Ralf Roth is Professor of Modern History at the Historische Seminar, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He has published several books and numerous articles on the social and cultural history of cities, transport, and communication networks.

Paul Van Heesvelde is a historian (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) who specialises in war and transportation. He is a former Special PhD fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His publications include Destination le Front. Les Chemins de fer en Belgique pendant la Grande Guerre (2014) and chapters in books on transport history.

Introduction, Part 1: Some General Assumptions on the Topic, 1. The City and the Railway in the World: Looking Back Over Two Centuries, Part 2: Cities in a Wider Context: the Role of National and Continental Railway Networks in the Development of Cities, 2. Tracks Laid in Muddy Streets: Chicago's Perilous Transition From Frontier Town to Industrial City, 3. A Comparative Study of the Impact of Railway Stations on Madobi and Kwankwaso Towns in the Kura District of Kano Emirate, 4. Railroads and the Urban Trans-Chicago West, 1865-1925, 5. Bombay and its Hinterland(s): Railways and the Making of Colonial Western India, 1853-c. 1900, Part 3: The Railway Station: New Entrance to the City and Its Multiple Meanings, 6. Inventing the Future. Early Railway Station Planning and Mechelen's 'Central Station', 1835-1845, 7. Railways in Prague: Tying and Cutting the Gordian Knot, 8. Putting a Station in Its Place: 30th Street Station and Its Relationship to Philadelphia's Urban Fabric, 9. 'Capital Politics' Through Railways: The Opening Ceremonies of Railway Stations in Nineteenth-Century Bucharest, 10. The Railways and the City in the History of Indian Political Practice, 11. Save Haydarpäa: A Train Station as Object of Conflicting Visions of the Past, 12. The Conservation of Railway Stations in Mexico: A Pending Issue, Part 4: Urban Rails and How They Affected, and Still Affect, the City, 13. Private Railways as Urban Developers in Japan, 14. The Unfinished Dream of 'Workplace and Dwelling Proximity': Development of Private Railway Companies and Areas on Railway Lines in Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Areas, 15. Creation of the Railway Culture Through Marketing and Consumption: A Case Study of Tama, West Tokyo, 16. From Viaducts to Vandalism: The London and Greenwich Railway, 1834-1840, 17. The B&O Railroad and the Changing Use of Streets in Baltimore, Maryland, 1829-1865, 18. Brussel¿s Jonction as the Heart Valve in Belgium's Splintered Body, 19. Birth of a Commuter Society: Workmens' Trains in Belgium, 1870-1914, 20. Can We Find Historical Evidence of the Existence of Wider Benefits From Urban Rail Projects? The Case of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, 21. The Experience and Image of American Elevated Railways: Rapid Transit Infrastructure in the Urban Consciousness, Part 5: Railways in Troubled Waters and Their Return at the End of the Twentieth Century, 22. The German Federal Railway (Deutsche Bundesbahn) and the Process of Suburbanisation After 1945, 23. Light Rail Renaissance in European Cities: Urban Mobility Agenda and City Renewals, 24. A Symbiotic Relationship: The Delhi Metro Rail and the National Capital Region, 25. Urban Mega Projects and Civic Conflict: The Case of the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project in India