MONTREUX, Switzerland — Concerns over excessive track wear have led the innovative Swiss Golden Pass Express trains that switch from meter gauge to standard gauge to be temporarily restricted to meter-gauge operations.
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The rail network of Switzerland is one of the densest and spectacular in the world. It covers a total length of 5063 km of lines with 3652 km on international gauge 1435 mm, 1312 km on metre gauge and 68.5 km of 800 mm or 750 mm gauge.
Germany has rail links with the following countries. All are to countries of the same gauge (1435 mm), although electrification (15 kV AC 16.7 Hz) and other systems such as signalling may differ.
The Gauge Change Train (GCT), known in Japan as the Free Gauge Train (FGT), is a Japanese project started in 1994 to help develop a high-speed train with variable gauge axles that was able to inter-run between 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1/2 in) and 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) tracks. The project has been on hiatus since 2017.
English railway pioneer George Stephenson (1781-1848) had a critical influence; his expertise was later sought after in other European countries. In addition to Stephenson's gauge of 1.435 m, left-hand traffic, which is the norm in the UK, was also adopted in those countries.
Japan's topographical features permitted more gradual curves than in Norway, perhaps explaining why the 3'6 gauge was chosen over other even narrower gauges. Edmund Morel (1841–71), a British engineer hired by the Japanese government, conferred with Inoue and it is likely that these two men agreed on 3'6.
Generally, the types of railway track gauges can be divided into the standard gauge, the narrow gauge, and the broad gauge. The most common gauge is standard gauge 1435mm (4 feet 8 1/2 inches). Gauges narrower than 1435mm are called narrow gauge while wider than 1435mm are called broad gauge.