Proposal:Deprecate railway=narrow gauge - OpenStreetMap Wiki

Proposal:Deprecate railway=narrow gauge - OpenStreetMap Wiki
Proposal
Deprecate railway=narrow gauge
From OpenStreetMap Wiki
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Deprecate railway:narrow_gauge tag
Proposal status
Proposals with undefined or invalid status
inactive
Proposed by:
UnniMan
Tagging:
railway
narrow_gauge
Data item
Applies to:
Definition:
I suggest deprecating this tag
Statistics:
Draft
started:
2025-11-28
RFC
start:
2026-04-03
Contents
Problem Statement
Proposal
Rationale
Tagging
Examples
Impact on Data Consumers
Features/Pages affected
External discussions
Comments
Problem Statement
railway
narrow_gauge
is ambiguously defined and it does not fit in the rest of the tags of that key. First, it appeals to gauges narrower than the typical in the area, which is ambiguous. But most importantly, the
railway
=*
key defines whether a railway has heavy rail (
railway
rail
) nature, tram nature, subway nature, funicular nature... It is totally independent of the gauge. Narrow gauge thus does not belong in there, since any funicular, subway or heavy rail also fits in the
railway
narrow_gauge
definition, thus losing that information.
The gauge is listed in the
gauge
=*
key, and the
railway
=*
key's tags should not fully depend on it like an Occam's razor.
Proposal
I propose to deprecate
railway
narrow_gauge
and to redefine the
railway
rail
tag to include heavy rail of
any
gauge.
Rationale
I am not sure why this tag was created in the first place. More so, considering that there is no tag for
railway
broad_gauge
. If it existed, Japan, that uses 1067mm as its major gauge but 1435mm for high-speed, would have its high-speed railway not be rail and not render correctly (see Impact on Data Consumers), which is to all views incorrect. Spain also uses a different gauge for high speed (in this case, Spanish is 1668mm), and at no point has anyone every thought of classifying high-speed 1435mm railways as
railway
narrow_gauge
, because they are just as rail as the others.
railway
narrow_gauge
was perhaps intended for touristic, mountainous railways, but it has been used for a mishmash of different-nature railways and affected renderings. I think the most representative part is the section of the tag where it says that mainlines such as the Swiss Rhaetian Railway are also considered
railway
narrow_gauge
. Therefore,
railway
narrow_gauge
is given the power to override any other consideration of nature/design/state of the railway (except, for some reason,
railway
miniature
), which makes no sense in the
railway
=*
tag.
gauge
=*
includes all needed information about gauge and usage= can be used to clarify whether it is touristic. But similarly, a touristic standard-gauge rail and a touristic narrow-gauge rail should not have any difference other than their
gauge
=*
tag. If there is any narrow-gauge rail that does not fit in any other
railway
=*
tag, a new one should be created (peoplemover? heritage?) instead of keeping this one. Having this tag is equivalent to having a tag
railway
not_electrified
or
railway
ETCS
. The gauge is nothing more than a technical characteristic, and it should only affect technical characteristics.
It seems, per the community forum discussion, that in Germany, some narrow gauge railways had a different license and were operated under very different rules. This, while interesting, should not affect the rendering of present railways, let alone the rendering of other countries.
Furthermore, with the appearance of dual gauges, like in Bangladesh or Spain, this separation becomes even more blurry. Which one prevails, the
railway
rail
nature of the broader gauge, or the
railway
narrow_gauge
"nature" of the narrower gauge? A similar thing happens with variable gauge trains: the mere fact that a train has changed gauges should not imply a major change of infrastructure (unlike train-trams, which do change infrastructure, signalling, circullation norms...).
The fact that it is currently used and, somehow, still growing, should not be a factor taken into consideration, since it is the status quo and thus assigning this tag is not a matter of thinking that it is appropriate that it exists, but about following the current rules. Although let it be noted that this is a de facto tag, not an approved one.
Tagging
This is a short list of railway= tags, taken from
OpenRailwayMap/Tagging
. The existence of
railway
narrow_gauge
does not fit in here, since it is the only one that does not depend on design/usage/state: it depends solely on a technical characteristic like the gauge.
rail
(active) track
A track that is used on a regular basis.
proposed
Planned track
A planned track, still in the design phase (no construction yet).
construction
Track under construction
construction
=*
can be used for a more precise description. It obtains the value usually given to
railway
=*
, such as
railway
construction
and
construction
narrow_gauge
disused
Disused track
The track is preserved (can still be seen) but is no longer in use and possibly overgrown.
abandoned
Abandoned track
While the track no longer holds any rails or signals, the former line (or even a trackbed) can still be seen. These remains might include embankments, trenches, bridges and tunnels.
razed
Overbuilt track
A former track that has been built upon. While some remains might still be seen, the former route is subject to educated guesses for the most part. Note that mapping demolished railways without traces should be done in
OpenHistoricalMap
- not in OpenStreetMap.
