The world's longest highways - Road Traffic Technology Interstate 80 passes through 11 states in the US. The world's longest highways The majority of the world's 10 longest highways are located in the US, including the world's longest - the Pan American Highway - which spans a whopping 48,000km. Roadtraffic-technology.com lists the 10 longest highways in the world by total length. Pan American Highway The Pan American Highway, which encompasses the entire US interstate highway system, is the world's longest highway covering a length of approximately 48,000km. Made up of interconnecting highways, it connects more than 20 countries in the Americas, except for a 100km gap halfway, located between Panama and Colombia, known as the Darién Gap. The highway project was conceived in 1923 and stretches from Buenos Aries in South America to Edmonton in North America. The first portion of the highway was completed by Mexico in 1950. Mexico solely built and financed the portions of the highway extending through the country, while the sections through the smaller Central American countries were constructed with assistance from the US.

Related Suppliers: Highway Infrastructure, Construction and Maintenance Highway 1, Australia Highway 1 in Australia is the world's second longest highway and the longest national highway. It covers 14,500km, comprising of interconnected highways. Highway 1 was inscribed as a national highway in 1955. It is comprised of both single and multilane roads. The route touches all the existing states in Australia, except Brisbane and Darwin, which are not directly connected. The highway shares the majority of its route with the Australian National Highway. The original route of Highway 1 proposed in 1955 was realigned in 1959, 1974 and 1998. The highway carries more than a million people a day. Trans-Siberian Highway The 11,000km long Trans-Siberian Highway is the world's third longest highway. It stretches from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok in Russia. The section of the route spanning the Asian Highway Network is called the AH6. The highway comprises of seven federal highways along the stretch, where it coincides with European route E30 and passes through Kazakhstan.

The longest section of the entire highway is the Russian route M58 or the Amur Highway, a federal highway in Russia, stretching 2,100km from Chita to Khabarovsk. Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway, with a current overall length of approximately 7,821km, is the fourth longest highway in the world and the second longest national highway. The highway's construction commenced in 1950 and inauguration was held in 1962, although paving and other construction works continued until 1971. Total investment reached around $1bn. The highway extends east-west from Victoria in British Columbia to St. John's City in Newfoundland and Labrador. It passes through all 10 Canadian provinces and links all major cities in the country. Golden Quadrilateral Highway Network, India Comprising of a network of highways, connecting the four major Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, the Golden Quadrilateral is the fifth longest highway in the world. Planning work for the 5,846km long highway was completed in 1999, construction commenced in 2001 and the highway was completed in January 2012.

The highway was constructed with an investment of INR 600bn ($9.2bn) and is maintained by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. The highway features four to six lanes along the entire route. It was constructed in four sections, each awarded to different contractors. China National Highway 010 China National Highway 010, also known as Tongsan Expressway, is 5,700km long, ranking as the sixth longest highway in the world. It is also the longest China National Highway. The highway extends from Tongjiang City in eastern Heilongjiang Province to Sanya in Hainan Province. It is one of the five north-south highways and the seventh east-west highway in China. It passes through provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong. It has a missing link, caused by the Qiongzhou Strait at Hai'an in Guangdong, where cars are ferried across by trains to Haikou in Hainan, before ending in Sanya.

US Route 20 US Route 20, which stretches 5,415km in an east-west direction from Boston, Massachusetts, to Newport, Oregon, is the seventh longest highway in the world and the longest road in the US. The highway was commissioned in 1926 and was extended in 1940. It crosses nine US states and is split into two by Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park. The original US Route 20 ended at the Yellowstone National Park prior to its extension in 1940. The highway's western section intersects with US 101, while its eastern section runs parallel to the easternmost 138-mile (222km) stretch of Interstate 90 known as Massachusetts Turnpike. US Route 6 US Route 6, also known as Grand Army of the Republic Highway, stretches from Bishop, California, to Provincetown, Massachusetts. Stretching 5,158km, it is the eighth longest highway in the world, and the second-longest highway and longest continuous highway in the US. The highway previously stretched from Bishop to Long Beach, California, and was considered as a transcontinental route until 1964.

