Permanent way
The permanent way is the elements of railway lines: generally the pairs of rails typically laid on ties ("sleepers" in British parlance) embedded in ballast, intended to carry the ordinary trains of a railway. It is described as permanent way because in the earlier days of railway construction, contractors often laid a temporary track to transport spoil and materials about the site; when this work was substantially completed, the temporary track was taken up and the permanent way installed.
Permanent Way Media
Common contemporary practice in track construction, featuring well-drained ballast spread level with the tops of concrete sleepers/crossties – Australian National Railways, ca 1982
Section through railway track and foundation showing the ballast and formation layers. The layers are slightly sloped to help drainage. Sometimes there is a layer of rubber matting (not shown) to improve drainage, and to dampen sound and vibration
Slab track with flexible noise-reducing rail fixings, built by German company Max Bögl, on the Nürnberg–Ingolstadt high-speed line
Diagram of cross section of 1830s ladder type track used on the Leeds and Selby Railway
Ladder track at Shinagawa Station, Tokyo, Japan
Mainline, six-bolt rail joint on a segment of 155 lb/yd (76.9 kg/m) rail. The alternating bolt head orientation prevents joint separation should a derailed wheel strike the bolts. The electrical bonding jumper connects the two rails to maintain continuity of the track circuit.
welded rail joint
A pull-apart on the Long Island Rail Road Babylon Branch being repaired by using flaming rope to expand the rail back to a point where it can be joined together
An expansion joint on the Cornish Main Line, England
