Track gauges around the world?

[Tulyar15]

Tulyar15:  The last time I went through Port Boa (on the Mediterrnean coast) the Spanish were constructing a new standard guage line from the border to Barcelona. I do not know its progress but maybe you have access to that information. Spain is finally getting on the standard guage bandwgon.

That's right, they've just opened a new high speed line from Madrid to Barcelona, which like all the new high speed lines in Spain, is 4' 8.5" gauge. The plan is to extend it to the French border to join up with their high speed lines. There's also talk of container trains being allowed to use it; in France they run them at 90mph as indeed do some such trains here in Britain.

I'm not aware of any plans to convert existing Spanish 5' 6" lines to 4' 8.5". Curiously up till the mid 1980's there was an isolated 4' 8.5" line in the northern province of Asturia. At Gijon, on the Atlantic coast - the provincial capital, this line had a terminus alongside both a broad gauge RENFE station and the narrow gauge FEVE station. But in the 1980's it was taken over by the FEVE who converted it to metre gauge! The redundant 4' 8.5" station is now the Asturian Regional Railway museum. On display is a wide variety of rolling stock on now less than 5 gauges; the above three plus 2' 6" and 2'. They have a short line on which they run some of the 2' gauge locos and stock, so this is another place where you can see trains of three gauges in action side by side!

[markpierce]

Why would the Russians need to change the gauge of the Trans Siberian?  The technology already exists to change the gauge on the cars.  There is through passenger service from Berlin, Warsaw, Etc. to many points in the former Soviet Union.  The gauge of the wheelsets are changed at the border with the former USSR.

The same thing happens at the Spanish - French border.  The run through cars (and locomotives on the Talgo) have the gauge changed at the border.

It would be far simpler to have sets of intermodal flats or well cars with variable gauge trucks than to completely change the Russian track gauge.

Changing of the bogies is featured in the currently-released movie "Transiberian" when the trains goes from China to Russia.

Mark

[marknewton]

The track gauge of The Ferrocarril Austral Fueguino (Southern Fueguean Railway), former logging-now-tourist railroad located near Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina, is 50 centimeters, or 19.68 inches.  Their primary motive power includes two 0-4-0+0-4-0s, of which the most recent one was built a couple years ago in South Africa.

Mark

I'd like to know the deceision process and factors that caused them to use a gauge that narrow.

Well, a governmental bureaucrat was probably involved in deciding on the half-meter track gauge since the railroad was part of a prison operation.  My thought is that the gauge is about the smallest that can handle human operators, and the government wanted the cheapest railroad that would work.

G'day Mark!

The original prison railway at Ushuaia was 60cm gauge, using Decauville track and locos from O&K.

http://www.railwaysofthefarsouth.co.uk/10_frameset.html

I'm not 100% certain of this, but I was under the impression from a report in CRJ that the new line was built to 50cm gauge because of the availability of 50cm track and IC locos at the time construction started. I'll try to find that issue of CRJ and confirm that, if I can.

50cm & 60cm "portable" railways were quite common in Europe and the UK in the 19th century, and they were exported to all their colonies, territories and possessions.

http://www.wiseacres.co.uk/rlr/history.htm

All the best,

Mark. (the one in Australia)

[marknewton]

A standard-gauge line parallel to an existing broad-gauge line is probably to allow for high-speed passenger service (TGV??) to the rest of Europe.  There is a similar arrangement in Australia between Sydney and Melbourne.  Australia also has dual-gauge trackage on the main line into Brisbane from New South Wales and near Perth in Western Australia.

The broad gauge from Seymour to Albury has been handed over to ARTC, and is going to be closed and replaced by additional standard gauge track. There was a recent Steamrail excursion from Melbourne, billed as the last broad gauge steam train to Albury, to mark the closure.

The dual gauge in Queensland you mention is only from Acacia Ridge to Fisherman's Island, not the NSW border.

http://www.networkaccess.qr.com.au/Images/StandardDualGauge-Issue2-October2006_tcm10-2856.pdf

All the best,

Mark.

[peterjenkinson1956]

australia had four gauges   wide gauge    victoria to south australia     standard gauge    every where except tasmania     3foot 6inch gauge   this is the british colonial gauge used in the british empire   australia  newzealand  south america etc    the fourth australian gauge was in the  state of victoria  it was 2foot 6 inches     it was for the rural lines...                                  look up " puffing billy railway "   there was also some very small timber lines built with home made equipment that had unusual gauges  however i cannot remember the details at the moment

[marknewton]

Did you forget about the 2,000 odd kilometers of 2' gauge in Queensland?

Mark.

[beaulieu]

 

I would seriously doubt that Spain and Portugal are going to re-gauge anytime soon.  Consider the expense of having to re-gauge all of their motive power and rolling stock, some of which may not be able to be re-gauged.

A standard-gauge line parallel to an existing broad-gauge line is probably to allow for high-speed passenger service (TGV??) to the rest of Europe.  There is a similar arrangement in Australia between Sydney and Melbourne.  Australia also has dual-gauge trackage on the main line into Brisbane from New South Wales and near Perth in Western Australia.

The line from Barcelona to the border at Port Bou is graded and ready for tracklaying out in the countryside. But the final route within Barcelona and Girona, hasn't been finalized yet, in typical Spanish fashion they leave the hardest part till last, then with an election looming they panic and throw tons of money at the project so the Ruling party can claim credit for completing it.

For Paul, RENFE specified that the 150 new Bombardier TRAXX freight locomotives on order, be built so that only a truck swap would be required to change them from broad to standard gauge, and only the truck frames, and wheelsets wouldn't be reuseable. So there must be some thought that they might change within the lifetimes of these locomotives. Also the Standard gauge line from Barcelona to the French border is intended to be used by freights during the nighttime hours. This will give the Barcelona area a big edge for better freight service and would create pressure to slowly change most of the rest of the Broad gauge network. The Ford Auto Assembly plant at Silla would be a beneficiary of this change, currently most Autoparts containers are trucked from Port Bou, since two transloads in less than 100 miles isn't economical, similarly finished Autos are trucked to France and loaded there, rather than at the plant.