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A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch line, or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end. Sidings often have lighter rails, meant for lower speed or less heavy traffic, and few, if any, signals. Sidings connected at both ends to a running line are commonly known as loops; [1] [2] those not so connected may be referred to as single-ended or dead-end sidings, [3] or (if short) stubs. [4]
Sidings may be used for marshalling (classifying), stabling, storing, loading, and unloading rail vehicles. [5]
Common sidings store stationary rolling stock, especially for loading and unloading. Industrial sidings (also known as spurs ) go to factories, mines, quarries, wharves, warehouses, some of them are essentially links to industrial railways. Such sidings can sometimes be found at stations for public use;[ clarification needed ] in American usage these are referred to as team tracks (after the use of teams of horses to pull wagons to and from them). Sidings may also hold maintenance of way equipment or other equipment, allowing trains to pass, or store helper engines between runs.
Some sidings have very occasional use, having been built, for example, to service an industry, a railway yard or a stub of a disused railway that has since closed. It is not uncommon for an infrequently-used siding to fall into disrepair. Even if officially abandoned such sidings may be left derelict rather than lifted and removed.
A particular form of siding is the passing siding (U.S. and international) or passing loop (U.K.). This is a section of track parallel to a through line and connected to it at both ends by switches (U.S.) (points in international usage). Passing sidings allow trains travelling in opposite directions to pass, and for fast, high priority trains to pass slower or lower priority trains going the same direction. Passing sidings are also used to switch a locomotive from one end of a train to the other. They are important for efficiency on single track lines, and add to the capacity of other lines.
A private siding does not belong to a railway, but to a factory, government department, etc. connected to it. [6] Some larger private sidings have their own locomotive belonging to the owner of the siding. [7] In Australia private sidings must be registered with the safety regulator. [8]
A refuge siding is a single-ended (or dead-end) siding with a similar purpose to passing loop in that it temporarily holds a train while another one passes.
A team track is a small siding or spur track intended for the use of area merchants, manufacturers, farmers and other small businesses to personally load and unload products and merchandise, usually in smaller quantities. [9] The term "team" refers to the teams of horses or oxen delivering wagon-loads of freight transferred to or from railway cars. [10] Team tracks may be owned by the railroad company [11] or by customers served by the railroad, or by industrial parks or freight terminals that encompass many customers. [12] In some jurisdictions, the operation and construction of team tracks is regulated by legal authorities. [13] [14]
Earliest rail service to an area often provided a team track on railroad-owned property adjacent to the railroad agent's train station. [15] As rail traffic became more established, large-volume shippers extended privately owned spur tracks into mines, factories, and warehouses. Small-volume shippers and shippers with facilities distant from the rail line continued using team tracks into the early part of the 20th century.
Throughout the mid to latter portion of the 20th century, improved highway systems and abandonment of low-volume rail lines made full-distance truck shipments more practical in North America and avoided delays and damage associated with freight handling during transfer operations. [16] However, as a result of higher fuel costs, greater traffic jams on Interstate Highways, and the growing movement towards sustainable development, there has been recent upward trend towards moving long-distance freight traffic off highways and onto rail lines. This has resulted in local communities and rail lines seeking construction of new team track and intermodal facilities. [17] [18]
Some railroads publish detailed specifications for the design and construction of many elements of team tracks. For example, the Union Pacific Railroad has standards and guidelines for many aspects of spur track construction including track layout, clearance standards and turnout and switch stand designs. [19]
Generally, team tracks do not have road or pedestrian crossings across them. [14]
BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, 33,400 miles (53,800 km) of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide rail connections between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad.
Rail transport operations are the day-to-day operations of a railway. A railway has two major components: the infrastructure and the rolling stock
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located on a main line. Branch lines may also connect two or more main lines.
The New York and Atlantic Railway (NY&A) is a short line railroad on Long Island, within the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York. It was formed in 1997 to provide freight service over the tracks of the Long Island Rail Road, a public commuter rail agency which had decided to privatize its freight operations. A subsidiary of the Anacostia Rail Holdings Company, NY&A operates exclusively on Long Island and is connected to the U.S. mainland via CSX's Fremont Secondary over the Hell Gate Bridge. It also interchanges with New York New Jersey Rail's car float at the 65th Street Yard and US Rail of New York in Yaphank, New York. Its primary freight yard is Fresh Pond Junction in Queens. It has another yard, Pine Aire Yard, in northern Bay Shore, New York. The NY&A officially took over Long Island Rail Road's freight operations on May 11, 1997, with an initial franchise for 20 years.
