12 Facts About Railway track

For much of the 20th century, rail Railway track used softwood timber sleepers and jointed rails, and a considerable amount of this Railway track remains on secondary and tertiary routes.

In 1936, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway track pioneered the conversion to flat-bottomed rail in Britain, though earlier lines had made some use of it.

Traditional railway track showing ballast, part of sleeper and fixing mechanisms.

Disadvantage of traditional Railway track structures is the heavy demand for maintenance, particularly surfacing and lining to restore the desired Railway track geometry and smoothness of vehicle running.

However, ballastless Railway track has a high initial cost, and in the case of existing railroads the upgrade to such requires closure of the route for a long period.

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Ladder Railway track utilizes sleepers aligned along the same direction as the rails with rung-like gauge restraining cross members.

However, jointed Railway track is still used in many countries on lower speed lines and sidings, and is used extensively in poorer countries due to the lower construction cost and the simpler equipment required for its installation and maintenance.

Major problem of jointed Railway track is cracking around the bolt holes, which can lead to breaking of the rail head.

Where Railway track circuits exist for signalling purposes, insulated block joints are required.

However, if longitudinal and lateral restraint are insufficient, the Railway track could become distorted in hot weather and cause a derailment.

In 1880 in New York City, sections of heavy portable Railway track helped in the epic move of the ancient obelisk in Central Park to its final location from the dock where it was unloaded from the cargo ship SS Dessoug.

Some stretches of Railway track are dual gauge, with three parallel rails in place of the usual two, to allow trains of two different gauges to use the same Railway track.