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In the 1960s, the gauge was selected for use in the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, serving the San Francisco Bay Area; it is the only place in the United States where this gauge is in use. The rapid transit segment of the system covers 109 miles (175 km) of double track in revenue service with additional sidings and maintenance facilities.
The vast majority of North American railroads are standard gauge (4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in / 1,435 mm).Exceptions include some streetcar, subway and rapid transit systems, mining and tunneling operations, and some narrow-gauge lines particularly in the west, e.g. the isolated White Pass and Yukon Route system, and the former Newfoundland Railway.
The United States customary units for length did not agree with the imperial system until 1959, when one international yard was defined as 0.9144 meters and, as derived units, 1 foot (= 1 ⁄ 3 yd) as 0.3048 meter and 1 inch (= 1 ⁄ 36 yd) as 25.4 mm. The list shows the imperial and other units that have been used for track gauge definitions:
The large network of narrow-gauge sugar cane light railways, almost all 610 mm (2 ft) gauge, is not shown, Rail gauge in Australia. Rail gauge world Track gauge Rail gauge world Map Rail gauge world Map, 600mm. to 1676 mm. Rail gauge world Map, 597 mm. to 2140 mm. Triple-gauge track on turntable, Gladstone, South Australia.
Track gauge in the United States This page was last edited on 12 October 2019, at 18:45 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 ...
The American gauges converged, as the advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent. Notably, all the 5 ft (1,524 mm) broad gauge track in the South was converted to "almost standard" gauge 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm) over the course of two days beginning on 31 May 1886. [21] See Track gauge in the United States.
The vast majority of rapid transit systems use 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) standard gauge.Some of the largest and oldest subway systems in the world use standard gauge in agreement with the country wide dominant usage for track gauge, e.g. London Underground (1863), Chicago "L" (1892), Vienna Metro (1898), Paris Métro (1900), Berlin U-Bahn (1902), New York City Subway (1904), Stockholm ...
Many narrow-gauge railways were built in the United States with track gauge 3 ft (914 mm). The most extensive and well known systems were the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge lines through the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado and New Mexico. Today a few lines survive as heritage railways and tourist attractions.