Railway Terminology

Some of the prominent terms related to railway infrastructure and layout are:

Rail

Rails are long, sturdy struts of metal that rail vehicle wheels are designed to roll over.

Sleeper

Sleepers are wooden or concrete slabs placed under two rails to keep them parallel and fixated.

Ballast

Ballast is gravel placed under rails and sleepers to distribute the weight of trains and soften vibrations.

Track

Tracks are structures of rails, sleepers and ballast designed to safely guide trains along predetermined paths. Tracks can span vast distances, and typically end either with switches , or with buffer stops.

Buffer Stop

Buffer stops are barriers placed at track ends, designed to prevent trains from derailing .

Yard

Yards are cascading sets of parallel tracks, used to sort and store trains . Yards are often designed so that their tracks converge on both ends and at least one track is clear at all times, to enable maneuvering. On the schematic station map , every yard has its own letter designation .

Wye

Wyes are triangular track layouts resulting from tracks from three different directions converging together. They are useful for turning trains around.

Balloon Loop

Balloon loops are turning tracks that merge back to themselves. They are useful for turning trains around.

Double-track

Double-tracks are pairs of parallel one-way tracks, running in opposite directions.

Passing Siding

Passing sidings are pieces of tracks designed to allow passing of two trains going in opposite directions on a mostly single-track route.

Catenary

Catenary is the infrastructure carrying overhead wires over the tracks, for powering wire-electric rail vehicles .

Depot

Depots are garage-like buildings that can house one or more rail vehicles. They are used for vehicle servicing and storage.

Roundhouse

Roundhouses are high-capacity, round-shaped depots that are accessed by a turntable .