Brake Cutout

Most motorized rail vehicles are equipped with a special valve that isolates their brake control device from the rest of the train. This valve is called brake cutout, and is typically located underneath the train brake control device, in the cab of the vehicle.

When having their cutout valve closed, vehicles are still able to brake as part of a train, but their control device is no longer functional. Being able to close the cutout valves is useful when a train has a mix of self-lapping and non-self-lapping valves, requiring specific vehicles to be isolated to resolve the valve conflict.

The cutout valve only affects the train brake control device, and when it is closed the other brake types can be used normally.