Main article: Lounge car
A dining car (or diner) is used to serve meals to the passengers. Its interior is split with a portion of the interior partitioned off for a galley, which is off-limits to passengers. A narrow hallway is left between the galley and one side wall of the car for passengers to use. The remainder of the interior is laid out with tables and chairs to look like a long, narrow restaurant dining room. There is special personnel to perform waitstaff and kitchen duties.
Lounge cars carry a bar and public seating. They usually have benches or large swivelling chairs along the sides of the car. Some lounge cars include small pianos and are staffed by contracted musicians to entertain the passengers.
These cars are often pulled in addition to the dining car, and on very long trains in addition to one or more snack or cafe cars.
Lounge cars are an important part of the appeal of passenger trains when compared to aircraft, buses and cars; there is more space to move around, socialize, eat and drink, and a good view. 

Main article: Observation car
The observation car almost always operated as the last car in a passenger train. Its interior could include features of a coach, lounge, diner, or sleeper. The main spotting feature was at the tail end of the car - the walls of the car usually were curved together to form a large U shape, and larger windows were installed all around the end of the car. Before these cars were built with steel walls, the observation end of heavyweight cars resembled a roofed porch area; larger windows were installed at the observation end on these cars as well. At this end of the car, there was almost always a lounge where passengers could enjoy the view as they watch the track rapidly recede into the distance.
Often called "sleepers" or "Pullman cars" (after the main American operator), these cars provide sleeping arrangements for passengers travelling at night. Early models were divided into sections, where coach seating converted at night into semi-private berths. More modern interiors are normally partitioned into separate bedroom compartments for passengers. The beds are designed in such a way that they either roll or fold out of the way or convert into seats for daytime use. Compartments vary in size; some are only large enough for a bed, while others resemble efficiency apartments including bathrooms.

Main article: Combine car
A combine is a car that combines features of a head-end and a regular passenger car. The most common combination is that of a coach and a baggage car, but the combination of coach and post office car was also common. Combines were used most frequently on branch lines and short line railroads where there wasn’t necessarily enough traffic to economically justify single-purpose cars. As lightweight cars began to appear on railroads, passenger cars more frequently combined features of two or more car types on one car, and the classic heavyweight combine fell out of use.

Main article: Control car
A control car (also known as a ’Driving Trailer’ in Europe and the UK) is a passenger car which lets the train be run in reverse with the locomotive at the back. It is common on commuter trains in the US and Europe. This can be important for serving small towns without extensive switching facilities, dead-end lines, and having a fast turn around when changing directions in commuter service.
A dome car can include features of a lounge car, dining car and an observation. A portion of the car, usually in the center of the car, is split between two levels, with stairs leading both up and down from the train’s regular passenger car floor level. The lower level of the dome usually consisted of a small lounge area, while the upper portion was usually coach or lounge seating within a "bubble" of glass on the car’s roof. Passengers in the upper portion of the dome were able to see in all directions from a vantage point above the train’s roofline. On some dome cars, the lower portion was built as a galley, where car attendants used dumbwaiters to transfer items between the galley and a dining area in the dome portion of the car.
Some dome cars were built with the dome extending the entire length of the car, while others had only a small observation bubble. There were also combination dome-observation cars built which were meant to be the last car on the train, with both rear observation and the dome up top.

Main article: Bilevel car
As passenger car construction improved to the point where dome cars were introduced, some passenger car manufacturers began building double decker passenger train cars for use in areas that are more heavily populated or to carry more passengers over a long distance while using fewer cars (such as Amtrak’s Superliner cars). Cars used on long-distance passenger trains could combine features of any of the basic car types, while cars used in local commuter service are often strictly coach types on both levels.
Double decker coaches were tried in the UK (SR Class 4DD) but the experiment was unsuccessful because the restricted British loading gauge resulted in cramped conditions.

Main article: Private car
Many cars built by Pullman and other companies were either originally built or later converted for use as business and private cars which served as the "private jet" of the early-to-mid-20th century. They were used by railroad officials and dignitaries as business cars, and wealthy individuals for travel and entertainment. There are various configurations, but the cars generally have an observation platform and include a full kitchen, dining room, state rooms, secretary’s room, an observation room, and often servant’s quarters. A number of these private cars have survived the decades and some are used for tour rides, leasing for private events, etc. A small number of private cars (along with other types of passenger cars), have been upgraded to meet current Amtrak regulations, and may be chartered by their owners for private travel attached to Amtrak trains.

Main article: Articulated car
Articulated passenger cars are becoming increasingly common in Europe and the US. This means that the passenger cars share trucks and that the passageways between them are more or less permanently attached. The cars are kept in "trainsets" and not split up during normal operations.
Articulated cars have a number of advantages. They save on the total number of wheels and trucks, reducing costs and maintenance expenses. Further, movement between cars is safer and easier than with traditional designs. Finally, it is possible to implement tilting schemes such as the Talgo design which allow the train to lean into curves. The chief disadvantage is that failure of a single car disables the entire set, since individual cars cannot be readily switched in and out of the consist.

