[For the English abstract and full text of the article please see the attached PDF-File (English version follows Russian version)].ABSTRACT Today there are more than 160 rack railways around the world. Constantly (in winter and summer) about 60 of them operate. Half of all permanent roads are in Switzerland, where, as is known, more than 61 % of the territory is occupied by mountains. A rack railway is a special type of railway with a steep incline, which has toothed wheel gearings, usually located between track rails. The author tells in some detail about the history of their creation, construction and operation. Currently, they are used as a means of moving along tourist routes in mountainous terrain or as urban passenger transport (for example, in Budapest, Zurich or Stuttgart). At the same time, the Swiss rack railways are profitable. In the territory of Russia, there are no rack railways. This despite the fact that in Russia there are also many mountain territories (≈ 33 %). And, as the author rightly points out, rack railways could promote their development and organization of activities that contribute to the development of the local community and the country as a whole. Keywords: mountain relief, tourism, rack railway, history, gear wheel, toothed wheel gearing, turn mechanism, spring shock absorber, Blenkinsop system, Abt system, Marsh system, Riggenbach system, Strub system, Morgan system, Loсher system, Lamell system.