Train emoji: which train is which
Locomotive is the steam engine with a smokestack and a puff of smoke, the "choo choo" train of children's books, heritage railways and birthday parties. Railway Car is a single carriage seen from the side, usually drawn as a light-rail or tram car; put several in a row and you have a whole train. Train is the plain modern passenger train, drawn head-on on most platforms, and the safest choice when you just mean "I'm taking the train".
High-Speed Train and Bullet Train are both fast trains seen from the side; has the long rounded nose of the Japanese shinkansen (its Unicode name is "high-speed train with bullet nose"), so it is the one to send for Japan, while covers the TGV, ICE, Eurostar or any express. Metro is a train in a tunnel: the subway, the Tube, the U-Bahn. Light Rail is a modern city train, Tram a streetcar head-on and Tram Car the same thing from the side, often shown with a trolley pole.
The rarer ones are worth knowing. Monorail runs on a single elevated beam, the train of airports, theme parks and Tokyo's Haneda line. Mountain Railway is a little train on a viaduct in the hills, the scenic-ride emoji. Suspension Railway hangs from an overhead rail, like the Schwebebahn in Wuppertal, Germany. Mountain Cableway and Aerial Tramway are cable cars rather than trains, but they share the ski-trip and mountain-holiday captions.
Station, tracks and signals
Station shows a train stopped at a platform and reads as "meet me at the station" or "just arrived". Railway Track is the empty line running to the horizon; on its own it means a journey ahead, the long way home, or, in a more poetic post, staying on track. Bus Stop doubles as a tram or rail stop in many chats. The signals of the road, , stand in for railway signals, and Construction is the barrier at a level crossing or a line closed for engineering works; is the stop.
Two text characters belong here too. Circled M is the sign for the metro in many cities, so โ๏ธ Line 2 reads as a subway direction in a message. ้ง
is the Japanese kanji eki, "station", printed on every station sign in Japan; it is a plain character, not an emoji, but travellers paste it into itineraries next to all the time.
Tickets, luggage and the view from the window
Ticket and Admission Tickets are the booking: ๐ซ booked! is the first message of most train trips. is the Japanese "reserved" button, the character that marks a reserved seat on a shinkansen ticket, and Seat is the seat itself, so ๐บ๐ช is the window seat. Luggage and Backpack are what you carry on, the baggage signs at a big terminal.
On board, people reach for , (the ekiben, the boxed lunch sold at Japanese stations) or a , and for the ride, and for the nap that ends one stop too late. The view from the window has its own row: sunrise over the mountains, for alpine and Japanese lines, the forest, the bridge, fog, and for the city arriving outside. name the destination and the route.
Timetables, delays and the people on the line
Railway life runs on the clock, so clock faces such as sit next to train emoji in almost every commute post: ๐ ๐ delayed says it all. is the early alarm, the wait on the platform, "arriving soon", the end of the line, the way back and a return trip. is running for the train, is standing on the platform, the walk to the station.
The railway also has its people and parts. are track workers and engineers, the tools and the wheel, the overhead power of an electrified line, the bell at a level crossing, and the sleepers and ballast under the rails. Model-railway and railfan posts use these more than anyone: ๐โ๏ธ๐ ๏ธ is a locomotive under restoration.
Train emoji meaning in slang, and the text train symbol
Most of the time a train emoji means a train: a trip, a commute, a late arrival. Two other uses turn up. "Train" is also a slang word for a group sexual act, and or is sometimes sent in that sense, so read the context before replying to a stranger's . Far more common is the harmless "choo choo", a cheerful "here we go" or the sound of a toddler's favourite toy.
For a black-and-white train that takes the colour of the text, use Diesel Locomotive: it is a plain-text pictograph from Unicode 7.0 with no colour emoji form, so it shows as a thin outline where fonts support it and as a box where they don't. On a device that supports it, and the other trains can also be forced into text style with the variation selector UFE0E, though most phones ignore that and draw the colour picture anyway. For a monochrome row, ้ง are the safe bets.
Symbols
76Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Trains
steam and classic first, then fast, city and mountain lines
Station, tracks and signals
Timetable and delays
The view from the window
How to use them
6 situationsClick to copy on my way or underground, no signal. Add a clock face for a time and for a delay: 20 min late. Paris Amsterdam . For scenery use , for a night train , for Japan . platform 4, tells a friend where and when. means you are running for it. commuting, back at or Train Emoji combos
14Worth knowing
- Three of the train emoji are among the very first emoji ever made: the DoCoMo set of 1999 already had a train, a metro and a bullet train, which is why look so simple next to the detailed trains that came later.
- Almost the whole railway set ( ) arrived at once in Unicode 6.0 in 2010. Railway Track and the text-only Diesel Locomotive came later, in Unicode 7.0 (2014).
- is officially "High-Speed Train With Bullet Nose": the nose is the Japanese shinkansen's, which English speakers nicknamed the bullet train when it opened in 1964.
- Suspension Railway is modelled on a real oddity: a train that hangs from an overhead rail, like the Wuppertal Schwebebahn in Germany, which has carried passengers above the river Wupper since 1901.
- Circled M is older than every train emoji: it was in Unicode 1.1 in 1993, and only later became an emoji, the metro sign of many cities.
Questions people ask
8How do I copy and paste train emoji?
Tap or click any train on this page to copy it, then paste it into your message. On iPhone and Android the trains are on the emoji keyboard under Travel & Places, right after the cars.
What does the train emoji mean?
A train trip, a commute or "I'm on the train". the steam locomotive also means "choo choo", a cheerful here-we-go, and a line of is a toy train. tracks can mean a journey ahead or staying on track.
What does the train emoji mean in slang?
In some slang "a train" is a group sexual act, and or is occasionally used that way, usually with other suggestive emoji. Without that context it just means a train.
What is the difference between and ?
Both are high-speed trains. has the long bullet nose of the Japanese shinkansen (its name is High-Speed Train With Bullet Nose); is a generic express such as the TGV or ICE. Use for Japan and for anywhere else.
Is there a subway or metro emoji?
Yes: Metro shows a train in a tunnel. Light Rail and Tram are the above-ground city trains, and Circled M is the metro sign many cities use.
Is there a train station emoji?
Yes, Station: a train stopped at a platform. is the track and the stop sign used for buses and trams.
Is there a black and white train emoji or text symbol?
Diesel Locomotive is a text-only train pictograph that takes the colour of the text, where the font supports it. and the Japanese station kanji ้ง are plain text too. The colour trains have no reliable monochrome version on phones.
What are good train emoji combos?
for choo choo, for a trip, for Japan, for a scenic ride, for a delay and for running for the train.
More collections
12
โ๏ธTravel Emoji
๐Car & Transport Emoji
๐๏ธCity & Building Emoji
๐Clock & Time Emoji
๐All Emoji
๐Location & Map Emoji
๐งTools & Construction Emoji
๐ซกGoodbye & Farewell Emoji
โ๏ธAirplane & Aviation Emoji
๐จEmergency & Disaster Emoji
๐๏ธCamping & Hiking Emoji
๐ค Cowboy & Western Emoji