MODULE 3

RAILWAYS
ADVANTAGES OF RAILWAYS
Political Advantages
 Railways unites the people of different castes, religious customs and traditions.
 Adequate network of railways makes central administration more easy and effective.
 Railways develop a national mentality in the minds of people.
 Railways are very significant during emergencies in mobilising troops and war equipments.
 Railways have helped in mass migration of population.
Social Advantages
 Feeling of isolation has been removed from the inhabitants of Indian villages.
 By travelling together into the compartment without any restriction of caste, feeling of caste
difference has disappeared considerably.
 Social outlook of masses has been broadened through railway journeys.
 Railways has made easier to reach places of religious importance.
 Railways provide convenient and safe mode of transport for the country.
Economic Advantages
 Mobility of people has increased and congested areas are relieved and less populated areas are
developed.
 Movement of labour workers has contributed to industrial development.
 During famines, railways play an important role in transporting food and clothes to the
affected areas.
 Growth of industries has been promoted due to transportation of raw materials by railways.
 Speed distribution of finished products is achieved through railways.
 Railways provide employment to millions of people and helps in solving unemployment
problems of the country.
 Trade developed due to railways has increased earnings and standard of living of Indian
people.
 Land values have increased due to industrial development resulting in increase of national
wealth.
 Due to movement of products through railways, price stabilisation of commodities could be
possible.
 Commercial farming is very much helped by railways throughout the country.
Techno Economic Advantages
 Cost saving in transportation of bulk traffic.
 Energy efficiency.
 Environmental friendliness.
 Higher safety.
 Efficient land use and ease in capacity expansion.

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PERMANENT WAY
The combination of rails, fitted on sleepers and resting on ballast and subgrade is called railway track
or permanent way

In permanent way, rails are joined in series by fish plates and bolts and they are fixed to
sleepers by different types of fastenings. The sleepers are properly placed rest on ballast which are
suitably packed and boxed with ballast. The layer of ballast rest on subgrade called formation.
Rails transmit wheel load to sleepers. Sleepers hold the rails in proper position with respect to
proper tilt, gauge and level and transmits load from rails to ballast. The ballast distributes load to the
formation and holds sleepers in position.
REQUIREMENTS OF AN IDEAL PERMANENT WAY
 The gauge should be correct and uniform.
 The rails should be in proper level, in a straight track two rails must be at same level.
 The alignment should be correct ie; it should be free from kinks or irregularities.
 The gradient should be uniform to give smooth riding quality.
 The track should be resilient and elastic to absorb shock and vibrations of running track.
 The track should have enough lateral strength so that alignment is maintained during the
effects of side thrust on tangent length, centrifugal force on curves and lateral forces due to
expansion of rails happens.
 The radii and super elevation on curves should be properly designed.
 Drainage system must be perfect for safety and durability of track.
 Joints, points and crossings should be properly designed and maintained.
 Prevention measures for creep should be taken into consideration.
 The various components of track like rails, fittings, sleepers, ballast and formation must
satisfy the requirements.
 Adequate provision for easy renewals and replacements.
 Track should be strong, low initial cost, low maintenance cost.

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COMPONENTS OF RAILWAY TRACK

A railway track consists of the following

 Formation
 Ballast
 Sleepers
 Rails
 Fastenings

i. Formation

 The surface prepared to receive,ballast,sleepers,rails etc for constructing railway track

is called formation or subgrade.
 The width of the formation depends on number of track laid on it,gauge of track,
width of ballast layer,width of the drains provided.
 the height of formation depends on the topography of alignment and gradient
adopted.
 The side slope provided depends on the characterstics of soil,shear strength,angle of
repose etc

Functions
 It provides a smooth and uniform bed on which the track is laid
 It bears the entire load transmitted from the moving loads from ballast
 It provides drainage facilities
 It provides stability to track

ii. Ballast
 Ballast is the layer of broken stone or gravel or any other suitable material placed
under and around the sleeper for distributing load from the sleepers to the
formation.the material used for ballast are broken stone,gravel,cinders
orashes,sand,brick ,kankar

Functions

 It provides a suitable foundation for sleepers

 It transfers and distributes loads from the sleepers to a large area of formation
 It provides effective drainage to the track
 It helps in protecting top surface of formation

Physical properties of good ballast

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  It should be hard and tough
 It should be wear resistant and durable
 It should be nonporous and nonadsorbent of water
 It should be cheaper and easily available
 It should not be brittle
 It should not allow rain water to accumulate

iii. Sleepers
It is the transverse support for a railway to give stiffness to it. Depending on the material used
sleepers are classified into wooden sleepers,steel sleepers,cast iron sleepers,concrete sleepers
Functions of sleepers
 It holds the rails in correct gauge
 It gives firm and even support to rails
 It distributes axial load over a sufficient large area of ballast
 It acts as an elastic medium between rails and ballast to absorb vibration
 It maintains correct alignment of track
 It provides insulation to electrified track

iv. Rails
It is an iron beam,its main function.The two rails of a track serve lateral guide for running of
the wheels.
Functions

 to provide an economical,smooth level surface for smooth passage of heavily loaded

vehicles at great speed
 it bears the stresses due to heavy loads,lateral breaking forces and temperature
stresses
 rail material should resist wear to avoid replacement of rails and hence saves
maintainance cost
 it should tranmit load to sleepers and should reduce pressure on ballast and formation

v. Fastenings
The devices used to connect rails and sleepers together to the track are known as fastenings.It
includes fish plates, bolts,chairs,keys, bearing plates

GAUGES IN RAILWAY TRACK

Gauge of a railway track is the clear distance between the inner surface or running faces of
two track rails