narrow_gauge
Narrow-gauge track
A track with a gauge (width) narrower than typical to this country. A gauge might be defined by the tag
gauge
=*
using the unit of millimeters. For tracks with three rails, the tag
railway
rail
can be used, specifying both gauges by
gauge
=*
, separated by a semicolon (such as
1435;1000
).
light_rail
City railway, sometimes "Suburban"
City railway and tramlike underground trains, sometimes "suburban." These can be heavy trains, differ in power system (usually electric, occasionally diesel), have their own signals and are a distinct vehicle fleet. These usually are in a dedicated right-of-way, rarely having level crossings with road traffic. However, in denser urban areas these can be street-running like a tram, even while remaining tagged
railway
light_rail
. North American examples include San Diego Trolley, San Francisco Muni, Portland MAX, Calgary CTrain, Dallas DART, Cleveland Blue and Green Lines, The Tide in Norfolk, Baltimore Light Rail and Buffalo Metro Rail where
passenger
urban
might be found more frequently (instead of
passenger
suburban
, which are considered more "commuter" railways using full-sized "heavy rail" railcars).
subway
Subway/Metro
Underground railway in larger cities, powered mostly by third rail. It has its own vehicles and signal system. Sometimes it also comes to the surface or is on an aerial causeway for a segment. Do not map ordinary railway, which goes partially underground, with this tag! (Instead, use
layer
-1
or a "deeper" negative value and
tunnel
yes
). Subway/Metro is usually considered "heavy rail" and is always distinct from "light rail."
tram
Tram
Mostly overground on-street laid tracks ("street-running"). It is common that vehicles like motorcars can share traffic lanes with trams. Some special railways similar to trams might be also mapped using this tag. Larger parts of tram tracks can also go underground (use
layer
-1
or a "deeper" negative value and/or
tunnel
yes
). Some tram routes also use ordinary railway tracks. These should me mapped as ordinary railway tracks (
railway
rail
).
miniature
Miniature railway
Small railways in parks for entertainment or as a tourist attraction, mostly narrow gauge (up to 600mm). These are often a "scale" of a "standard" railroad size, for example "1/4 scale miniature railroad."
Examples
Examples of current narrow gauge railways that do not use this tag, by regional choice, when it would "fit" according to the word-by-word interpretation of
railway
narrow_gauge
the narrow-gauge part of the Brazilian, Argentinian and Bolivian network
the narrow-gauge part of the Colombian network
the narrow-gauge networks of the Australian states of Queensland and Tasmania and the Perth network
the Bangladeshi network, although it is dual gauge broad and narrow
arguably, the Taiwanese and Tanzanian networks (in the latter, if 1067 is the main gauge, 1000 should also be narrow)
Impact on Data Consumers
In the case of Spain, whose
railway
narrow_gauge
were recently changed to rail, a main northern railway (that had usage=main) was not showing up in OpenStreetRailway until it was zoomed in to the same level as
railway
subway
. Small branches of
railway
rail
had a wider zoom layer than long mainlines of
railway
narrow_gauge
. This is a belittling of narrow-gauge railways, as if they were not real "true" railways and they were just subways/trams.
In
this
rendering of a Swiss area, the rails that are
usage
branch
and
usage
industrial
show up, even those that have
state
proposed
. But there are some missing railways: narrow gauge ones. No narrow gauge, regardless of their usage or state, will appear until you further zoom in to
here
. It has little explanation. A possible fix would be to fix ORM, but it shows that
railway
narrow_gauge
simply doesn't make sense. All heavy railways, regardless of whether their gauge is broader or narrower than usual, should be
railway
rail
There is a point to be made that some mappers map narrow gauge railways with thinner lines (as per the Community Forum Discussion). This can be solved in two ways depending on the reason for this thinner drawing. If the mapper simply wants to show the gauge, the
gauge
=*
key is the perfect and indeed better tool. If the mapper wants instead to make secondary railways thinner,
usage
branch
can be used. But
railway
narrow_gauge
is an unreliable way of deciding which lines are primary and secondary. Furthermore, it is unfair to expect a mapper who simply wants to map heavy rail (
railway
rail
) to always have to remember to include the other tag of heavy rail,
railway
narrow_gauge
, but to not worry about the inexistent
railway
broad_gauge
Features/Pages affected
Tag:railway=narrow gauge
Tag:railway=rail
Key:railway
External discussions
Talk:Tag:railway=narrow gauge
Talk:Tag:railway=narrow gauge/Proposal
OpenStreetMap Community discussions
On this proposal (in English, 2026)
On narrow gauge outside of German-speaking countries (in German, 2022)
On deprecation (in German, 2012)
On narrow-gauge rollercoasters (in German, 2010)
Comments
Please comment on the
discussion page
Retrieved from "
Categories
Proposals with undefined or invalid status
Inactive features
Navigation menu