Ukraine | km | 21,626 | 21,626 | 20,975 | 21,603 | 21,626 | ... | |||||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | km | 15,861 | 16,532 | 16,245 | 16,257 | 16,294 | ... |
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