Guangdong province's rail network spanned 3,818 kilometers as of the end of 2014, a 19.2 percent year-on-year increase. This included 629 kilometers of national railways and 3,189 kilometers of local railways.

There are eight rail lines crossing Guangdong province, including the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, Beijing-Kowloon Railway, Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway, Litang–Zhanjiang Railway, Zhanjiang-Haikou Railway. Four more lines will also be added to the list by 2020.

Guangzhou serves as the province's main rail hub, with three major north-south railways and two east-west lines running through the city to connect Guangdong with places around China.

There is also a fast-growing high-speed rail network in the province with more than 1,400 kilometers of line as of the end of 2014, making it the largest in China.

Several major high-speed lines including the Wuhan-Guangzhou High Speed Railway, Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link and Xiamen-Shenzhen High Speed Railway are already in operation. The main hubs for this high-speed network are Guangzhou South and Shenzhen North stations.

Approximately 101 million metric tons of rail freight was transported through Guangdong in 2015, a 9.4 percent decrease on the previous year. The number of rail passengers, meanwhile, rose 11.7 percent year on year to 26.5 million.