It was also originally called Roosevelt Highway in the 1920s and 30s and then the Midland Trail Roadway, before it was officially designated by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) who adopted the US numbering system for marking the Nation's main Interstate highways. Interstate 90 (I-90), US Interstate 90 (I-90) runs from Boston, Massachusetts, to Seattle, Washington. The highway is 4,860.2km long ranking as the ninth longest highway in the world and the longest Interstate Highway in the US. The highway runs parallel to the US Route 20 for the most part and passing through 13 states. The I-90's construction commenced in the 1950s. The entire highway was completed in 1985 and incorporated existing roads for a major part of its route. The interstate highway runs through two of the longest floating bridges, Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, spanning Lake Washington from Seattle to Mercer Island.

Related suppliers: Bridge Building, Maintenance and Management Interstate 80 (I-80), US Interstate 80 (I-80), also known as Christopher Columbus Highway in certain parts along its route, is a 4,666km long highway making it the 10th longest highway in the world and second longest interstate highway in the US. The highway begins at an interchange with U.S. Route 101 in San Francisco, California, and ends at New Jersey, where it stretches for 68km, called the Bergen-Passaic Expressway. It passes through 11 states in the US. The longest continuous stretch of the I-80 is in Nebraska, extending approximately 116km between Exit 318 in the Grand Island area and mile marker 390 near Lincoln, Nebraska. It is also the longest stretch in the entire Interstate Highway System in the US.

Related content I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project, Southern California, US The I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project is a highway widening development being undertaken by California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in collaboration with the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), for its owner Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA). The total investment on the project is expected to reach $1.03bn. The world’s biggest road networks - Road Traffic Technology Spain has the tenth biggest road network in the world. The world’s biggest road networks The US boasts the world's largest road network, followed by China and India, the world's two most populous countries. Roadtraffic-technology.com profiles the ten biggest road networks in the world based on total road length. United States of America The US road network exceeds 6.58 million kilometres in total length, making it the world's longest and biggest road network. It comprises approximately 4.3 million kilometres of paved roads including 76,334km of expressways and 2.28 million kilometres of unpaved roads. The country's road network includes many of the world's longest highways.

"The US road network is the world's longest and biggest road network." The country's vast highway network consists of three categories of roads, namely the interstate highways (Interstates), the US numbered highways (US Routes), and the state highways. The Interstate 90 (I-90) , which connects Seattle, Washington, Boston and Massachusetts, spans over 4,990km and is the longest Interstate Highway in the country. Route 20 (US 20), an east-west highway measuring 5,415km in length, is the longest single road in the country and one of the world's longest highways. China China has the world's second biggest road network, exceeding 4.24 million kilometres (as of 2012 data). National highways and provincial highways respectively comprise 4% and 7% of the Chinese road network. The country's expressway network, which extends over 96,000km, is the world biggest network of this type.

The national-level expressway system of China, known as the National Trunk Highway System (NTHS) , comprises seven radial expressways from the capital city Beijing, nine north-south expressways, and 18 east-west expressways. The 5,700km-long China National Highway 010 (Tongsan Expressway) is one of the ten longest highways in the world. The Chinese road network has witnessed rapid development in the last decade and the trend is set to continue in future. The country's 2030 Road Master Plan envisages 5.8 million kilometres of total road network including 400,000km of national highways and over 180,000km of expressways. India India's road network, which spanned over 4.1 million kilometres by 2012, ranks as the third biggest in the world. The road network is the key transport infrastructure, accounting for 65% of freight and 80% of total passenger traffic in the country.

"India's road network accounts for 65% of freight and 80% of total passenger traffic in the country." The Indian road network comprises over 79,000km of national highways and express highways, over 1.5 million kilometres of state highways and approximately 4.4 million kilometres of district and village roads. National highways make up slightly less than 2% of the road network, but account for about 40% of total road traffic. The Golden Quadrilateral highway network which spans 5,846km and connects Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata - the four major Indian cities - is one of the biggest highway networks in the world. The National Highway 44 or NH 44 (previously named NH 7), a 2,369km-long north-south national highway running through the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, is the country's single longest national highway. Brazil The Brazilian road network, with a total length of approximately 1.6 million kilometres, is the fourth biggest road network in the world.

The road network operated under federal jurisdiction covers 74,000km in length, while state and municipal jurisdiction roads cover 242,000km and 1.2 million kilometres respectively. The majority of Brazilian roads are unpaved, and paved roads constitute just 13% of the total road network. The country has 12 federal highways and 19 state highways. Around 83% of the federal highways and 50% of the state highways are paved, whereas most municipal roads are unpaved. The BR-101 highway , spanning 4,800km in length, is the longest federal highway in the country, connecting 12 state capitals. The BR-116, a major north-south federal highway, is the second longest measuring 4,385km. Russia The Russian road network covers a total length of more than 1.28 million kilometres. The network spanned 927,721km of paved roads including 39,143km of expressways and 355,666km of unpaved roads at the end of 2012.

