rly.

Noun

railway (plural railways)

1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK) A transport system using rails used to move passengers or goods.
   • That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   rail, railroad

2. (Commonwealth, Ireland, Philippines, UK) A track, consisting of parallel rails, over which wheeled vehicles such as trains may travel.
   • His interest in railways is not the quality that marks Pearson out. Everyone was interested in railways. Over a thousand miles of them opened between 1837 and 1845, most of what would become the national network. [...] You needed an Act of Parliament to build a railway; but that wasn't very hard to...2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 14–15

   Synonyms:

   railline, rail line, railroad line, railroad track, rails, railtrack, rail track, railway line, railway track, train track