State railways

Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB)

founded 1923

ÖBB isn't a single company but a group made up of passenger transport, the Rail Cargo Group and infrastructure. If you're spotting in Austria, you can't avoid the four-digit class scheme – it tells you the traction and design before you've even properly identified the vehicle.

Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB)

founded 1902

SBB doesn't label its vehicles with a class number but with a combination of letters that codes speed, coach class and type of traction. Anyone who can read Re, RABe and Ee identifies a Swiss vehicle faster than any database lookup.

Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS)

The Nederlandse Spoorwegen run the core network of the Netherlands, but by no means everything moving on Dutch rails. Freight, regional lines and infrastructure sit with other companies – and the yellow livery only tells you which part you're looking at.

SNCB/NMBS

founded 1926

SNCB and NMBS are the same company in two languages. Belgium runs on one of Europe's densest networks and has four high-speed lines – but no high-speed brand of its own. And the state gave up freight services long ago.

Luxembourgeoise de Chemins de Fer (CFL)

founded 1946

CFL operates a tiny network at one of the most complex system boundaries in Europe: Germany, France and Belgium run on three different voltages. And since 2020, local transport in the country hasn't cost a single cent.

SNCF

founded 1938

French vehicles carry a letter prefix ahead of the number, and it's no decoration: BB, CC, Z, X and B name the wheel arrangement and drive type. Add two electrification systems, six Parisian terminus stations, and long-distance services that are almost entirely brands.

Trenitalia

founded 2000

Trenitalia is the passenger arm of the FS group – not the Italian state railway as a whole. Infrastructure, freight and high-speed brands sit with several separate companies, and vehicle designations follow their own letter-based logic.

Network Rail

founded 2002

Network Rail holds the tracks, signals and largest stations of Great Britain – and runs nothing itself. The trains come from around two dozen operators with their own brands. Anyone spotting in Britain has to separate these two levels from the start.

Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail)

founded 1987

Iarnród Éireann runs on 1,600 mm gauge, has practically no overhead wire outside Dublin, and is connected to no other network in the world. Every vehicle arrived on the island by ship – and stays there.

Renfe

founded 1941

Spain operates three track gauges and two electrification systems side by side – and Renfe runs trains that switch between two of them mid-journey. Once you can tell AVE, Alvia and Cercanías apart, you understand the whole system. A surprise is waiting on the platform, though.

Comboios de Portugal (CP)

Portugal runs on 1668 millimetres instead of 1435. That sounds like a footnote, but it's the reason almost nothing runs here that you'd recognise from Central Europe. Within that, Comboios de Portugal operates a network with three gauge and power combinations – and not a single freight train any more.

Polskie Koleje Państwowe (PKP)

founded 1926

Polish locomotive designations are the most clear-cut numbering system in Central Europe: two letters tell you the traction and purpose before you've even read the number. The group structure behind them is considerably less clear – a lot of what's called PKP no longer belongs to it.

České dráhy (ČD)

founded 1993

Czechia runs on two electrification systems and a third class of vehicle that masters both. České dráhy classes its rolling stock with a scheme that captures exactly that – the first digit tells you traction type and overhead-line voltage in one go.

Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK)

founded 2005

Slovakia inherited a designation system from Czechoslovakia that has few equals: the first digit of the three-digit class number tells you the traction type and electrification system. And there are two electrification systems here – the boundary between them does not run along the border, but through the middle of the country.

MÁV Magyar Államvasutak

founded 1868

MÁV is both infrastructure manager and group holding company in Hungary – passenger trains run under the name MÁV-START, and freight has long belonged to an Austrian group. And almost every vehicle carries two designations side by side.

Slovenske železnice (SŽ)

founded 1991

Slovenia is small, but sits on one of Europe's most important transit axes: from the port of Koper heading north. Slovenske železnice runs on 3 kV DC there – and the electrification system changes at three of the country's four borders. That shapes the locomotives more than anything else.

HŽ Putnički prijevoz

HŽ Putnički prijevoz is the passenger arm of the Croatian state railway – one of three sister companies since the split, alongside freight and the network. Its vehicle numbers follow a Yugoslav logic that's worth understanding once and for all.

CFR Călători

founded 1998

CFR Călători isn't Romania's state railway – it's only its passenger arm. Since the 1998 split, freight and infrastructure sit alongside it as separate companies. What remains is one of Europe's last great loco-hauled worlds, with a correspondingly rich variety of rolling stock.

DSB Danske Statsbaner

founded 1885

Denmark doesn't identify its vehicles with class numbers but with letter classes – the Litra. Add to that two electrification systems in one small country and a state railway that gave up freight operations more than two decades ago and now runs passenger services only.

SJ

founded 1856

Sweden got there before the rest of Europe: network and operations were separated as early as 1988, and long-distance passenger services were fully opened up around 2010. SJ is therefore today a state-owned passenger railway among several providers – and it runs on tracks where trains keep to the left.

Vy (formerly NSB)

In 2019, a name railfans had known for decades disappeared: NSB became Vy. More changed than the logo – Norwegian passenger services are now split across several operators, and the network belongs to its own state-owned company.

VR Group

founded 1862

Finland runs on 1524 millimetres and is thereby cut off from the European standard-gauge network. That shapes everything: wider coaches, a self-contained vehicle world, and letter codes that come straight from Finnish. Once you can read Sr, Sm and Dv, you find your way around instantly.

Lietuvos geležinkeliai (LG)

founded 1991

The Lithuanian state railway runs on 1520 mm broad gauge, making it technically closer to Central Asia than to Warsaw. At the same time, Rail Baltica is building a standard-gauge axis right across the country – two systems in the same state.

Kazakhstan State Railways (KTZ)

founded 1997

Kazakhstan's state railway runs on 1520 mm broad gauge and links China with Europe. At two border crossings every container changes gauge – and wagons from this network turn up as far away as Poland.