Railway History

Railways or rail Roads are a development of “Tramways” and “Plateways”.

Age of Steam

Diesel Engines

Electric Power

Railways

Railway or Permanent-way is the combination of rails, sleepers, fittings, ballast etc.

Rail Gauges

Definition

Rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the two parallel rails that make up a single railway line.

ft' in" mm

5' 6" 1676

5' 5.85" 1668

5' 3" 1600

5' 1524

4' 11.85" 1520

4' 8.5" 1435

4' 6" 1372

3' 6" 1067

3' 5.35" 1050

3' 3.37" 1000

3' 4.1" 950

3' 914

2' 6" 762

2' 5.55" 750

2' 610

1' 11.6" 600

Dominant gauges

1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Indian gauge India, Pakistan, Argentina, Chile

1,668 mm (5 ft 5⅔ in)Iberian gauge

Portugal, Spain

1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)Irish gauge

Ireland and important minor gauge in Australia

1,524 mm (5 ft)Russian gauge

Finland, Estonia

1,520 mm (4 ft 11⅞ in) CIS states, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia

1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)

Standard gauge Europe, North America, China, Korea, Australia, Middle East, North Africa, Mexico, Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, Peru, Uruguay (60% of the world's railways) Also high-speed lines in Japan and Spain.

1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)Cape gauge Southern and Central Africa, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines,

New Zealand, Australia

1,000 mm (3 ft 3⅜ in)

Meter gauge

India, Brazil, Bolivia, northern Chile, Kenya, Uganda

Gauge     Name     Usage    

Dominant gauges

INDO-PAK policy for Gauge

The total cost of construction railway directly depends on gauges, wider the gauge higher will be the cost.

At the time of construction of railway the policy was adopted that the gauge will depend on the intensity of traffic.

INDO-PAK policy for Gauge

Commonly used gauges in INDO-PAK are

Broad Gauge

Meter Gauge

Narrow Gauge

Broad Gauge

Broad gauge refers to any gauge wider than standard gauge or 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)

Broad gauge is used to provide better stability and provide the easy transfer of rolling stock.

It is used for main cities and routes of heavy intensities

Meter Gauge

Standard gauge is referred the gauge having a length equal to 1.00-m

It is used in undeveloped area having comparatively Less intensity.

Narrow Gauge

In hilly areas and very thinly populated areas where it uneconomical to use Meter gauge, narrow gauge is used.

2’-00” and 2’-6” Narrow gauges are generally used.

Common gauges in INDO-PAK

Difficulties Due to Change in Gauge

At every change of gauge the passenger have to change the train which cause much inconvenience to the passengers.

At the junction the goods are to be unloaded from the train and loaded into another which requires extra labor and goods likely to be damaged.

The owner will have to pay extra charges for the labors causing increase in the price.

Surplus wagons and engine of the one gauge can not be utilize on the other.

Continued….

During war times change in gauge causes extremes difficulties to the army and checks their quick movement.

If the intensity of the traffic become more and requires wider gauge it will be impossible to change it because the change in gauge mean changing of each and everything i.e. rails, locomotives, bridges, tunnels etc.