Railway track
A railway track or railway line is a set of two parallel rows of long pieces of steel. They are used by trains to transport people and things from one place to another. (In America, people say railroad as well as railway). Often, there is more than one set of tracks on the railway line. For example, trains go east on one track and west on the other one.
The rails are supported by cross pieces set at regular intervals (called sleepers or ties), which spread the high pressure load imposed by the train wheels into the ground. They also maintain the rails at a fixed distance apart (called the gauge). Ties are usually made from either wood or concrete. These often rest on ballast, which is a name for very small pieces of broken up rock that are packed together and keep the railway tracks in place. Tracks are often made better by ballast tampers.
The upper surfaces of the rails are inclined slightly towards each other, typically on a slope of 1/20, and the rims of the train wheels are angled in the same way ("coning"). This helps guide the vehicles of the train along the track. Each wheel also has a flange, which sticks out from one edge all the way around. This makes sure the train does not "derail" (come off the track) and helps guide the train on sharp curves.
Railway Track Media
- Australian National Railways track with concrete sleepers.jpg
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.png
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
- Feste Fahrbahn FFBögl.jpg
Slab track with flexible noise-reducing rail fixings, built by German company Max Bögl, on the Nürnberg–Ingolstadt high-speed line
- Diagram of section of ladder track type of sleeper on Leeds and Selby Railway.JPG
Diagram of cross section of 1830s ladder type track used on the Leeds and Selby Railway
- FloatingLadder.JPG
Ladder track at Shinagawa Station, Tokyo, Japan
- THORN-155lb-PS-jointed-joint.jpg
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.
- Geschweisster schienenstoss.jpeg
welded rail joint
- LIRR-Winter-Flames.jpg
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
- Expansion joint, Hayle.jpg
An expansion joint on the Cornish Main Line, England
