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What would you call track and rail in Italian? Track is the whole thing while rail is a piece of metal e.g. on the right.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zL5aEWRzgSt719K4V_TSOdIN49ZTdyGHEB0B0ZX5un-iDIEyJfQ-m0JqhW1f4ytN2Iw=w300

Is it binario for both?

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You can use the word rotaia to refer to the single piece

from Wikipedia (page Binario ferroviario):

Il binario ferroviario è l'infrastruttura basilare nella costruzione di linee ferroviarie e tranviarie. Esso è una struttura composta da due profilati metallici in acciaio, detti rotaie...

Binario is referred to the whole track instead. In stations, binario also means "platform"

One more curious thing: you can use rotaie to refer to railroads in general (but ferrovie is more common).

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  • So "track" would be "binario" and "rail" would be "rotaia"? Could you please clarify that in your answer?
    – Charo
    Dec 29, 2016 at 10:51
  • Fixed it, also added another detail about binario Dec 29, 2016 at 10:54
  • Another curious thing: when you use "rotaie" to refer to "ferrovie" you are using a sineddoche. Dec 29, 2016 at 11:22
  • 'synecdoche' in inglese
    – entonio
    Dec 30, 2016 at 8:25

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