The country's highway network comprises 50,000km of federal highways and 527.200km of regional public highways. The Trans-Siberian Highway comprised of seven federal highways and the stretch from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok is one of the longest highways in the world . The Trans-Siberian Highway runs a total length of 11,000km, coincides with European route E30, and passes through Kazakhstan. The longest section of the highway is the Russian route M58 or the Amur Federal Highway that runs 2,100km from Chita to Khabarovsk. Japan The Japanese road network covers 1.21 million kilometres, a remarkable figure for an island nation. Paved roads constitute 973,000km of the network, whereas the remaining 237,000km of roads are unpaved. "The Japanese road network covers 1.21 million kilometres." The Japanese road network includes 7,920km of national expressways, 55,114km of national highways, and 129,334km of provincial highways.

The remaining 84% of the road network is made up of municipal roads. The national expressway network provides an uninterrupted link between Aomori Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture. The 679.5km Tohoku Expressway, which links the Tohoku region with the Kanto region as well as the greater Tokyo urban area, is the longest national expressway in the country. The 743.6km National Route 4 that connects Tokyo and Aomori is the longest highway in the country. Canada The Canadian road network, which covered 1.04 million kilometres as of 2011, is the world's seventh biggest network. The country's paved roads measure 415,600km, while unpaved roads constitute approximately 626,700km. The national highway system includes over 38,000km of important national and regional highways. Most of the Canadian highway network is maintained under provincial jurisdiction. The Trans-Canada Highway, a highway system passing through all ten provinces of Canada, is the only highway network under the federal jurisdiction. The 8,030km-long highway is among the five longest highways in the world.

France France's 1.02 million kilometre road network is the eighth biggest in the world, and comprises motorways (Autoroutes), national trunk roads (Routes Nationales), and local roads (Routes Départementales). The motorways, trunk roads and local roads in the country are designated 'A', 'N' and 'D' followed by numbers. The country's Autoroute system, largely consisting of toll roads, measures over 11,400km, making it one of the biggest European motorway networks. The 549km-long A10 motorway, also known as L'Aquitaine, that links Paris and Bordeaux, is the longest motorway in France. The A89 motorway, stretching from Bordeaux to Clermont-Ferrand and beyond, is the second longest motorway in the country. Australia Australia has the world's ninth biggest road network, measuring over 823,000km in length and constituting 356,000km of paved roads and over 466,000km of unpaved roads. The network comprises expressways, national highways and local roads.

"Australia's Highway 1 is the world's longest national highway." The vast national highway network passes through all Australian states. Highway 1, a network of highways circumnavigating the Australian continent with a total length of around 14,500km, is the world's longest national highway. Major highways include the Hume Highway linking Sydney and Melbourne, the Pacific Highway linking Sydney and Brisbane, the Princes Highway linking Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, and the Eyre Highway that links Adelaide and Perth. Spain The Spanish road network, excluding non-paved roads, spans a total length of over 683,000km and is the tenth biggest network in the world. It consists of 16,205km of expressways, 25,733km of national highways and over 71,000km of regional highways. The Spanish motorway network is the world's fifth biggest following China, the US, Russia and Canada. The motorways in Spain are known as autopistas and autovías.

The country had 2,991km of toll highways and 2,500km of toll motorways as of 2011, managed by concessionaires. The European Investment Bank (EIB) approved a loan of €465m ($630m) for Spain in December 2013 to construct several new bypasses and access roads as well as to upgrade and widen existing national roads. Share Top 10 Longest Highways in the World | Top 1 US Home » Longest » Top 10 Longest Highways in the World Top 10 Longest Highways in the World Saturday, August 13th 2011. | Longest Every day maybe we would go through the highway towards our destination. Did you know if there are some long road has thousands of miles without a break? This is a list of top 10 longest highways in the world. 10.

