railway signalling

Aspect can refer to: Aspect (computer science) is a feature that is linked to many parts of a program, but which is not necessarily the primary function of the program. Grammatical aspect is a grammatical feature having to do with the internal temporal flow of an event. Astrological aspect is the relative angle between two heavenly bodies. Aspect (geography) refers to the direction to which a mountain slope faces. Aspect was also the name of: Alain Aspect, the French p ...

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Modelling Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. A railway (or railroad) track consists of two parallel rail tracks, usually of steel, generally mounted upon cross beams (termed "railroad ties" (US) or "sleepers" (UK) ) of timber, concrete or steel. The underlying support maintains the rails at a fixed distance (gauge) apart. Usually vehicles running on the rails are arranged in a train (a series of individual powered or unpowered vehicles linked together). ...

Including:

• Rail transport - General
• Rail transport - Operations
• Rail transport - Level
• Rail transport - Safety and railway disasters
• Rail transport - History
• Rail transport - Terminology
• Rail transport - Rail transport by country

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Double switching - Clapham. The Clapham Junction rail crash of 1988 was caused in part by the lack of double switching (known as "double cutting" in the British Railway industry). The signal relay in question was switched ("cut") in only the "active" side, while the return current came back on a unswitched wire. A loose wire bypassed the contacts by which the train detection relays switched the signal, allowing the signal to show green when in fact there was a stationary train ahead. 35 peopl ...

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Double switching, Double switching - Accidents, Double switching - Clapham, Double switching - Baggage Door, Double switching - Faulty Compass

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Rail transport is an energy efficient means of mechanised land transport. The rail tracks provide very smooth and hard surfaces on which the wheels of the train may roll with a minimum of friction. As an example, a typical rail car can hold up to 125 tons of freight with this and the weight of the car on two four-wheel bogies. Fully loaded, the contact between each wheel and the rail is the space of about one U.S. ten-cent piece. This can save energy compared with other forms of transportation, such as road transport which depends on rubber ...

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Rail transport, Rail transport - General, Rail transport - Operations, Rail transport - Level, Rail transport - Safety and railway disasters, Rail transport - History, Rail transport - Terminology, Rail transport - Rail transport by country

Read more here: » Rail transport: Encyclopedia II - Rail transport - General

Using the UK definition, home signal is but one kind of stop signal. A given signal box may have one or more stop signals. It is most common for a signal box to have two stop signals governing each line. The first reached by a train is known as the home signal — it protects points, junctions, level crossings, etc. controlled by the box. The second stop signal — known as the starting signal is located past the points, junctions, and so forth, a ...

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Home signal, Home signal - Types of stop signal, Home signal - Relationship between distant signals and stop signals, Home signal - Shapes and colours

Read more here: » Home signal: Encyclopedia II - Home signal - Types of stop signal

Rail transport systems are built into the landscape, including both the physical geography (hills, valleys, etc) and the human geography (location of settlements). The rail transport system may in turn feedback into the human geography. Rail transport operations - Physical geography. The permanent way of a system must pass through the geography and geology of its region. This may be flat or mountainous, may include obstacles such as water and mountains. These will determine in part the intrinsic nature of the system. The slope at which trains run needs also be calculated c ...

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Rail transport operations, Rail transport operations - Background factors feasibility, Rail transport operations - Extrinsic factors, Rail transport operations - Physical geography, Rail transport operations - Human geography, Rail transport operations - Historical factors, Rail transport operations - Intrinsic factors, Rail transport operations - Permanent way and railroad construction, Rail transport operations - Types of rail system, Rail transport operations - Signalling, Rail transport operations - Types of vehicle, Rail transport operations - Passenger operations, Rail transport operations - Freight operations, Rail transport operations - Locomotive operations, Rail transport operations - Train composition and operations

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Main articles: History of rail transport and Heritage railway See also Timeline of railway history The Diolkos was a 6-km long railway that transported boats across the Corinth isthmus in Greece in the 6th century BC. Trucks pushed by slaves ran in grooves in a limestone track. The Diolkos ran for over 1300 years, until 900 AD. The first horse-drawn wagonways appeared in Greece, Malta, and parts of the Roman Empire at least 2000 years ago, using cut-stone track. They began reappearing in Europe from around 1550, ...

See also:

Rail transport, Rail transport - General, Rail transport - Operations, Rail transport - Level, Rail transport - Safety and railway disasters, Rail transport - History, Rail transport - Terminology, Rail transport - Rail transport by country

Read more here: » Rail transport: Encyclopedia II - Rail transport - History

In Britain and other Commonwealth of Nations countries the term railway is used in preference to railroad, while in the United States the reverse is true. However, railroad was used in Britain concurrently with railway until the 1850s when railway became the established term. Furthermore a number of American companies have railway in their names instead of railroad, the BNSF Railway being the most pre-eminent modern example.

