Opinion & Answer Part 22: Track Gauges Differences
Good Day All,
It is Conductor Wolf publishing another Opinion & Answer part as we continue along the Opinion & Answer Series. For this Opinion & Answer Part 22, we take a look at the different track gauge that were created and are still in use to this day while others have since been scraped. Below is a list of track gauges that will be focusing on this Opinion & Answer along with a surprise at the end. Enjoy!
Railroad Track Gauges
- Standard gauge
- Narrow gauge
- Broad gauge
- Miniature gauge
- Break of Gauge
- Dual gauge
- Nominal gauge Railroad.
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Definition of Track Gauge:
According to Wikipedia: Is the distance between the two rails of a railway track
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1.Standard gauge
- Is a railway with a 1,435 mm (4 ft 81/2 in) track gauge and has been called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC (International Union of Railways) gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR (Standard Gauge Railroad) in East Africa.
- Widely used track gauge in the world with approximation of 55% used the track gauge railway
- Except High-speed rails in Russia,Finland & Uzbekistan, the rest of the High-speed rails in the world use standard gauge railways.
- 93 locations use Standard Gauge Railways
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2. Narrow gauge
- is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1 ⁄ 2 in). Most narrow-gauge railways are between 600 mm (1 ft 11+5 ⁄ 8 in) and 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
- Has tiger curves,smaller track gauge and lighter rails
- Lower cost narrow gauge railways work for mountains
- Narrow Gauge is the standard gauge in 8 locations
- Non-industrial, narrow-gauge mountain railways are (or were) common in the Rocky Mountains of the United States and the Pacific Cordillera of Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, Greece, and Costa Rica
3. Broad gauge
- Is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) used by standard-gauge railways
- Broad gauge of 1,524 mm (5 ft), commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS states, Baltic states, Georgia and Ukraine), Mongolia and Finland. '
- Broad gauge of 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in), commonly known as Irish Gauge, is the dominant track gauge in Ireland, Victoria and Adelaide, Australia.
- Broad gauge of 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in), commonly known as Iberian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in Spain and Portugal.
- Broad gauge of 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in), commonly known as Indian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Chile, and on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- This is the widest gauge in common use anywhere in the world. It is possible for trains on both Iberian gauge and Indian gauge to travel on each other's tracks with no modifications in the vast majority of cases.
4. Miniature gauge
- Minimum-gauge railways have a gauge of most commonly 15 in (381 mm),[1] 400 mm (15+3⁄4 in), 16 in (406 mm), 18 in (457 mm), 19 in (483 mm), 500 mm (19+3⁄4 in) or 20 in (508 mm).
- Fun Fact: The notion of minimum-gauge railways was originally developed by estate railways and the French company of Decauville for light railways, trench railways, mining, and farming applications
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5.Break of gauge
- Is a railway track gauge meets another track gauge the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails
- 40 Countries have a break of Guage
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6. Dual gauge
- dual gauge railway line has a track consisting of two rails spaced according to one track gauge, to which are added either one or two more rails spaced according to another track gauge
- Could have 3 or 4 rails and Triple and Quadruple gauge
- 23 Nations have Dual Gauge systems according to research
7.Nominal gauge Railroad
- The nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails.
- In current practice, it is specified at a certain distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head (the gauge faces) are not necessarily vertical.
- Led to slow speed restrictions
- And tiger for high speed tracks
That concludes another edition of Opinion & Answer for this series. Join me next Friday for Part 23.
Work Cited (for further learning)
