Depot

This article deals with the operating point of a railway; for the corresponding tram system, see depot (traffic) or remise .

An ICE 1 passes the Escherde depot on the Hanover – Würzburg high-speed line without stopping. While the two outer tracks serve waiting trains, the two central tracks can be driven through at a line speed of 280 km / h.

Operating stations , referred to as service stations in Switzerland , are those stations that have exclusively operational tasks. In contrast to the passenger and freight stations , they have no public access, or an earlier access has been canceled. In Germany , Bbf is the official abbreviation for depot, e.g. Dortmund Bbf .

Priority tasks are - especially on single-track routes - the transition to sidings in order to overtake a faster, following train or to allow an oncoming train to cross.

On the high-speed lines , the depot has the additional task of being able to pick up and cross trains in the event of operational disruptions and, in special cases, to be able to park railway vehicles that are no longer fit for traffic . At night they are also used to overtake freight trains among themselves. This is why a large number of depots were built on the first high-speed lines in Germany - Hanover – Würzburg and Mannheim – Stuttgart . Because of their main task, such depots are sometimes also referred to as overtaking stations .

The depots also include parking yards for passenger coaches and, in the case of goods traffic, the marshalling yards .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bruno Lämmli: Tasks of the train stations. On lokifahrer.ch, 2014