電車 has the kanji for "electric" in it, but is it more or less ok to use it even for non-electric trains, such as steam trains? I saw a steam-powered train being used as the picture for that word in Duolingo.
Answer
I was corrected yesterday on this very point when playing Great Western Trail in Japanese.
The people I was with most assuredly only use 汽車 for steam locomotives versus 電車 for modern electric rail trains. They found my periodic use of 電車 humorous but wrong enough that they vocally corrected it twice...
In the case of the game the trains are 19th steam locomotives, but I've had the same experience riding the ノロッコ号 to Furano.
If you want a universal word for train, there's 列車 and for passenger train 客車
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