Highway 409 Highway 409 King’s Highway 409, also known as Highway 409 and colloquially as the four – oh – nine, is a series of highway 400 in the Canadian province of Ontario that stretches from Highway 401 in Toronto to Toronto Pearson International Airport, west of Highway 427, Mississauga . This is a short highway that is used primarily as a bypass for traffic approaching the airport to the west or Highway 427 north of Highway 401 west. 9. The Tarim Desert Highway The Tarim Desert Highway The Tarim Desert Highway is also known as Cross-Desert Highway (CDH), across the Taklamakan desert from north to south. The highway connects the city Luntai and Minfeng in southern and northern edge of the Tarim basin. The total length of highways is 552km, about 446km of highway cross uninhabited areas covered by shifting sand dunes, so that highways like the longest in the world. 8.

Pan-American Highway Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway route in North America is part of the road network of almost 48,000 km long journey through the mainland states of America. Because the government of the United States and Canada has never formally adopted any particular route as part of the Pan-American Highway and the Mexican official has many branches that connect to the U.S. border, then there is no definitive length. But the total length of the North American highway approximately 16,000 miles (26,000 km). 7. Australia ‘s Highway 1 Australia ‘s Highway 1 Australia’s Highway 1 is a road network that surrounds the entire continent of Australia, joining all mainland state capitals. At a total length of about 14,500 km (9,000 miles) is the world’s longest national road, along with Trans-Siberian Highway (more than 11,000 km / 6800 miles) and the Trans-Canada Highway (8030 km / 4990 miles). Every day more than one million people travel on some parts of it. 6.

Interstate 80 (I-80) Interstate 80 (I-80) Interstate 80 (I-80) is the second longest after the Interstate 90 Highway in the United States. This road connects downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey. 5. Interstate 90 (I-90) Interstate 90 (I-90) The longest Interstate Highway 90 in the United States, the highway extends to 3,099.07 miles (4987 km. Walking parallel to U.S. Route 20 for the most part. Eastern tip is in Boston and the west end in Seattle. It crossed the Continental divide just east of Butte, Montana. 4. 401 or MacDonald Cartier Freeway 401 or MacDonald Cartier Freeway The 401 or MacDonald Cartier Freeway begins at the Detroit-Windsor Ambassador Bridge and ends at the Quebec border near Montreal. This road is located in the middle of the city despite originally built in the country side. The length is 816 km (507 miles). 3.

Route 6 Route 6 Route 6 was founded in 1925 extended from Provincetown, Massachusetts, to Brewster, New York. Then referred to as “Roosevelt Highway,” the name given to the entire Route 6. This road stretches further to Greeley, Colorado in 1931. It extended from the south to Long Beach and west to Bishop, California with the total length of 3940 km. 2. The Trans Siberian Highway The Trans Siberian Highway This includes some federal highway which extends throughout Russia from the Baltic Sea from the Atlantic Ocean to the Sea of Japan in the Pacific Ocean. The route is called AH6 in Asia. More than 11,000 kilometers in length and extends from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok. 1. Trans Canada Highway Trans Canada Highway The highway has a length of 4860 miles in Canada. This path begins on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and across the Continental Divide, 10 provinces, five time zone and ends in St. John’s, Newfoundland. This road was built in 1962 and completed in 1970. This is longest highway in the world, across North America from St.

John’s, NL, to Victoria, British Columbia. List of World record highways List of World record highways in Editors , News , Other , Sticky news A highway is a public road with two or more lanes per direction, and have dual carriageways (divided highway), limited access and have grade-separated junctions. The first highway paved with portland cement, or concrete, is built near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 22 years after Bellefontaine, Ohio, first paved its Main Street with concrete. Invented in 1824 by British stone mason Joseph Aspdin from a mix of calcium, silicon, aluminum, and iron minerals, portland cement is so-named because of its similarity to the stone quarried on the Isle of Portland off the English coast. The world’s first limited access road was constructed in Italy in 1922. Article list Widest highway by lane number Highest international highway Busiest highway Longest international highway The Pan-American Highway is the longest highway in the world! It has a total of 47,958 kilometers (29,800 miles). The Pan American Highway is neither a single road nor part of a centrally administered road-building program.

The chief coordinating body is the Pan American Highway Congress, which meets once every four years. Except in Central America, where United States aid has been heavy, each republic finances its road-building program. The Pan American Highway was proposed in 1923 at the Fifth International Conference of American States, meeting in Santiago, Chile. Two years later the Pan American Highway Congress was created as a permanent institution to foster the building of the road. Routes were tentatively selected and plans were drafted, but only modest progress was made in construction until a final agreement was reached by the member states in 1936. World War II brought increased interest in the United States for a highway south to the Panama Canal. Mexico completed its section of the Inter-American in 1950. The rest of the Inter-American, built largely with United States aid, was opened to through traffic in 1963.

