In United States railroading, the term national rail network, sometimes termed "U.S. rail network", refers to the entire network of interconnected

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

rail lines in North America. It does not include most subway or light rail lines.

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail saf ...

regulations require passenger cars used on the national rail network to be heavy and strong enough to protect riders in case of collision with freight trains.

References

Rail transportation in the United States {{US-rail-transport-stub