Passenger rail transport in Zhenia

Being home to one of the busiest passenger train networks in the world by ridership and distance of track, rail is an important means of passenger transport in Zhenia. With an annual ridership of around 3.51 billion in 2018, a figure not including and  networks throughout the nation, passenger rail accounts for a significant portion of all passenger trips in the nation. It is also home to one of the largest (HSR) networks in the world by ridership and track length, spanning over almost 20,000 kilometres throughout the nation. Almost all passenger train services in the nation, excluding rapid transit, urban rail and select lines, are operated by ZhenRail and its subsidiaries.

Route identifiers
Like the nation's expressways, are designated according to their starting and terminal points. Normally, the northern and eastern ends of each route are designated as starting points (Zhenian: 기점), while the southern and western ends are designated as the terminal point (Zhenian: 종점). The routes from starting points to terminal points, or southbound and westbound routes, are often called 'downbound routes' (Zhenian: 하행선), while eastbound and northbound routes are referred to as 'upbound routes' (Zhenian: 상행선). This practice originated from the construction of the first major railroads in the nation, from Changan to Daedo.

If the rail line runs in a circle, as is the case with several regional routes across the nation, the clockwise (inner) train is designated as the 'downbound train' and the counterclockwise (outer) train the 'upbound train', although such references are not as commonly used: in most cases, they would be referred to as 'inner circle' (Zhenian: 내선순환) and 'outer circle' (Zhenian: 외선순환) trains respectively. The general direction of the route ultimately dictates whether the entire line is upbound or downbound if the rail line zigzags and changes directions often, although the location of the starting and terminal points are primarily used as reference points in making the decisions for such cases. Applying such scheme, downbound trains are given odd numbers, while upbound trains are given even numbers.

Types of route
All passenger rail services are obligated to follow ZhenRail's route classification scheme, which classifies passenger train services into three different tiers according to the train's maximum speed and frequency of stops. While actual maximum speeds can vary by region - for instance, the maximum speeds of high-speed trains in aboveground railroads in urban areas is under 200 km/h throughout most of the nation - the maximum speeds listed below are general references of each train level in normal circumstances. In practice, different tiers allow for traffic priorities and other systems according to train level: for instance, if railroad traffic nearby is congested, traffic priority, assuming all other conditions are equal, is given to Tier 1 trains, followed by Tier 2 and 3 trains.