railway system
1
2.7
- noun
- /ˈreɪlweɪ ˈsɪstəm/
- UK
:
sistema ferroviario
- The railway system connects major cities and allows for efficient transportation of goods.
Examples
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The transportation industry is one human factor that has had a significant impact on our environment, from shipping containers by sea on ships, trucks on our highways, planes in the air, oil through pipelines, to the trains that travel over land via the railway system.
Academic text (2012) -
The railway system, which, due to its low cost, carries the bulk of travelers, switched for the first time this year to an online booking system to relieve the pressure at ticket windows.
Blog text (13) -
The construction of extensive public road and railway systems, for instance, can be too costly for small countries with limited tax bases.
Academic text (1995) -
We have, we're still relying on that railway system that the Victorians built for us.
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The heart of the railway system in South Wales was also the heart of the revival in the mining valleys.
Academic text (2004) -
The Soviet railway system was actually really good, and in Russia it's still government-owned and government-run.
Blog text (7) -
Eino spoke animatedly of his plan, when he turned eighteen the following year, to obtain a job on the growing Finnish railway system.
Fiction book (1992) -
Its complex railway system, its considerable retail activity, its prestigious institutions of higher education, the branch offices of more than 3,000 corporations, and the presence of Northerners all contribute to Atlanta's identity as an American city.
Academic text (2003) -
In the railroad industry, pollution comes from not only operating locomotives and transporting goods; it comes from the crossties, rail, and ballast that are used to sustain a railway system.
Academic text (2012) -
What fueled this prophecy was not the ebullient but naive optimism of a euphoric generation; it was, if anything, the tangible, marked progress of the railway system itself.
Academic text (2004)
Synonyms
303
1.0
A system of tracks and trains that carries people or goods
26
1.0
A company that runs trains to carry people or goods
2
2.7
A company that runs trains to carry people or goods
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a commercial organization that operates a network for transporting passengers or goods by train' is directly and transparently composed from 'railway' (trains business) + 'system' (a collection or network of components), so a learner who knows both constituents can derive the combined sense. This noun–noun compound follows regular compositional patterns found across languages (e.g. Spanish 'sistema ferroviario'), making it readily comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The compound railway system brings together two clear images: railway as tracks trains follow and system as many parts working together. Think of tracks, stations and trains joined so people and goods can move easily, so the phrase means 'a network for trains' or the organization that runs it.