Railway

Urban and interurban electric railways using single cars or short trains have more normally used the term railway in their names than regular railroads in the U.S. The first street railway company in Brooklyn, New York City to operate an electric trolley line was the Coney Island & Brooklyn Railroad.

Other English speaking countries
In the United Kingdom the term rail road was often used in the early days of the railways, but by about the 1850s railway had turn into the chosen term, with the term rail road becoming disused. British use of the term railway extended to the rail transport systems that the British built in the British Empire, and elsewhere in the world.

Outside of the U.S., the term railway is used almost completely; however, even there a distinction is sometimes made between predictable railways and street railways or trams, styling the latter light railways from which the modern term light rail is descended.