Rail transport in Kathia

Rail transport in Kathia is provided by the Imperial Kathic Railway Company, often shortened to Kathrail'. Kathia has nearly 80,000km of rails, making it one of the longest in the world and on Azora. Kathia is heavily reliant on passenger rail services, and has been funding it more in the last 2 decades to decrease the number of automobiles used as a way to combat climate change. Kathia is home to a large and expansive Kathrail Express, one of the first high-speed rail services in the world.

Rail was first introduced to Kathia in 1419 with a line from Vare to Byaszan. Since then, the network as expanded and modernized to its current size, and has mostly been electrified. Prior to 1537, passenger rail service was private, and most railways were built by the companies that ran the trains. However, the Second World War and the rise of the automobile proved challenging and the railways were merged into one company. Since then, only the government is allowed to operate passenger services. There have, however, been calls in recent years to allow private competition on certain routes (such as Ravonne-Monitava) to lower ticket prices.

With 162 billion passenger-kilometers, Kathia has one of the most used passenger networks. Following a slight post-war decline, passenger rail has remained very popular in Kathia, especially when compared to other countries. Rail freight remains a popular mode of cargo transport, given Kathia's central geographical location at the heart of the continent with several important ports to reach further international markets. Some 20% of all cargo transport is done via the railways. =History= =Administration= =Track network= =Passenger rail transport= =Freight rail transport= =Links with neighboring countries=