Main article: Low-floor
In some countries (such as the US), platform level may be below the level of the floor of passenger cars, resulting in a significant step up from platform level - leading to slower boarding times, which are important for high-capacity systems. Low-floor cars have their main passenger and loading floor directly on level with the loading platform, instead of having a step up to the passenger compartment as was traditional until around the 1970s. This is achieved by having a low-slung chassis with the "low floor" resting between the trucks, rather than resting completely on top with a simpler straight chassis design. This improved design is seen in many passenger cars today, especially double decker cars. The low floor enables easy access for bicycles, strollers, suitcases, wheelchairs and those with disabilities, which is otherwise not always convenient or even possible with the traditional passenger car design.
These vehicles usually carry motive power in each individual unit. Trams, Light Rail Vehicles and subways have been widely constructed in urban areas throughout the world since the late 19th century. By the year 1900, electric-powered passenger cars were ubiquitous in the developed world, but they fell into decline after World War II, especially in the U.S. By the year 2000 they had regained popularity and modern lines were being rebuilt where they had been torn up only 40 years earlier to make way for automobiles.
On lighter-trafficked rural railways, powered diesel cars (such as the Budd Rail Diesel Car) continue to be popular. In Germany the new Talent design shows that the diesel-powered passenger car is still a viable part of rail service. In the UK, locomotive-hauled passenger trains have largely been replaced by diesel multiple units, such as the Bombardier Voyager family, even on express services.
These cars are able to tilt to counter the effects of inertia when turning, making the ride more comfortable for the passengers. Amtrak has adopted Talgo trainsets for its Amtrak Cascades service in the Pacific Northwest. Other manufacturers have also implemented tilting designs. The British Rail Class 390 is a tilting train operating in the UK.
A tram (British English), tramcar, streetcar or trolley car (American English) is a railborne vehicle which—at least in parts of its route—runs on tracks in streets. It may also run between cities and/or towns (interurbans, Tram-train), and/or partially grade separated even in the cities (light rail or light rapid transit). Trams are usually lighter and shorter than conventional trains and rapid transit trains. However, the differences between these modes of public transportation are imprecise. Some trams (for instance Tram-Trains) may also run on ordinary railway tracks, a tramway may be upgraded to a light rail or a rapid transit line, two urban tramways may be united to an interurban, etc. Trams are designed for the transport of passengers and (very occasionally) freight.
Most trams today use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph; in some cases by a third rail or trolley pole. If necessary, they may have several power systems. Certain types of cable car are also known as trams. Another power source is diesel; a few trams use electricity in the streets and diesel in more rural environments. Also steam and petrol (gasoline) have been used. Horse and mule driven trams do still occur.
The Silesian Interurbans in Poland and the Trams in Melbourne, Australia, are claimed to be the largest tram networks in the world. Before its decline the BVG in Berlin operated a very large network with 634 km of route. During a period in the 1980s the world’s largest tram system was in Leningrad, USSR, being included in Guinness World Records. The largest single tram line in the world is the Belgian Coast tram, whichs runs the entire length of the Belgian coast. Other large systems include Prague, Amsterdam, Basel, Zurich and Toronto. Until the system started to be converted to trolleybus (and later bus) in the 1930s, the first-generation London network was also one of the world’s largest, with 526 km (327 mi) of route in 1934. While the largest streetcar network in the world used to be located in Chicago, with over 850 kilometres (530 mi) of track, all of it was converted to bus service by the late 1950s.
Tramways with tramcars (British English) or street railways with streetcars (American English) were common throughout the industrialised world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but they had disappeared from most British, Canadian, French and U.S. cities by the mid-20th century.
By contrast, trams in parts of continental Europe continued to be used by many cities, although there were contractions in some countries, including the Netherlands.
Since 1980 trams have returned to favour in many places, partly because their tendency to dominate the highway, formerly seen as a disadvantage, is now considered to be a merit. New systems have been built in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, France and many other countries.
Tramways are now included in the wider term "light rail", which also includes segregated systems. Some systems have both segregated and street-running sections, but are usually then referred to as trams, because it is the equipment for street-running which tends to be the decisive factor. Vehicles on wholly segregated light rail systems are generally called trains, although cases have been known of "trains" built for a segregated system being sold to new owners and becoming "trams".

1 Etymology and terminology 2 History 3 Types of propulsion 3.1 Horse-drawn 3.2 Steam 3.3 Cable-pulled 3.4 Hybrid funicular 3.5 Electric (trolley cars) 3.6 Other power sources 4 Design 4.1 Low floor 4.2 Articulated 4.3 Double decker 4.4 Tram-train 4.5 Cargo trams 4.6 Hearse-tram 5 Tramway operation 6 Tram and light-rail transit systems around the world 6.1 Asia 6.2 Europe 6.3 North America 6.4 Australia and New Zealand 6.5 South America 7 Pros and cons of tram systems 7.1 Advantages 7.2 Disadvantages 8 In other media 8.1 In literature 8.2 In popular culture 9 In scale modelling 0 Types 11 Regional 12 See also 13 References 14 External links 15 Further reading