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.

Dominant gauges
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
Gauge
1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
1,668 mm (5 ft 5 in)
1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)

Usage

Name
Indian gauge
Iberian gauge
Irish gauge

1,524 mm (5 ft)

India, Pakistan, Argentina, Chile

Portugal, Spain
Ireland and important minor gauge in Australia
Finland, Estonia

Russian gauge
1,520 mm (4 ft 11 in)

CIS states, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia

Standard gauge
1,435 mm (4 ft 8 in)
1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)

Cape 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.
Southern and Central Africa, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines,
New Zealand, Australia

Meter gauge
1,000 mm (3 ft 3 in)

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

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 8 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

Meter 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 INDOPAK

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.