Street running

On-street running or street running is the routing of a railroad track or tramway track running directly along public streets, without any separation. The rails are embedded in the roadway pavement, and the train shares the street directly with pedestrians and automobile traffic. Trains generally travel at reduced speed for safety reasons.

If there are stations on the section, they can appear similar in style to a tram stop, but often lack platforms, pedestrian islands, or other amenities. Passengers may be required to wait on a distant sidewalk, and then to board or disembark directly among mixed traffic in mid-pavement, rather than at curbside.

Although bridges and tunnels are not streets, rails can still be embedded in the surface of bridges and tunnels like the Inuyama Bridge (Japan) or the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel (US). This is also considered to be "street running".

This list does not include conventional tram, interurban, light rail or the tram portions of tram-train systems, which usually run in the street.

Notable examples in Canada include:

For tramways the legal separation of a street running trackbed and an exclusive trackbed in urban traffic is given in § 16 BOStrab tramway regulations. Aside from those and industrial spurs (Anschlussbahnen), there are also some street-running railways:

One of the most famous locations is when the steam-powered Darjeeling Himalayan Railway "Toy train" squeezes between narrow shop fronts down past a bazaar in India.

Indonesia used to have an extensive "steam tramways" (more accurately defined as local railways) network, which had many street running sections in various towns and cities in Java and Sumatra.

Two sections remain in use in 2010: part of the Wonogiri branch runs along the Slamet Riyadi street in Surakarta, and a short branch to an oil depot in Madiun. The earlier line sees both passenger and freight service (including a steam-hauled tourist train), while the other line is exclusively for freight.

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