Railway track

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

A railway track, railway line or just railway is a set of two parallel rows of long pieces of iron. They are used by trains to transport people and items from one place to another. In America, people say railroad. They are all the same thing. Usually, there is more than one set of tracks on the railway line. For example, one track goes east and the other one goes west.

The rails are supported by cross pieces set at regular intervals (called sleepers or ties) which spreads the high pressure load imposed by the rail vehicles wheels into the ground. They also maintain the rails at a fixed distance apart (called the gauge). Ties are usually made from either wood or concrete.

The rails are inclined slightly towards each other, typically on a slope of 1 in 20. This combined with coning of the wheels helps guide rail vehicles along the track. It is this rather than the wheel flange that keeps the vehicles from derailing. The flange is only a safety device that operates as a last resort or in cases where a vehicle is travelling very slowly on heavily curved track (when you will hear a metallic screeching noise caused by the flange/rail contact).