The Rhodesian Railways of 3ft. 6in. gauge, consisting of sev eral companies, operate lines from Bulawayo north west through Victoria Falls, Broken Hill, to the Belgian Congo border, and north east through Salisbury to the port of Beira in Portuguese East Africa. From Beira there runs north the 3ft. 6in. gauge Trans-Zambesia Railway, terminating at Murraca on the Zambesi; from Chindio, on the opposite bank, commences the 6om. Central Africa Railway, which connects with the more important Shire Highlands line at Port Herald. Both these lines are 3ft. 6in. gauge, and the latter runs through Blantyre in Nyasaland and terminates at Domira Bay on the west shore of Lake Nyasa; thus, excepting the crossing of the Zambesi, there is through rail con nection from Cape Town to the lake itself. North of Nyasaland run the metre gauge Tanganyika Railways, westwards from Dar es-Salaam to Kigoma and Mwansa ; a further line runs westwards from Tanga to Arusha. Near Moshi connection is made with the Kenya and Uganda Railway; this latter line, of metre gauge and over i,000 route miles long, is based on Mombasa and penetrates to Kisumu, Uganda, on Lake Victoria, with many important branches as well as lake, river and motor services. Northwards to the Sudan Government line at El Obeid there is no railway con nection. The Sudan system, of 1,725 miles of 3ft. 6in. gauge, stretches north through Khartoum to Halfa, whence Nile steamers offer connection with the Egyptian Railways near Assouan. Sudan railway branches stretch to Kassala, Port Sudan and Kareima.
The metre gauge Franco-Ethiopian line runs from Djibouti to Addis Ababa in Abyssinia, while small lines exist on the islands of Madagascar, Mauritius and Reunion, and on the mainland at Lourenco Marques, Quelimane, Lindi, Mozambique and Massawa in Eritrea, the last named an Italian State Railway, as are two small lines at Tripoli and Benghazi. In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia there exist several railways of the 4ft. 81in. and metre gauges, of which the most important are the Algerian State sys tem of nearly 2,000M. and the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranee African lines of 75om. On the west coast of Africa railway systems serve the ports of Dakar, Konakry, Freetown, Bingerville, Sekondi and Lome. The 3ft. 6in. Nigerian Railway system, based on Lagos and Port Harcourt, extends about 1,675m. to Nguru near the French West African border, while various small lines serve Brazzaville, Leopoldville, Matadi, St. Paulo de Loanda, Benguella and Mossa medes. In the Belgian Congo a 3ft. 6in. line (having connection with the line from Benguella) runs northwards from Ndola on the Rhodesian frontier to Port Francqui, and isolated railways serve Stanleyville and Albertville.
5,o75m., Buenos Ayres and Pacific, 2,8o6m. ; and Buenos Ayres Western, 1,926m.; while from Rosario southwards to Puerto Bel grano runs a railway (513m.) of that name. The first named stretches as far north as Tucuman, while the Chilean traffic is handed over to the Transandine line at Mendoza, near the Chilean Border. The 4ft. gauge is represented by the Argentine North Eastern, and Entre Rios, together 1,563m., and the Buenos Ayres Central, 292111., the first of which reaches north as far as Corientes and Posadas on the Paraguay border. Important sec tions of metre gauge lines exist in Argentina, notably the 1,218m. Cordoba Central, reaching Tucuman through Cordoba; the Buenos Ayres Midland, 32orn.; and the Argentine State system, 3,520m., which also possesses some mileage of the 5ft. 6in. gauge. The Transandine Railway (888m.) is metre gauge through its two sec tions, Argentine and Chilean, though connecting with the wider gauge lines at its termini. It reaches a height of 1o,452ft. above sea-level; certain of the steepest sections of line were worked on the Abt rack rail system, but electrification permits (1929) the elimination of the rack.
In Chile the State Railways possess 3,100 route miles, with the 5ft. 6in. gauge running from Puerto Montt through Pueblo Hundido to Chanaral, north of which is the metre gauge Northern system, State owned, which runs almost to Iquique, situated on the Nitrate Railway, as is also Pisagua. The Transandine line joins the south to north stem almost due east of Valparaiso, while the Arica-La Paz line crosses Chile to enter Bolivia as does the narrow gauge Antofagasta-Bolivia Railway with nearly 600m. in Chile and 32o in Bolivia. This latter company leases and works the Bolivia Railway lines serving Atocha, Potosi, Viacha and Cochabamba. Amongst other Chilean lines may be mentioned the Taltal Railway of 164 miles. In Peru are the Central of Peru, (298m.) serving Lima from Oroya, and the Southern Rail way of 55om., running between Cuzco and Mollendo, both lines of standard gauge 4ft. a few other lines exist, some of narrow gauge. Colombia possesses nearly 2,000M. of railway, Venezuela nearly 70o and Ecuador over loom., whilst Dutch and British Guiana both possess small railway mileages. Paraguay possesses a standard gauge Paraguay Central (274m.) based on Asuncion, whilst Uruguay has company and State-owned lines, all of stand ard gauge, totalling about 1,660 route miles. Brazil can boast of four important metre gauge railways of over 1,000 route miles, of which the biggest is the Leopoldina based on Rio de Janeiro; a second, the Great Western of Brazil based on Recife, carries much cane sugar. The San Paulo and Central of Brazil are two important lines built on the 5ft. Sin. gauge, the former serving the port of Santos and the latter Rio de Janeiro, while the Paulista Railway possesses both metre and 5ft. Sin. gauge mileages.