Types
Of Railways
How many types of railway tracks are
there in the world? Probably more than you think. Types of railway tracks can
be divided from different aspects such as the rail gauge, the construction
form, etc.
Railway tracks with different rail gauges
Rail gauge is the distance between
the rails of a railroad track or the wheels of a train.
Generally, the types of railway track gauges can be divided into the standard
gauge, the narrow gauge, and the broad gauge. The most common gauge is standard
gauge 1435mm (4 feet 8 1/2 inches). Gauges narrower than 1435mm are
called narrow gauge while wider than 1435mm are called broad gauge.
The standard gauge railway track has
a total of 720,000 kilometres in the world. It only accounts for 60% of the
world’s railways. The Cape Gauge railways, one kind of narrow gauge tracks,
ranks third in the world in terms of utilization. With a total of more than
110,000 kilometres, cape gauge railway tracks account for approximately
11% of the world’s railways. Besides, there are various gauges such as Indian
gauge, Iberian gauge, Russian gauge, metre gauge, etc.
The
standard gauge railway track
The standard gauge is 1435mm (4 feet
8 1/2 inches) wide and one of the most historic gauges. There is a story of the
standard gauge dates back to the ancient Roman era. The roads at that time were
far less paved than they are now, and most of them were made of dirt.
Therefore, the carriages ran back and forth gradually left deep wheel marks on
the ground. A carriage with the same width as this wheel mark will run very
easily, but a carriage with a different width will risk the wheels accidentally
falling into the ditch and damage the carriage. Over time, carriages in the
same area had become the same track. After Emperor Nishizawa ruled the empire,
he issued an edict requiring all of Rome to use the same carriage wheelbase,
and even the new paved stone road would leave grooves for wheels to travel!
From the historical sites, we can know now that the carriage gauge is 4 feet 9
inches, which is very close to the width of the standard gauge. But does it
matter if it is passed down? There are different opinions on this part. The
initiator of the standard gauge is George Stephenson. A more romantic view is
that he just saw the excavation of a Roman monument, so he decided to set the
gauge to this width. But it is more likely that this is just a simple
coincidence. The width of the standard gauge is the same as asses of two horses.
In the earliest days, the train was a product that replaced the rail-type
wagon. Naturally, it would adapt to the existing track width, so this
“standard” appeared!
Did everyone follow the 1435mm width
from the beginning? The answer is no. The Great Western Railway built by
Isambard Brunel uses an invincible wide track of 2140mm. The main purpose is
that this design can increase stability and leave room for a larger steam
engine. In the mid-nineteenth century, these two specifications also fought a
lot in the United Kingdom, and finally won with a standard gauge that is easier
to corner and lower in cost. After being recommended by a government research
group, the United Kingdom enacted the Track Law in 1845 to force the newly
constructed lines to adopt a width of 1435mm to facilitate direct operation
between different lines. The final specification war ended with the Great Western
Railway’s full conversion to standard gauge in 1892. Beginning in the United
Kingdom, the European continent and the United States either hired British
engineers to build the first railway in the early days or bought locomotives
and trains produced by the United Kingdom. Therefore, the European continent
and the United States. After turning over and punching, the standard gauge is
the standard.
The
narrow-gauge railway track
Gauges narrower than standard gauges
are called narrow gauges.
Cape gauge is 1067mm wide, because
it is narrower than the standard gauge of 1435mm, so it is a kind of “narrow
gauge”. It’s named Cape Gauge because the former Cape Province of South Africa
adopted this gauge in 1873. But the first country to install this gauge was
Norway. Norway was still attached to Sweden at the time, and it was a border
region with an underdeveloped economy. When engineer Carl Pihl tried to build
Norway’s first railway, he considered two possible widths that suitable for
mountainous Norway. One is 3 feet 6 inches (1067mm) and the other is 3
feet 3 inches (meter gauge, 1000mm). He asked for advice from the Stevenson
family who made the steam locomotive. Although it would be more expensive,
Stevenson thought a slightly wider gauge will help the safety of the mountains.
So in the end, 1067mm as settled as the Norwegian standard track width.
In addition to cape gauge, only
meter gauge (1000mm) in narrow-gauge railways has a relatively high prevalence
mainly in Southeast Asia and Brazil. Generally speaking, railways that are
narrower than meter gauges will be greatly reduced in terms of carrying
capacity. Therefore, only industrial railways like the 762mm five-minute car in
a sugar factory will be used. However, due to the low laying cost of the
five-minute train and the small turning radius, it is also suitable for use on
the mountain railway.
The
broad gauge railway track
Gauges wider than standard gauges
are called broad gauges. Russian gauge, Iberian gauge and Indian gauge are
three typical broad gauges.
Most areas of Russia are flat. When
the engineer Pavel Melnikov built the first railway, he planned to use a gauge
wider than the standard gauge to increase the load capacity and driving
stability. The Russian gauge (1524mm) was thus born. Russia had many
opportunities to synchronize the gauge with the rest of the European continent
to become the standard gauge. But it was worried that the hinterland of Russia
would be invaded if trains from other countries could enter freely. From World
War I to World War II to the Cold War, it finally evolved into a phenomenon in
which the former Soviet Union all adopted this own standard.
The regions that also adopted their
specifications for military reasons are Spain and Portugal. These two countries
are on the Iberian Peninsula, so the gauge used is called the Iberian gauge
(1688mm). It is said that it was to prevent the invasion of France to get this
own specification. But now the newly built Spanish high-speed rail uses
standard gauges to facilitate the mutual operation of high-speed trains in
Europe.
The Indian gauge (1676mm) is another
reason entirely. It is said that the reason why India adopts such a wide rail
is that if the rail is too narrow, the carriage is easily blown over by the
wind? We can only say that the person who determines this width is farsighted!
Looking at the situation of Indian trains that are full of people, narrower
rails are not good.
Ballasted
and ballastless railway track
The ballasted track is the
traditional track structure made of wooden sleepers and crushed stones. The
traditional ballasted track has the characteristics of simple laying and low
overall cost, but it is easy to deform thus needs frequent maintenance. At the
same time, train speed is restricted.
Ballastless track refers to the
track structure that uses concrete, asphalt mixture and other integral
foundations instead of the loose gravel trackbed. The sleepers themselves are
made of concrete, and the roadbed does not need gravel. The steel rails and
sleepers are directly laid on the concrete roadbed. Ballastless track is an
advanced track technology in the world today, which can reduce maintenance,
reduce dust, beautify the environment, and speed up trains to more than
