Why Are Single Railroad Tracks So Big?

Question

would anyone happen to know this cuz sure dont know

Answer 1

It has to do with ca[acity and the amount of traffic. Multiple tracks cost money for construction, maintenance, and taxes, so if one track can handle the tonnage, why build more?

Answer 2

It's hard to know what you really want to know here. So I'll hit on one aspect so far over looked, and that is the rails. Rails have gotten bigger because newer trains and locomotives have gotten heavier. Rail size is measured in pounds per yard. Railroads in the 1880s for example, were 50, 56, and 60 pounds per yard commonly. This was for the typical railroad. A small mining railroad or short industrial line might use 20, 30, or 40 pound. By around 1910, rail weights were often 70, 80, or 90 pound. Today, they are usually 130 and 140 pound.

The maximum weight that a steel rail can support is 300 pounds per wheel for each pound of rail weight. In the case of 90 pound rail, that would be 300 x 90, or 27,000 pounds per wheel, and 54,000 pounds per axle (27 tons).

Answer 3

Single railroad tracks are the same size as one of the double tracks. It is an optical illusion if they look bigger. It is what you perceive. Take a tape measure and measure them yourself, and see. The track width is exactly the same. The trains run on both single, double, and multiple tracks.

Regards,

Dan

Answer 4

The width between railway tracks is the same as the distance between wheels on an old horse-pulled cart (the original rail wagons in Britain were built by cart makers).

The width between cartwheels was fixed by the ruts in the old roads, if a different width was used it would have snapped the axle.

And those ruts were caused by the wheels on ancient Roman chariots and wagons. The width of which was set by the width between the shafts for the horse to fit into.

So most rail tracks in the world are set by the width of a horses rear.

Answer 5

Not sure what you mean .Most railways are standard gauge, that is they measure 4ft 8.5 ins between the rails.Spain uses 5ft 3in ,also Ireland. Russia 5ft 6ins.Parts of India and Australia have 3ft 6ins.

Answer 6

single tracks?

do You mean the monorail??

it has the structural portion of the overhead built in with the single rail.