Route check

This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

Track test (abbreviation: Fpr ) is a term used in railway operations . This refers to checking the signal technology to be backed up rail track within a parking area before a train is allowed to drive.

Because of the low friction between wheel and rail and the resulting long braking distance - unlike road vehicles - railway trains can only run on sight in a few exceptional cases . The clearness of the route must therefore be determined for train journeys before they are permitted by the entry point of the main signal .

As a rule, the route inspection must be carried out “by looking” (earlier technical term: “by inspection ”) (in shorter, non-visible track areas, a check may be made by checking that every journey has been completed, including the end-of-train signal ). For this reason, the control area of ​​a signal box could not be extended beyond the field of vision. This mainly applies to the older interlocking designs that are still in operation, including mechanical and electromechanical interlockings . Track plan signal towers with their large parking areas on the other hand work with train detection systems that determine the freedom of the track automatically and does not allow a main signal driving position without this successful customer approval. Therefore, the route check can be omitted in this normal case.

On the free route , the freedom of railway vehicles before train journeys is ensured by means of a route block and / or manually by means of the feedback .