Top 10 WEIRDEST Railways in the World

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Hi, my name's Reece. I'm a passionate Creator, Transportation Planner, and Software Developer, interested in rapid transportation all around my home base of Toronto, Canada, as well as the whole world!

[MichaelGrubeMiGru]

There's a funicular in my town of Fribourg/Switzerland that uses sewage water that flows into the top car as a counter weight for pulling up the bottom car. Then, at the bottom, the sewage water is let out into the canalization and so on. It's pretty unique.

[joon]

CRT's quirks really represent Chongqing as a city. Within China, its seen as kind of hip and artsy (like Amsterdam I guess). It also has a bunch of other cool transit stuff like a cable car, funicular, and a public elevator to get between different levels of the city.

[Happymali]

Wuppertal isn't the only suspended railway, not even the only one in Germany, but a safety record of 121 years of operation with only falling down once is hard to beat.

[Hiro_Trevelyan]

I used to live in Lyon and Line C is known for its steepness. Tbh t's fun to see tourists trip and fall, as well as their shock when they see Croix-Paquet. Nobody realizes how steep the train is until you reach this station, since it's underground before and after that.
The main problem is that this line is really not frequent at all. One small train every 10 minutes in peak hour is just not enough when other lines of Lyon get a train every 2 minutes.

[benmeehan]

‘The Glass cow subway’ as someone from Glasgow got a right good laugh😂

[francoismartini]

My favorite is the Budapest M1 line. Very simple contruction, small cars, unique design. The oldest subway in continental Europe.

[wishstevenson]

You're like the David Attenborough for transit systems. Good job!

[CitytransportInfoplus]

Another station with steeply graded platforms is Lausanne Gare on this Swiss cities' fully automated rubber tyre metro. At first this was a funicular but it was later rebuilt and extended as a cog wheel railway and more recently was rebuilt and extended again to become a fully fledged metro service.

This metro is also unusual because the trains travel faster when going uphill than downhill. The reason is that the line is very steeply graded and special speed control measures prevent a runaway train careering downhill. Also, at stations the trains magnetically clamp to the tracks - again a safety measure.

The Sapporo metro uses a centrally located guidance rail which in many ways makes it a straddle type of monorail. Having trains straddling the tracks helps reduce adhesion issues in snowy weather / prevents sliding sideways if the ground is icy!

I was hoping to see the Japanese Linimo maglev metro

[LieshaCichol]

9:49 as former resident of Sapporo who used to use that exact line, I looked around for a reason why southern end of Nanboku Line is above ground. The particular route was built to transport guests of Sapporo Olympic to Makomanai Skating Arena from the downtown core. The very simple reason was to hasten the construction In order to ensure the construction would complete prior to the start of the Olympic 1971, THE END. (picture building Canada Line on time, in Edmonton climate, if you're Canadian)
Also note that it was one of the first transit in Japan to use fully automated gate/ticket check system.

[mqumiuq]

I live in Glasgow and I've never thought our subway too weird. Sure it's uncomfortable to stand up for more than 30 seconds (a nightmare if it's crowded as you're ducking your head in the doorway) but apart from its small size (and never being expanded) it's a pretty typical metro. 

The narrow platforms are a bit annoying in busy places like Kelvinbridge. At Hillhead, because they retro-fitted a second platform due to high passenger numbers, you climb up the stairs, over the other track's tunnel and back down 3 steps before continuing on up to the concourse. I fit that a bit weird and annoying. Oh! And only one station has accessible platforms for wheelchairs (St Enoch). Edit: I've found out that Govan and Partick are also accessible.

[mr]

Fun video!
I’ve taken Line C in Lyon. Waiting for a train at Croix-Paquet, the inclined station, and, especially, getting into the carriage is slightly… disconcerting… challenging!🤪

[lanieevans]

I'd love to see a video about Morgantown's PRT, love you content btw!

[dreflox]

Ohhhh!!!! Lyon line C!!! I lived in Lyon when I was a young child and we took that metro line often! I can't not remember Croix Paquet but I never would've guessed it's actually the steepest metro station in the WORLD. My favorite thing about this metro line is at the final stop Hôtel de Ville/Louis Pradel, there is a tiny replica of the metro at the steep angle and I loved looking at it when I got down at the stop.

[SimnTrains]

Been on the Glasgow Subway a few times and it a lovely quirky subway line, great video

[jacobf.]

Reece your video's are the best. I've learned a ton about what good transit actually is and should look like.
Anyways I know you've made videos in the past about upgrading transit if your city built the wrong mode but could you make one that gives examples of what it might take to actually do that. For ex: upgrading light rail to light metro or an actual metro. Would that involve upgrading/ replacing rails or bridges? Raising platforms? Signaling/ power supply? Grade separation? Would it be easier to just build a whole new line? I'd love to see a video that gets into those details a little more. Thanks!!

[dasyk]

The Opicina Tramway in Trieste

It's a conventional tram line for most of it, but due to a steep grade it also runs as a cable hauled funicular for part of the route with special cable hauled pusher sleds that push the tram cars up and down the grade

[timbounds]

Other interesting examples are the Shonan suspended Monorail west of Tokyo is fascinating - it even goes through tunnels and across huge heights above the street. I've seen You-tube videos of a strange urban railway near Hiroshima in Japan (possibly called Sky-rail or something) that is somewhere between a suspended monorail and a cable car! It climbs up this amazingly steep hill. Plus of course the Jeddah metro that only operates during Hajj!

[ollie]

The Hakone-Tozan Railway is pretty unique. It is one of the oldest mountain railways in Asia, runs up a scenic mountain through a forest, and has lots of single track sections as well as 3 switch backs. Yet it still runs like a metro. Just wonderful 🤩

[MKTTransportVideos]

Nice one! When you do Glasgow in full, note it's pronounced to rhyme with "show", not "cow" :)

[razsegev]

In Haifa, Israel there is an underground urban funicular called "Carmelit" that is actually acting like a metro with 6 stations along the way. the line is 1.8~ km long and the height difference between the top and the bottom is 274 m. It's believed to be the shortest metro in the world.