The Pan-American Highway travels through 14 countries: Canada,United States, Mexico, Guatemala,El Salvador,Honduras,Nicaragua,Costa Rica,Panama,Colombia,Ecuador,Peru,Chile,Argentina Longest national highway Highway 1 is Australia’s greatest highway, following the coast for the most part along its circumferential route around the country. A spur in Tasmania also connects Hobart with Launceston, Devonport and Burnie. At a total length of approximately 14,500 kms (9,000 miles) it is one of the longest national highways in the world, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway (over 11,000 km/6,800 miles) and the Trans-Canada Highway(8,030 km/4,990 miles). When the National Route Numbering system was adopted in 1955, Highway 1 was the only truly national highway, although it was not necessarily the shortest distance between many town centres. Most of the other national routes are at some point a tributary of Highway 1.

It could be argued that Highway 1 starts /end its track in the historical Rocks precinct in the heart of Sydney, Australia’s first city. Crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge north, it becomes the Pacific Highway, going south via George St (Australia’s first street) it becomes the Princes Highway. Widest highway by lane number The Katy Freeway (part of Interstate 10) in Houston, Texas, has a total of 26 lanes in some sections as of 2007. In Houston, from the western suburb of Katy to downtown, I-10 is known as the Katy Freeway. This section is currently being widened to as much as 26 lanes (12 main lanes, 8 lanes of access roads, and 4-6 mid-freeway HOT/HOV lanes, not counting access road turning lanes)[8] and will be one of the widest freeways in the world. Highest international highway The Karakoram Highway at an altitude of 4,693 m/15,397 ft , stretches some 700 kilometers from Islamabad, through the Karakoram mountains and into China.

It is an incredible feat of engineering cutting its way through deep valleys and desert plains into the mountains of northern Pakistan, providing communication between the districts of Chitral, Gilget and Balistan, with the major cities of Islamadad, Rawalpindi and Lahore. Some say that due to its high elevation and the difficult conditions in which it was constructed, it is also referred to as the “Ninth Wonder of the World.” Karakoram Highwayprovides the pathway to expeditions for almost all peaks in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan, Kashmir and several peaks in Xinjiang China. The region includes some of the world’s largest glaciers like the Baltoro Glacier. Five of the Eight-thousanders (mountains taller than 8,000m) of the world that are in Pakistan are accessible by the highway. Largest national highway system The United States has the largest network of roadways of any country with 6,430,366 kilometres (3,995,644 mi) (2005).

The People’s Republic of China is second with 3,583,715 kilometres(2,226,817 mi) of roadway (2007) Busiest highway Highway 401 – the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway has volumes surpassing an average of 500,000 vehicles per day in some sections of Toronto as of 2006, giving Highway 401 the distinction of being North America’s busiest highway. This surpasses the Santa Monica Freeway in Los Angeles, and several Interstate freeways in Houston, Texas. King’s Highway 401 is the primary through route across Southern, Central and Eastern Ontario. Since the highway’s completion in the late 1960s, Highway 401 has evolved from being a convenient bypass to a vital economic corridor. Today the stretch of Highway 401 that passes through the Greater Toronto Area ranges from 6 to 18 lanes, and the stretch between Highway 403 and Brock Road in Pickering is thought to be the world’s longest continuous stretch of highway having 10 or more lanes.

There are 19 Service Centres located along Highway 401. These centres are open 24 hours a day and offer motorists convenient access to fuel, restaurants and picnic areas. The centres are located about every 80 km (50 miles) except through the GTA, where services are generally available at almost every interchange. The posted speed limit on Highway 401 is 100 km/h (60 mph). Related World's longest highway. Trans-Canada Highway. THE LONGEST LIST OF THE LONGEST STUFF AT THE LONGEST DOMAIN NAME AT LONG LAST What is the world's longest highway? The world's longest national highway is the Trans-Canada Highway that run across Canada from Victoria, British Columbia to and St. John's, Newfoundland covering 7,821 kilometers or 4,860 miles. The highway took over 20 years to complete at a cost of almost $1,000,000,000.00 CAD. The Trans-Canada Highway was officially opened in 1962 but was not completed until 1971. The official midpoint of the highway is at Batchwana Bay, Ontario.