See also:

Rail transport, Rail transport - General, Rail transport - Operations, Rail transport - Level, Rail transport - Safety and railway disasters, Rail transport - History, Rail transport - Terminology, Rail transport - Rail transport by country

Read more here: » Rail transport: Encyclopedia II - Rail transport - Terminology

Home signals vary around the world, in shape, colour, illumination, and behaviour. The most common arrangement is a semaphore arm painted red with a white stripe to facilitate sighting, which shows a red light in the stop position, and a green light in the clear position. The home signal blade is traditionally square-ended, which distinguishes it from the "V"-notched "fishtail" blade of a distant signal. However, some blades now have a pointed end (the opposite of a fishtail), which indicates "stop and then continue prepared to stop if necessary" (heavy freight trans are often permitted to continue s ...

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Home signal, Home signal - Types of stop signal, Home signal - Relationship between distant signals and stop signals, Home signal - Shapes and colours

Read more here: » Home signal: Encyclopedia II - Home signal - Shapes and colours

Trains travelling at any significant speed require hundreds if not thousands of metres to stop. In order that a train can be brought to a stand before reaching a home signal at Danger, it is necessary to have a distant signal located at at least braking distance from the succeeding stop signal. The driver of a train encountering a distant signal at Caution must expect the stop signal (home signal) to be at Danger and must adjust the train's speed so as to bring the train to a stand before passing the stop signal at Danger. The driver ...

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Home signal, Home signal - Types of stop signal, Home signal - Relationship between distant signals and stop signals, Home signal - Shapes and colours

Read more here: » Home signal: Encyclopedia II - Home signal - Relationship between distant signals and stop signals

In Britain and other British Commonwealth countries the term railway is used in preference to railroad, while in the United States the reverse is true. However, railroad was used in Britain concurrently with railway until the 1850s when railway became the established term. Furthermore a number of American companies have railway in their names instead of railroad, the BNSF Railway being the most pre-eminent modern example. ...

See also:

Rail transport, Rail transport - General, Rail transport - Operations, Rail transport - Level, Rail transport - Safety and railway disasters, Rail transport - History, Rail transport - Terminology, Rail transport - Rail transport by country

Read more here: » Rail transport: Encyclopedia II - Rail transport - Terminology

Trains can travel at very high speed, are heavy, are unable to deviate from the track and require a great distance to stop. Possibilities for accidents include jumping the track (derailment), head-on collision with another train coming the opposite way and collision with an automobile at a level crossing (also called a grade crossing). Level crossing collisions are relatively common in the United States where there are several thousand each year killing about 500 people - although the comparable figures in Britain are 30 and 12. For inf ...

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Rail transport, Rail transport - General, Rail transport - Operations, Rail transport - Level, Rail transport - Safety and railway disasters, Rail transport - History, Rail transport - Terminology, Rail transport - Rail transport by country

Read more here: » Rail transport: Encyclopedia II - Rail transport - Safety and railway disasters

A rail transport system consists of several necessary elements, and should be viewed from a system-wide perspective when planning, constructing and maintaining it. Some locomotives may be wonderfully aesthetic constructions, but they will not work unless they are given an appropriate system on which to run. This system includes infrastructure such as tracks, railroad switches or points, signals, classification yards, etc. Firstly there is the geography onto which the permanent way is built. Next are the requirements of the system – ...

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Rail transport, Rail transport - General, Rail transport - Operations, Rail transport - Level, Rail transport - Safety and railway disasters, Rail transport - History, Rail transport - Terminology, Rail transport - Rail transport by country

Read more here: » Rail transport: Encyclopedia II - Rail transport - Operations

The Diolkos was a 6-km long railway that transported boats across the Corinth isthmus in Greece in the 6th century BC. Trucks pushed by slaves ran in grooves in a limestone track. The Diolkos ran for over 1300 years, until 900 AD. The first horse-drawn wagonways appeared in Greece, Malta, and parts of the Roman Empire at least 2000 years ago, using cut-stone track. They began reappearing in Europe from around 1550, ...

See also:

Rail transport, Rail transport - General, Rail transport - Operations, Rail transport - Level, Rail transport - Safety and railway disasters, Rail transport - History, Rail transport - Terminology, Rail transport - Rail transport by country

Read more here: » Rail transport: Encyclopedia II - Rail transport - History

In Britain and other British Commonwealth countries the term railway is used in preference to railroad, while in the United States the reverse is true. However, railroad was used in Britain concurrently with railway until the 1850s when railway became the established term. Furthermore a number of American companies have railway in their names instead of railroad, the BNSF Railway being the most pre-eminent modern example. (See usage of the terms railroad and railway.) In Britain the ter ...

See also:

Rail transport, Rail transport - General, Rail transport - Operations, Rail transport - Level, Rail transport - Safety and railway disasters, Rail transport - History, Rail transport - Terminology, Rail transport - Rail transport by country

Read more here: » Rail transport: Encyclopedia II - Rail transport - Terminology