A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or unused locomotives stored off the main line, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic. Cars or wagons are moved around by specially designed yard switcher locomotives (US) or shunter locomotives (UK), a type of locomotive. Cars or wagons in a yard may be sorted by numerous categories, including railway company, loaded or unloaded, destination, car type, or whether they need repairs. Yards are normally built where there is a need to store rail vehicles while they are not being loaded or unloaded, or are waiting to be assembled into trains. Large yards may have a tower to control operations.
The Raritan River Rail Road was a 12-mile (19 km) shortline railroad in Middlesex County, New Jersey U.S., Founded in 1888, it was based in South Amboy, from which it ran west as far as New Brunswick. It served both passengers and freight in its heyday and operated profitably throughout much of its existence. The Raritan River was absorbed into Conrail in 1980, becoming a branch line of Conrail Shared Assets Operations. It terminates at U.S. Route 1 in North Brunswick.
Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies.
Rail freight transport is the use of railways and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
The Portland and Western Railroad is a 516-mile (830 km) Class II railroad serving the U.S. state of Oregon, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of shortline and regional railroad holding company Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The PNWR includes a subsidiary, the Willamette and Pacific Railroad.
The Evansville Western Railway is a Class II regional railroad operating in the southern Illinois and Indiana region. It is one of three regional railroad subsidiaries owned and operated by P&L Transportation.
The Pacific Harbor Line was formed in 1998 to take over the Harbor Belt Line (HBL). In 1998, the Alameda Corridor was nearing completion, allowing for a massive amount of railroad traffic from the largest harbors in the Western hemisphere: Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach.
Tinsley was a railway marshalling yard near Tinsley in Sheffield, England, used to separate railway wagons from incoming trains and add them to new trains. It was sited immediately west of the M1 motorway, about one mile north of the Catcliffe junction. It was opened in 1965, as a part of a major plan to rationalise all aspects of the rail services in the Sheffield area; it closed in stages from 1985, with the run-down of rail freight in Britain. It was also the site of Tinsley Traction Maintenance Depot (TMD), which was closed in 1998; at its peak, 200 locomotives were allocated to this depot.
The Sacramento Northern Railway was a 183-mile (295 km) electric interurban railway that connected Chico in northern California with Oakland via the state capital, Sacramento. In its operation it ran directly on the streets of Oakland, Sacramento, Yuba City, Chico, and Woodland. This involved multiple car trains making sharp turns at street corners and obeying traffic signals. Once in open country, SN's passenger trains ran at fairly fast speeds. With its shorter route and lower fares, the SN provided strong competition to the Southern Pacific and Western Pacific Railroad for passenger business and freight business between those two cities. North of Sacramento, both passenger and freight business was less due to the small town agricultural nature of the region and due to competition from the paralleling Southern Pacific Railroad.
Kelowna Pacific Railway was a short-line railroad, formerly a Canadian National Railway line, leased by Knighthawk Rail. The KPR's line ran from Kelowna to Kamloops through the Okanagan Valley. Operations started on January 30, 2000, and ended on July 5, 2013, when the company entered receivership.
The rail network of Melbourne, Australia, has a significant number of railway lines and yards serving freight traffic. Rail transport in Victoria is heavily focused on Melbourne, and, as a consequence, much of the state's rail freight passes through the metropolitan network.
A goods station or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods, such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are loaded onto or unloaded off of ships or road vehicles and/or where goods wagons are transferred to local sidings.
The Cambridge Branch is a rural railway line in the Waikato, New Zealand. The line stretches from Ruakura Junction for 15.08 kilometres (9.37 mi) to the settlement of Hautapu, having previously continued another 4.19 kilometres (2.60 mi) to the township of Cambridge. It had five stations along its length, at Newstead, Matangi (Tamahere), Bruntwood (Fencourt), Hautapu and the terminus at Cambridge.
A train station, railroad station, or railroad depot and railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing such ancillary services as ticket sales, waiting rooms, and baggage/freight service. Stations on a single-track line often have a passing loop to accommodate trains travelling in opposite direction.
From the start of railroading in America through the first half of the 20th century, New York City and Long Island were major areas for rail freight transportation. However, their relative isolation from the mainland United States has always posed problems for rail traffic. Numerous factors over the late 20th century have caused further declines in freight rail traffic. Efforts to reverse this trend are ongoing, but have been met with limited success.
Palmerah Station (PLM) is a railway station located in Jalan Tentara Pelajar, Gelora, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, near the Palmerah market. The station is located in the altitude of +13 meters above sea level, and only serves KRL Commuterline's Rangkasbitung Line.