1916 in rail transport

• January 15 - First through Berlin-Istanbul train.

• February 4 - The Manila Railway Company (1906), Limited of London and the Manila Railroad Company corporation of New Jersey are merged by the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands to become the state-owned Manila Railroad Company.{{Cite act|title=AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL TO EXECUTE A CERTAIN MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT WITH THE MANILA RAILROAD COMPANY AND THE MANILA RAILWAY COMPANY (1906), LIMITED, MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE PURPOSE OF CARRYING OUT SAID MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.|article=No. 2574|article-type=Philippine Legislature Act|url=https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/dtSearch/dtisapi6.dll?cmd=getdoc&DocId=2713&Index=%2A9b8c493322d6ea4e01a8b64cca8b398a|legislature=Philippine Legislature|date=February 4, 1916|access-date=July 23, 2022}}

• April
• Murman Railway in Russia completed from Petrograd to the city that becomes Murmansk (central section not completed until November). The intermediate station at Kola lies at 68° 52′ 58″ N, the world's most northerly station at this date.
• Motor Rail deliver the first of over 900 petrol engined 60 cm narrow gauge railway locomotives for the British War Department Light Railways on the Western Front (World War I); substantially the same design is in production until the 1980s.{{cite book|author=Davies, W. J. K.|title=Light Railways of the First World War|publisher=David & Charles|location=Newton Abbot|year=1967}}{{cite web|url=http://www.wdlr.org.uk|title=War Department Light Railways|accessdate=10 August 2007|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070722080041/http://wdlr.org.uk/|archivedate=22 July 2007|url-status=live}}
• April 13 - Oris Paxton Van Sweringen and his younger brother Mantis James Van Sweringen purchase a 75% controlling interest in the Nickel Plate Road from William Kissam Vanderbilt for $8.5 million.

• May 6 - Rome and Fiuggi Rail Road opens for service.

• July 16 - Much of the Southern Railway's mainline in North and South Carolina is damaged or destroyed by flooding.{{cite web|author=Southern Railway Historical Association|url=http://www.srha.net/public/history/event_list.asp?D_ID=7-16|title=This Date in Southern Railway History|accessdate=2005-07-12}}

• August 24 - After a bankruptcy, the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad is reorganized as the St. Louis - San Francisco Railway (often called the "Frisco").
• August 24 - Due to several serious accidents caused by broken red lenses in its signals, the New York Central Railroad discontinues white lights as indications to proceed. The new color is green.

• September 11 - The almost-completed Quebec Bridge collapses for the second time.{{cite book|last=Middleton|first=William D.|title=The Bridge at Québec|year=2001|location=Bloomington|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-33761-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bridgeatquebec0000midd/page/158 158]|url=https://archive.org/details/bridgeatquebec0000midd|url-access=registration|accessdate=2011-08-16}}
• September 30 - Construction is completed on the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City.

• October 5 - Opening of Amur River line completes through rail communication on Trans-Siberian Railway.

• November 16 - The two-storey station opened by the California Southern Railroad in San Bernardino, California, is destroyed by fire.{{cite web|url=http://www.sanbag.ca.gov/about/santa-fe_history.html |author=San Bernardino Associated Governments |title=A Brief History of the Santa Fe Depot |year=2004 |accessdate=2006-07-17 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923200554/http://www.sanbag.ca.gov/about/santa-fe_history.html |archivedate=2006-09-23 |url-status=dead }}
• November 24 - German sleeping and dining car operator Mitropa is founded.

• December 1 - In the Herceghalom rail crash in Hungary, a side collision occurs between an express train and a shunting passenger train, killing 69.

• Early Summer - The Fairbourne Railway, in Wales, is converted from a horse-drawn tramway into a {{RailGauge|15in}} gauge steam railway.{{cite book|last=Milner|first=W. J.|title=Rails through the Sand: an illustrated history of the Fairbourne Miniature Railway 1916-1985|location=Chester|publisher=RailRomances|year=1996|isbn=1-900622-00-9}}
• The Pennsylvania Railroad adopts the motto "the Standard Railroad of the World".
• The Pennsylvania Railroad's first I1s 2-10-0 "Decapod" locomotive is completed and first A5s 0-4-0 and B6sb switching locomotives enter service.
• Joel Coffin purchases Lima Locomotive Corporation; the company is renamed Lima Locomotive Works.
• The first all-steel fish car is built for use on American railroads.{{cite web|author=U.S. Government Printing Office|year=1979|url=http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/fishcar.Html|title=The Fish Car Era of the National Fish Hatchery System|accessdate=2005-03-28| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20050407082631/http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/fishcar.Html|archivedate=7 April 2005|url-status=live}}
• Underground Electric Railways Company of London, operator of the London Underground, adopts Johnston (typeface) as part of its corporate identity.{{cite book|last=Green|first=Oliver|author2=Rewse-Davies, Jeremy|title=Designed for London: 150 years of transport design|location=London|publisher=Laurence King|year=1995|isbn=1-85669-064-4|pages=81–2}}{{cite book|last=Howes|first=Justin|author-link=Justin Howes|title=Johnston’s Underground Type|location=Harrow Weald|publisher=Capital Transport|year=2000|isbn=1-85414-231-3}}
• In the USA all-railroad mileage peaks at 254,251 miles (409,177 km) with the most of lines located in the east part of country.

• April 15 - Benjamin Biaggini, president of the Southern Pacific Company (U.S.) 1964–1976 (died 2005).

• September 10 - Michael Cobb, British railway historian (died 2010).

• March 18 - Karl Gölsdorf, Austrian steam locomotive designer (born 1861).{{cite book|author=Marshall, John|title=Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers|edition=2nd|location=Oxford|publisher=Railway and Canal Historical Society|year=2003|isbn=0-901461-22-9|authorlink=John Marshall (railway historian)}}

• April 19 - Ephraim Shay, American inventor of the Shay locomotive (born 1839).

• May 12 - Fred T. Perris, Chief Engineer of the California Southern Railroad (born 1836).{{cite book|author=Serpico, Philip C.|title=Santa Fé Route to the Pacific|year=1988|publisher=Omni Publications|location=Palmdale, California|isbn=0-88418-000-X|pages=18–24}}{{cite web|author=City of Perris, California |url=http://www.cityofperris.org/history.asp |title=A Brief History of the Perris Valley |accessdate=2006-07-09 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060827004101/http://www.cityofperris.org/history.asp |archivedate=2006-08-27 |url-status=dead }}
• May 29 - James J. Hill, American financier who gained control of the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway (born 1838).

• {{White - America's most noteworthy railroaders}}

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