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Transportation Layers

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. 1 Open the Natural Earth downloads page.
  2. 2 Choose the 1:10m Cultural section.
  3. 3 Download the railroads shapefile zip.
  4. 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.