In recent years, railway heritage has increasingly gained prominence in the study and conservation of industrial heritage. However, due to China’s extensive territory, railway heritage is dispersed across wide regions as large-scale industrial facilities, posing significant challenges in acquiring comprehensive information and understanding its relationship with urban development on a macroeconomic level. From a macro perspective, this paper examines China’s railway heritage through the application of geographic information systems. It employs kernel density analysis, standard elliptic difference and gravity center analysis, as well as nearest proximity index analysis. The foundational data are derived from railway heritage included in the national key cultural relics protection units, China’s Industrial Heritage Protection List, and China’s 20th century architectural heritage. The factors influencing the formation of railway heritage in China are analyzed utilizing the geographical detector model. The findings indicate that: (1) The spatial distribution of railway heritage in China is predominantly clustered. (2) The overall developmental trajectory of China’s railway heritage can be categorized into three stages: from the northeast to the central regions, from the central to the southern regions, and ultimately from the south to the western regions. (3) The spatial differentiation of railway heritage in China is affected by various factors, with population density, per capita Gross Domestic Product, and urbanization rate exerting the most significant influence. These findings offer valuable insights for the preservation and reutilization of China’s railway heritage.