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CLASSIFICATION OF RAILWAY TRACK BASED ON GAUGES
The different gauges prevalent in India are of the following these types :-
1. Broad gauge
2. Metre gauge
3. Narrow gauge
4. Feeder Gauge

1. Broad Gauge :-
 When the clear horizontal distance between the inner faces of two parallel rails
forming a track is 1676mm the gauge is called Broad Gauge (B.G)
 This gauge is also known as standard gauge of India and is the broadest gauge of the
world.
 The Other countries using the Broad Gauge are Pakistan, Bangladesh, SriLanka,
Brazil, Argentine, etc.
 50% India’s railway tracks have been laid to this gauge
 Broad gauge is suitable under the following Conditions :-
(i) When sufficient funds are available for the railway project.
(ii) When the prospects of revenue are very bright.
 This gauge is, therefore, used for tracks in plain areas which are densely populated
i.e. for routes of maximum traffic, intensities and at places which are centers of
industry and commerce.
2. Metre gauge
 When the clear horizontal distance between the inner faces of two parallel rails
forming a track is 1000mm, the gauge is known as Metre Gauge (M.G)
 The other countries using Metre gauge are France, Switzerland, Argentine, etc.
 40% of India’s railway tracks have been laid to this gauge.
 Metre Gauge is suitable under the following conditions:-
(i) When the funds available for the railway project are inadequate.
(ii) When the prospects of revenue are not very bright.
 This gauge is, therefore, used for tracks in under-developed areas and in interior areas
Where traffic intensity is small and prospects for future development are not very
bright

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 3. Narrow gauge

 When the clear horizontal distance between the inner faces of two parallel rails forming
a track is 762mm, the gauge is known as Narrow gauge (N.G)
 The other countries using narrow gauge are Britain, South Africa, etc.
 10% of India’s railway tracks have been laid to this gauge.
 Narrow gauge is suitable under the following conditions :-
( i) When the construction of a track with wider gauge is prohibited due to the provision of
sharp curves, steep gradients, narrow bridges and tunnels etc.
(ii) When the prospects of revenue are not very bright.
 This gauge is, therefore, used in hilly and very thinly populated areas.

4. Feeder gauge

 When the clear horizontal distance between the inner faces of two parallel rails
forming a track is 610mm, the gauge is known as Feeder gauge or Light Gauge
(L.G)
 The feeder gauge is commonly used for feeding raw materials to big government
manufacturing concerns as well as to private factories such as steel plants, oil
refineries, sugar factories, etc.

FACTORS AFFECTING SELECTION OF GAUGE

Cost of construction:
 Little increase initial cost for wider gauge
 cost of earthwork ,ballast,sleepers,rails etc increase with increase in gauge width.
 Incease in cost increases with land covered is more for increased gauge width
Volume and nature of traffic
 For heavier loads and high volumes wider gauges are required
Development of the areas
 Narrow gauges are used to develop thinly populated areas by joining under
developed areas with developed and urbanized areas
Physical features of the country
 Use of narrow gauge is done in hilly regions where broad and metre gauges are not
possible due to steep gradients and sharp curves.
 In plane areas where high speed is not required and traffic is light narrow gauges is
required
Speed of the movement
 Speed of the train is proportional to the gauge
 Lower speeds discourages customers ,for maintaining higher speeds Broad gauge is
preffered
UNIFORMITY OF GAUGES
The gauges should be uniform throughout the country.The uniformity of gauges results in following
advantages
Delay,cost and difficulty in transportation of passengers and goods from one gauge to another
is avoided
No breakage of goods
Difficulties in loading and unloading can be avoided and labour expenses are saved
Possibility of thefts and misplacements are eliminated

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 Large sheds to store goods are not required
Labour strikes donot affect the service and operation of trains
Surplus wagon from one gauge cannot be used to another gauge. this problem does not arise if
gauge is uniform
Locomotives (engine of train) can be effectively used on all tracks if uniform gauge is
adopted
Duplication of platforms ,sanitary arrangements, clocks etc are avoided, hence saves expenses
During military movement no time is wasted in changing person and equipment from one
vehicle to another
In case nonuniform gauge it is expensive to convert one gauge to another,it may require new
rolling stock, fresh construction, widening of bridges and tunnels
In nonuniform gauges it creates difficulties to passengers during late arrival of trains
Porter charges are increased if non uniform gauges are provided that is passengers have to
change the compartment due to different gauge

RAILWAY TRACK CROSSSECTIONS

Crosssection of broad gauge single track on embankment

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CONING OF WHEELS

The distance between inner edges of wheel flanges are kept less than the gauge of the track so
there is a gap between the wheel flanges and running edges of rails equal yo nearly 1 cm.the thread of
wheel is exactly in the middle of rails hence wheels are coned to keep in central position called
Coning of wheels. The wheels are coned to a slope of 1 in 20.
Advantages
Coning of wheels reduce the wear and tear of wheel flanges and rails and provides a
possibility of lateral movements of axle with its wheels.It also prevents slipping to some extend.

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 On a level track coning of wheels helps in preventing further movement and axle returns back
to original position,but on horizontal curves,centrifugal force acts, due to rigidity in wheel base the
wheels must slip slightly outwards hence there is no free lateral movement of rails leading to
following disadvantages
 Pressure on outer rail is more than inner rails results in wear of outer rails
 Due to centrifugal force,horizontal components tends to turn the rail out and widens
the gauage
 If no base plate is used under the voids the sleepers under the rail gets damaged
Inorder to minimize the above disadvantages tilting of rails is done.In Tilting of rails base plate or
sleeper is not laid horizontal but a slope of 1 in 20 inwards known as adzing of sleepers

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