Natural Earth Railways
Natural Earth Railways offers a public-domain global railway network layer that is easy to import and style for transport basemaps.
Format Shapefile
Coverage Global
Resolution 1:10m to 1:50m
License Public domain
Update Versioned releases
Format
Shapefile
Geometry
LineString
Coverage
Global
Resolution
1:10m to 1:50m
About this dataset
Global railway lines derived from public domain cultural vector data for transport mapping.
Download Natural Earth railways for a lightweight global rail network layer suitable for basemaps and transport analysis.
Rail basemaps Transport corridor mapping Regional network analysis
How to download
- 1 Open the Natural Earth downloads page.
- 2 Choose the 1:10m Cultural section.
- 3 Download the railroads shapefile zip.
- 4 Extract and add the rail layer to your map.
FAQ
Does Natural Earth Railways include abandoned lines?
Some versions include disused lines; check the attribute table for status fields.
Can I combine railways with road layers?
Yes. Both are in the same coordinate system and can be styled together for a complete transport basemap.