The '0 kilometre peg' marks the start of a branch line in Western Australia. Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent.

A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. "Railroad" and "Railway" both redirect here For other uses see Railroad (disambiguation. The Mainline or Main line of a Railway is a track that is used for through trains or is the principal artery of the system from which Branch lines, A very short branch line may be called a spur line.

United Kingdom

Many British branch lines were closed as a result of the "Beeching Axe" in the 1960s, although some have been re-opened as heritage railways. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Beeching Axe is an informal name for the British Government 's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 A heritage railway ( United Kingdom) preserved railway ( United Kingdom) or tourist railroad ( United States and Canada) is a

The smallest branch line that is still in operation in the UK is the Stourbridge Town Branch Line from Stourbridge Junction going to Stourbridge Town. The Stourbridge Town Branch Line is a short (08 mile railway Branch line, in Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. Stourbridge Junction railway station is a Railway station on the Birmingham Worcester and Kidderminster Line in West Midlands, England. Stourbridge Town is a Railway station near the centre of Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. This only has one track. The journey is 1/3 of a mile (about 500 m) and the train takes around 55 seconds to complete its journey.

North America

In North America, little used branch lines are often spun off from larger railroads to become new common carrier short-line railroads of their own. A common carrier is a business that transports people goods or services and offers its services to the general public under license or authority provided by a regulatory body Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the popular Board game Monopoly, probably named after the Shore Fast Line, an Interurban streetcar

New Zealand

New Zealand once had a very extensive network of branch lines, especially in the South Island regions of Canterbury, Otago, and Southland. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. The New Zealand region of Canterbury (Waitaha is mainly composed of the Canterbury Plains and the surrounding mountains History See also History of Otago The Otago Settlement sponsored by the Free Church of Scotland, materialised in March 1848 with the arrival of the first Southland (Murihiku is the name of New Zealand 's southernmost region and is also the name of a district within that region Many were built in the late 19th century to open up regions inland from coastal harbours and cities for farming and other economic activities. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar The branches in the aforementioned South Island regions were often general-purpose lines that carried predominantly agricultural traffic, but lines elsewhere were often built to serve a specific resource: on the West Coast, an extensive network of branch lines was built in rugged terrain to serve coal mines, while in the central North Island and the Bay of Plenty, lines were built inland to provide rail access to large logging operations. Naming To New Zealanders the term 'The Coast' generally refers to the West Coast of the South Island, and 'Coasters' to those that live there Mining is the extraction of valuable Minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually (but not always from an Ore body The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. History According to local Māori traditions, the Bay of Plenty was the landing point of several migration canoes that brought Māori settlers to New Zealand Logging is the process in which Trees are cut down for Forest management and Timber.

Today, many of the branch lines have been closed, including almost all of the general-purpose country lines. Those that remain serve ports or industries not located near main lines such as coal mines, logging operations, large dairying factories, and steelworks. ||-||-|-||-||-||-||-||-||-|} A port is a facility for receiving Ships and transferring cargo For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" A dairy is a facility for the extraction and processing of animal Milk &mdashmostly from goats or cows, but also from buffalo, Sheep A factory (previously manufactory) or manufacturing plant is an industrial Building where workers manufacture goods Steel Mill was one of Bruce Springsteen 's early bands and performed regularly on the Jersey Shore, in Virginia, and also in California from 1969 In Wellington, two branch lines exist solely for commuter passenger trains. Wellington (ˈwælɪŋtən is the Capital of New Zealand, the country's second largest urban area, the For more, see the list of New Zealand railway lines. The New Zealand railway network consists of four main lines seven secondary lines and numerous short Branch lines in almost every region