In third place comes the so-called ?Cape gauge? with 1,067 mm, or three-and-a-half English feet. Conflicting accounts are given for the history of this gauge as well as its name. On the one hand, the track gauge is said to have been named after the Cape of South Africa, where it was first laid on a large scale.

The Cape gauge is a narrow-gauge railway standard with a width of 3 feet 6 inches (1,067 mm) between the inner faces of the rails. It is the dominant railway gauge in Southern and Central Africa, New Zealand, Japan, and several Australian states (including Queensland and Western Australia). It was originally popularized in the late 19th century by Carl Pihl in Norway and later adopted by the Cape Government Railways in South Africa because it was significantly cheaper to build than the "Standard Gauge" (1,435 mm) while still allowing for relatively high speeds and heavy loads. In 2026, Cape gauge remains the backbone of several major networks, including Japan's legendary Shinkansen (which uses Standard Gauge for high-speed but Cape gauge for its extensive regional network). Its compact size allows for tighter turns in mountainous terrain, which is why it remains the global standard for many island and coastal nations.