The highest point on the highway is Kicking Horse Pass, on the Alberta - BC border, at an elevation of 1643 meters. The Trans-Canada Highway UPDATE: February 27, 2009 National Highway One which basically circumnavigates Australia covers an outbackish 24,000 kilometers or just over 14,900 miles. The highway accomodates over 1 million people per day and costs over $1 billion to maintain. National Highway One Page Sponsored By: MIDI Converter The world’s 10 longest railway networks - Railway Technology The Brazilian railway network is the tenth longest in the world. The world’s 10 longest railway networks The United States has the world's longest railway network, followed by China and India. Railway-technology.com profiles the 10 largest railway networks in the world based on total operating length. The United States has the world's longest railway network, followed by China and India. Railway-technology.com profiles the 10 largest railway networks in the world based on total operating length.

United States - 250,000km The US rail network, with an operating route length over 250,000km, is the biggest in the world. Freight lines constitute about 80% of the country's total rail network, while the total passenger network spans about 35,000km. The US freight rail network consists of 538 railroads (seven Class I railroads, 21 regional railroads, and 510 local railroads) operated by private organisations. Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway are among the largest freight railroad networks in the world. The national passenger rail network Amtrak comprises of more than 30 train routes connecting 500 destinations across 46 American states. A plan is in place to build a 27,000km national high speed rail system in four phases by 2030. Construction of the California high-speed rail , the country's first high-speed rail project, was well underway by the beginning of 2014. Three more high-speed projects including the Midwest high-speed rail line connecting Chicago with Indianapolis or St.

Louis, Texas high-speed rail, and the Northeast High-Speed Corridor are under development. China - 100,000km China's rail network, with a route length of over 100,000km, ranks as the second biggest rail network in the world. The extensive network, operated by state-owned China Railway Corporation, carried 2.08 billion passengers (the second highest after Indian Railways) and 3.22 billion tonnes of freight (the second highest after the US railway network) in 2013. Rail is the principal mode of transport in China. The country's rail network consists of over 90,000km of conventional rail routes and approximately 10,000km of high-speed lines. The total rail network of the country is targeted to exceed 270,000km by 2050. The rapid expansion of China's high-speed rail network in recent years makes it by far the largest in the world. The 2,298km Beijing - Guangzhou high speed line is the world's longest high-speed railway line .

The total length of China's high-speed rail network is projected to reach 50,000km by 2020. Russia - 85,500km Russia's whole network, operated by state-owned monopoly Russian Railways (RZD) , runs for over 85,500km. In 2013, the network carried 1.08 billion passengers and 1.2 billion tonnes of freight - the third highest freight volume after the US and China. The Russian railway network incorporates12 main lines, many of which provide direct connections to the European and Asian national railway systems such as Finland, France, Germany, Poland, China, Mongolia and North Korea. The Trans-Siberian Railway (the Moscow-Vladivostok line), spanning a length of 9,289km, is the longest and one of the busiest railway lines in the world. RZD introduced the Sapsan high-speed rail service between St. Petersburg and Moscow in 2009, but it has not proved successful due to sharing existing lines with low-speed train operations.

A dedicated high-speed corridor between the two cities has been planned with a proposed investment of $35bn. RZD expects to have 2,500km of high-speed rail between Moscow and Kiev, Minsk and Kursk by 2015. India - 65,000km The Indian nationwide rail network, the fourth longest in the world, is owned and operated by state-owned Indian Railways and includes an operating route length of more than 65,000km. The network carried about eight billion passengers (the highest in the world) and 1.01 million tonnes of freight (fourth highest in the world) in 2013. The Indian railway network is divided into 17 zones and operates more than 19,000 trains per day, including 12,000 passenger trains and 7,000 freight trains. The national railway operator plans to add 4,000km of new lines by 2017, as well as significant gauge conversion, doubling and electrification of its existing aging lines.

It also plans to add 3,338km of exclusive freight network by 2017 with the implementation of Eastern & Western Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC), two of the six identified dedicated freight corridors in India. Six high-speed corridors have also been identified for implementation in the country. The 534km Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed link is being advanced as a pilot project with an estimated investment of $9.65bn. Canada - 48,000km Canada's 48,000km of rail lines makes its national network the fifth longest in the world. Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) are the two major freight rail networks operating in the country, while Via Rail operates the 12,500km intercity passenger rail service. Algoma Central Railway and Ontario Northland Railway are among the other smaller railways providing passenger services to certain rural areas in the country. Three Canadian cities - Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver - have extensive commuter train systems. In addition, the Rocky Mountaineer and Royal Canadian Pacific offer luxury rail tours to view the scenic beauty of certain mountainous areas in the country.

