Why are train tracks, on like two steep slopes?

Question

A train by my house runs along a man-made hill, wide enough at the top just for the train tracks.

My thoughts on why they build it this way are as follows: Less chance something or someone will stand on the narrow top of that ridge, and

2. To make it more difficult for people to jump on the train while it's moving. As compared to a flat track, where you can run parrallell and right alongside the train to gain speed, this one you cannot; you would be running on an atleast 45 degree incline, thus making it much more difficult to jump on the train.

You thoughts?

Answer 1

Those are'nt hills, just ballast underneath the tracks.  Ballast is the rock underneath the track.  This is used to provide stability  underneath the track.  Soft ground shifts, and shifting track means trains on the ground.

Answer 2

As Marcus has said this is a very common practice in railroading that's been around virtually from the beginning.  The reason you see railroad tracks elevated in certain locations (sometimes known as fills), such as valleys and low areas, is to keep the overall grade of the particular line at a minimum percentage (usually under 2% or 2 feet of rise for every 100 feet of distance) so as the railroad does not have to expend vasts amounts of work (i.e., lots of locomotives) to move freight over its lines.

For instance, if there is a short valley or low area that bisects higher elevation a rail line is built on, railroads usually employ fills (like the elevated tracks you are referring to) to gap these areas and keep the overall grade constant, or very close to that of the elevation surrounding the short valley or low area.

Answer 3

Sure wish I could see what you're seeing. Tracks are built as level as possible. Shallow areas are filled and the tops of hills are "cut" to keep the tracks level. On level stretches, the tracks are on a somewhat elevated roadbed for the sake of water run off. But I never saw what you describe. As far as I know, no portion of any RR has ever been designed with the idea of adding difficulty for someone that may attempt to jump on.

Answer 4

Its called a road bed.  Its possible that what you live on could not support the weight of a train so they put in a bed that would support the train.  It could also be a gradual increase in grade, walk along the hill in both directions and see which it is.  Its also important to know which side of the tracks you live on.

Answer 5

It is actually to keep the tracks level, the ground where this "fill" is is lower than the ground on one or the other side of it.

It is keeping the tracks leveler, slopes are bad for trains and train handlling.

The area filled in may be quite long so you dont really see it from your house.

As for the width, fill material is hard to come by and expensive to transport so they only use what is absolutely necessary.

Answer 6

i dont get it, they made a hill in just one spot on an otherwise flat train track?

it seems like a terrible idea, since pulling hundreds of tons of train and cargo up hill takes more power, and if the hill wasnt there before, they are wasting fuel every single time anything uses that route... last i checked, people dont like wasting fuel.

Answer 7

you spend to much time looking out the window, don't you?

Answer 8

It sounds as if you are talking about an embankment.

Trains do not cope well with changing gradients, or, indeed, steep gradients. Trains perform best when the track is as level as possible.

This is achieved in five main ways:

1.  Circuitous routeing - better to go around an obstacle then over it. That is why many railways are built parallel to river courses.

2.  Cut away the obstacle and let the train run through a cutting.

3.  The converse of a cutting is the embankment, where the track is raised in relation to the surrounding land.

4. The "extreme" of a cutting is a tunnel.

5. And the extreme of an embankment is a bridge or viaduct.

The sides of both a cutting and an embankment tend to be steep to aid drainage.

Answer 9

IS THERE A RIVER  Nearby thats prone to flooding?around here the railroads double as river dikes