Are all the railway lines in the country built at exactly the same height? I?

Question

I suppose they must have to be the same height or the trains wouldn't run smoothly over the lines. But who decided what height they would all be set at and when?

Answer 1

If you mean 'same height' geographically, no of course they don't - they go up hill and down dale, just as roads do, except that gradients are much shallower than on roads partly because a train is a heavier load and partly because steel wheels on steel rails are prone to slipping. Really, had you thought about your question you would have realise railways cross hills and mountains.

But if you meant are the rails on each side of the track at the same height, that is more interesting and the answer is 'no' on bends where the rail on the outside of the curve is higher than that in the inner. This is called 'super elevation' and is one of the reasons why the Italians invented the 'Pendolino' train which actually compensates for this elevation and keeps the carriage upright

Answer 2

Actually, in the USA, we use different SIZE rail, depending on if it's a "branch" line, or a "main" line. It's not described by height, but by poundage, like a 60 lb rail is 60 lbs per yard length, or 70 lb per yard, or 90, etc. What this means is that they made the rails smaller and lighter for branch line service, to reduce cost, as there's no long, heavy freight trains traveling on them, only a few rail cars at a time with a small engine usually servicing the branch. Is the actual rail HEIGHT different? Yes, if you look at the two , you can even see they're different heights visually. There's obviously a transition, probably at the switch, to go from one to the other. It's not as common in modern America to find the lighter rail, as inefficient lines have been closed, and the heavier gauge rail has been laid even on branch lines to permit heavier locomotives to operate.

Bottom line? Yes, there are different heights of rails due to branch/mainline useage, in the USA at least. I was about to say I had no idea of the dimensions, but I just remembered I have an old 1950's? era book on rail gauge, and here's what's listed for USA railroads. The heights are:
5 & 3/16's
6
6 & 3/4
7
7 & 1/8
7 & 1/16
8 inches.

There are 4 different regional railroads or standards that use these 6 different heights. Other changes are as follows :

Mainline weight per yard - 85, 90, 100, 105, 115, 127, 133, 140, and 155 lb. per yard

Branch line weight - 60, 70, or 80 lb.

Pretty interesting Rail booklet, made for home study by the Pennsylvania Railroad Co.

Answer 3

Same height...I would assume you mean the actual rail dimensions.

The running rails of a railway consist of longitudinal metal rails supported on sleepers which determine the gauge(distance between the rails).

Historically many different types of rails in length and profile have been used by different railway companies.
Standard gauge railways..I.e Networkrail in UK are all the same in profile to allow trains to use the entire network and even cross to mainland Europe.

But in the past rails have been different in both width and depth of the running surfaces..but have mostly been able to have had trains from one railway company run onto another railway co.

Exceptions being where the actual gauge is different.
i.e Bunuel's 7 foot GWR broad gauge or miniature railways like in Wales.

An act of parliament in 1846 was passed to standardise all new main line railways in the UK to the gauage of 4'8 1/4".

Answer 4

The answer about 'super elevation' is mostly right but the banking leans the trains into the corners to reduce forces on the trains and passengers. Tilting trains lean further into the corners, reducing forces further - in the case of the British Rail APT it worked too well - cancelling out the cornering sensation completly. This caused problems with passengers who could see the movement, but couldn't feel it - which lead to motion sickness

Answer 5

No idea without looking it up, but it must have been at the birth of the railways....originally there were two gauges, narrow gauge, which is the width between the rails, which is what we have now, and broad gauge, where the rails were further apart and the carriages therefore wider...used on the GWR....this was eventually abandoned....as for the height...no idea I'm afraid.

Answer 6

They are all exactly the same width.

The height varies with the height of the land, sometimes you will see one railway passing under a bridge that carries another railway.

Answer 7

No it is not possible. But change in elevation of tracks is usually kept as low as possible. Even the two rails are not at the same height on turns to compensate fore centrifugal forces called angle of banking. It is decided by the speed range and load etc. etc,

Answer 8

Are you referring to the same heighth above the roadbed?
If you are, it is not the same, different rails have different heights, where they transition form one to another there is a special rail that gently makes the difference possible.
If you are talking elevation, level track grades are almost unheard of except along water.

Answer 9

Most railway lines are built on the ground, i.e. height = zero.
A cunning plan.

Answer 10

This needs to be forwarded on to fhm magazine in the section of "out of the mouths of girls"