What is the pipe on the tracks..?

Question

While I was on my quad in the wash, I noticed on two different rail road bridges, there is this pipe that goes along track, and when bridge ends, the pipe continues along the track. I seen it twice. Pipe is like 6 inches in diameter. This is a Freight only track.

Answer 1

It's common for railroads to allow piping and power lines to be built on their rights of way. They take easements from power companies, phone companies, and other industries, and it adds a little revenue to their wallets. It could be anything in that pipe!

Answer 2

Oil, Gas, Water (in more temperate areas) ?

6 inch diameter is unlikely to be an electrical conduit, though I wouldn't rule it out !

Would be nice to know the Railroad and the area

Answer 3

Just a convenient routing for an industrial gas main. (Water would freeze.)

Answer 4

Two questions for you:

First, are there signal lights for the trains every few miles on the line?  Second, are there telephone poles strung next to the track?

If there are signal lights, and no wires above the tracks, the railroad signal wires will be in that pipe (conduit).  While many railroads are starting to use satellite signals to guide trains, most still need wires near the tracks to send train positions to the dispatchers, and signals to the train crews.

Answer 5

It's probably a gas or oil pipeline but could possibly be an electrical conduit.

Answer 6

Most in my area, and I work in Eastern Washington, are conduits for fiber optic cable and other phone lines. There are gas and water lines but usually these are buried, not above ground even, on the bridges. My guess is utility lines.

Answer 7

Railroad companies are in the real estate business. They also happen to own contiguous right-of-way for long distances.  That makes them very popular with people who run pipelines and fiber-optics.

If you've gotta lay a pipeline from A to B, you can talk to the railroads.  Or you can slice across people's neighborhoods and farms, taking their land by eminent domain.  That tends to make you public enemy #1 in most towns.