Data story

The highest railways in the world

53 lines ranked by the altitude their track actually reaches — from the Tibetan plateau to the summit racks of the Alps.

Where can a train take you highest? This ranks every line in the atlas whose altitude is part of its identity by the highest point its track reaches — a mainline crossing a 5,072 m pass and a cog railway grinding to a summit station count alike. 6 lines climb above 4,000 m, all of them in Asia and the Americas; Europe's rack railways top out more than a kilometre lower.

Lines ranked

53

Highest point

5,072 m

Lines above 4,000 m

6

Lines above 3,000 m

11

The highest point of every ranked line

Highest altitude reached by each line's track, in metres — 53 lines, highest first.

The highest railway on each continent

Asia

Qinghai–Tibet Railway · 5,072 m

South America

Ferrocarril Central Andino · 4,781 m

North America

Pikes Peak Cog Railway · 4,302 m

Europe

Jungfraubahn · 3,454 m

Africa

Nanyuki Safari Train · 1,950 m

Oceania

Blue Mountains Line · 1,067 m

How we measured it

Each figure is the highest point of the line — a summit station or the crest of a pass — as an approximate published value. The ranking covers passenger journeys in the World Train Map atlas (a 1,000 m floor keeps it about mountains); industrial and mining spurs are out of scope, so this is the roof of the railways you can actually ride. Every number comes from the open TrainRouter Atlas (CC BY 4.0, archived at DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21322030) — free to check or reuse.

Every line, ranked

What is the highest railway in the world?

The Qinghai–Tibet Railway in China, which crests at 5,072 m on the Tanggula Pass — higher than the summit of Mont Blanc. It is the highest point reached by any passenger railway, and its coaches are sealed and oxygen-enriched because of the altitude.

How high can you go by train in Europe?

3,454 m, at Jungfraujoch in Switzerland, where the Jungfraubahn ends in a station carved inside the mountain. It has held that record since 1912, and Europe's ceiling is more than a kilometre below Asia's (5,072 m).

How many railways run above 4,000 metres?

6 of the 53 lines ranked here climb above 4,000 m, and 11 above 3,000 m. Every one of the 4,000 m lines is in Asia or the Americas — no railway anywhere in Europe, Africa or Oceania reaches that height.

Which country has the most high-altitude railways?

Peru: 4 of the lines ranked here are Peruvian, and the Lima–Huancayo line crests at 4,781 m at Galera on ordinary adhesion track, with no rack rail to help it.