>>1262463France had a very extensive secondary rail network with metre gauge lines. Many of them were built and operated by the CFD (Compagnie de chemins de fer départementaux), others were independently organised as "tramways" or "chemins de fer économiques". Their lines reached pretty much all the places that were too small or too difficult to build a normal railway line to. Many networks reached impressive lenths of over 500km, though service was always pretty low. Most of these lines were closed either in the interwar period or past WWII, but some survived till today, like the network in Corsica or the line from Nice to Digne-les-Bains.
In Germany the term for these railways was "Kleinbahn" or "Kreisbahn", usually metre gauge or standard gauge lines that were built and operated by local investors and municipalities to reach smaller cities and factories. In Austria and Switzerland these lines were mostly electrified, many of them are still in service.