Canada, however, does not have a single high-speed line on its railway network. Many high-speed lines such as Toronto-Montreal, Calgary-Edmonton and Montreal-Boston have been proposed, but none of these have progressed beyond preliminary studies as of January 2014. Germany - 41,000km State-owned Deutshe Bahn dominates Germany's 41,000km railway network, accounting for about 80% of the total freight traffic and 99% of the long-distance passenger traffic. More than 150 private railway companies apart from Deutshe Bahn operate on the network, providing regional passenger and freight services. The S-Bahn serves major suburban areas, while the Hamburg Cologne Express (HKX) is the major long-distance passenger operator after Deutshe Bahn. The German railway network had more than 1,300km of high-speed railway track operational as of mid-2013 and more than 400km of new high-speed line under construction. Deutshe Bahn opened high-speed services, under the name InterCity Express (ICE), for the first time in 1991.

The high-speed network, operated at speeds up to 320km/h, now connects major German cities and neighbouring countries such as France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria. Australia - 40,000km The Australian railway network is the world's seventh longest at more than 40,000km. Most of the railway network infrastructure is owned and maintained by the Australian government either at the federal or state level. The majority of the trains on the network are, however, operated by private companies. Aurizon (formerly QR National), Genesee and Wyoming Australia, and Pacific National are among the major freight operators on the network. Great Southern Railway, NSW TrainLink and Queensland Rail are the leading long-distance passenger rail operators. Metro Trains Melbourne , Sydney Trains, V/Line and Adelaide Metro operate commuter passenger services in major suburban areas. In addition, a number of private mining railways operate in the country. The Australian railway network does not have a high-speed line yet.

A high-speed rail network connecting Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne is proposed to be built with an estimated capital cost of $114bn, but the first phase of the 1,748km high-speed network will not be realised before 2035. Argentina - 36,000km Argentina's current rail network spanning over 36,000km in length ranks the eighth largest in the world. Argentina used to have about 47,000km of rail network at the end of the Second World War, mostly operated by British and French-owned railway companies. But the decline of profits and the rise of highway construction in the subsequent decades reduced the network to the 36,000km of line that exists today. The railway companies operating on the network were nationalised in 1948 with the creation of the state railroad corporation Ferrocarriles Argentinos. The Argentinean railway was privatised between 1992 and 1995 with the grant of concessions to different private companies for operating six divisions of the formerly state-owned rail network.

Cities such as Buenos Aires, Resistencia and Mendoza offer extensive suburban passenger services, as well as the long distance passenger lines in the country. The much talked-about Argentine high-speed railway is not a reality yet. An announcement was made in 2006 to develop a 310km high-speed line between Buenos Aires and Rosario. The project was, however, not implemented as of 2013. A second high-speed line stretching 400km between Rosario and Cordoba has also been proposed. France - 29,000km At 29,000km, the French railway network is the second biggest in Europe and the ninth biggest in the world. The French railway network is predominantly passenger-centric and more than 50% of the country's lines are electrified. State-owned Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF) is the principal railway operator in the country. The country's high-speed long distance passenger services are known as Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) and the standard long-distance passenger services are branded Intercités. The short and middle distance passenger rail services are known as Transport Express Régional (TER).

The network offers linkages to adjacent countries such as Belgium, Italy and the UK. France was one of the early adopters of high-speed rail technology; SNCF brought into operation the TGV high-speed rail in 1981. The country's current high-speed network exceeds a length of 1,550km. The Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail project, which is due for completion in 2017, will add another 302km into the network. Brazil - 28,000km The first railway line in Brazil became operational in 1984. The railway network was nationalised in 1957 with the creation of Rede Ferroviária Federal Sociedade Anônima (RFFSA). The country's railway network was divided into different services to be operated by a range of private and public operators by 2007. The 28,000km network is predominantly freight-focussed and includes major iron ore rail lines. The country's passenger rail services are mostly concentrated in urban and suburban areas. Eight Brazilian cities have metro systems, São Paulo Metro being the biggest among them.

In 2012, the Brazilian government announced the construction of 10,000km of new lines comprised of freight and high-speed passenger lines by 2042. A 511km high-speed rail link between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro has been planned for development in the country, but the project is yet to take off. Share

Question: Which country has (at 2012) the longest national highway in the world?
Answer: Australia