Hairpin (railroad)

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A hairpin is a railway system that is used to overcome a height difference with the least possible technical effort and with little space requirement. It consists of at least one stub track , where two tracks of a steeply inclined railway line converge over a switch . The train changes direction in the dead end. If such a hairpin also serves as a terminal station , the facility is also known as a hairpin turnaround station.

Double hairpin in the Blue Mountains near Lithgow (Australia) around 1900
Hairpin of the Halligbahn Lüttmoorsiel – Nordstrandischmoor over the outer dike of the mainland
Hairpin of the Saline-Volterra rack railway in Italy

construction

Switchbacks are created if the topology of the route makes it impossible or too expensive to overcome the difference in altitude with loop loops or spiral tunnels . Hairpin bends represent the simplest design with which a railway line can negotiate an incline by extending the path. If several switchbacks follow one another, a railway line in a zigzag can also cope with large differences in height.

business

The direction of travel can be changed on trains hauled by locomotives by changing locomotives or by moving the locomotive over a second track. Alternatively, the trains can be pushed in order to be pulled again after another hairpin or after relocating the locomotive in a subsequent station. As with terminal stations , switchbacks impede operation by changing the direction of travel and reduce the capacity of a route. That is why they only exist today on stretches with little traffic.

In some steeps a hairpin were created so that the locomotive at uphill running trains at no extra at the beginning and end of shunting the train came to be on the safer side of the valley operationally and could push the train up the mountain. Trains traveling downhill then had to make a shunting run at both ends of the steep section.

Today's use of push-pull trains or railcars means that no locomotives have to be moved at switchbacks, so that, for example, only a three-minute stop is planned at the switchback station in Lauscha . In the Michaelstein station of the Rübelandbahn , two locomotives - one at the front and one at the back of the train - will shorten the stop and simplify operational management using fallback switches .

Comparison of the hairpin - spiral tunnel / roundabout viaduct

Under construction, spiral tunnels, roundabout tunnels (also called spiral tunnels) or roundabout viaducts are considerably more expensive than a hairpin. But they can be operated much more easily and without wasting time, because the direction of travel does not have to be changed. Therefore, switchbacks for negotiating differences in altitude are not as common as the other two methods.

Switchbacks by state

Europe

Germany, switchback stations in operation

Hairpin bends in the overburden track on the southern edge of the Messel pit
Baden-Württemberg
  • Stuttgart main station . Usually referred to as the terminus, it is located in such a way that one of the three feeder lines drops at 1: 100 (to Bad Cannstatt), while the other two (to Vaihingen and Feuerbach) rise at 1:52 or 1:80. Without exceeding the permissible gradient values, it would not be possible to create connecting curves from Bad Cannstatt to Feuerbach or Vaihingen for through traffic. In this respect, Stuttgart Hbf differs from all other major terminal stations in Germany. The complex tunnel construction and high costs of the Stuttgart 21 project are the logical consequence.

In fact, there has long been a bypass of the head main station, which is also used in local traffic, namely the so-called freight bypass line from Kornwestheim to Untertürkheim, these connections to the two relevant long-distance routes from the north and east are only a few kilometers from the above. Bad Cannstatt or Feuerbach away, all long-distance routes could be served via it.

North Rhine-Westphalia
Saxony-Anhalt
Schleswig-Holstein
Thuringia

Germany, switchback stations out of order

Baden-Württemberg
Bavaria
Hesse
North Rhine-Westphalia
Thuringia

Switzerland

Switchback stations in operation
Chambrelien train station
Combined through stations, which form hairpin bends depending on the route of the train, in operation
  • Les Planches : The branch of a hairpin is the Keilbahnhof of Les Planches on the track of the railway line Aigle-Sépey-Diablerets . The trains from Aigle (going up) and from Les Diablerets (going down) stop at the wedge station of Les Planches, then continue to Le Sépey terminus, change their direction there and then stop after the switchback on the other side of the wedge station Les Planches. Sidings are located on the mountain-facing side of Les Planches station and in the Le Sépey terminus.
  • Zweisimmen : The MOB meter- gauge line makes a hairpin from Montreux in the direction of Lenk at Zweisimmen train station. For the standard gauge SEZ, Zweisimmen is the terminus of a branch line from the other side.
  • Meiringen , on the route of the Brünigbahn between Lucerne (Brünigpass) and Interlaken (Brienz). The continuation is the Meiringen-Innertkirchen-Bahn as a branch line to Innertkirchen.
  • Delsberg : The through trains Basel – Biel of the Jura Railway have to change directionat the Delsberg station . The normal-gauge continuation without a change of direction would continue to Glovelier and Porrentruy ( Delémont – Delle railway line ). The terrain does not require a hairpin.
  • Oensingen is a terminal station for the narrow-gauge Aare Seeland mobile (ASm) from Solothurn to Langenthal, as is the Oensingen-Balsthal-Bahn (OeBB), but a through station for the standard-gauge SBB. Since the line to Balsthal is run with separate vehicles, no hairpin is necessary. If you are guided from Balsthal in the direction of Olten, a change of direction would be necessary.
Switchbacks in operation
Former switchbacks in Switzerland
  • Vallorbe : terminus with a hairpin (until 1915)
  • Klosters : The hairpin that previously existed at the Rhaetian Railway station was replaced in 1930 by the Klosters tunnel. The old railway bridge over the Landquart has only served pedestrians since then.
  • Lenzburg : Hairpin for trains (Lucerne - Beinwil -) Lenzburg station - Lenzburg Spitzkehre - Lenzburg city (- Wildegg). Dismantled in 2005
  • Châtel-Saint-Denis , on the narrow-gauge Palézieux-Bulle line . (until 2019)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Denmark

Italy

Poland

  • at the Eulengebirgsbahn , which had its apex at 513 m above sea level in the Silberberg Fortress station, and the hairpin in the Volpersdorf terminus. An Abt rack system was installed on the 6.6 km long section to Neudorf .

Sweden

Slovakia

Czech Republic

Africa

Train in the 8th hairpin, Aliwal North - Barkly East route, South Africa (1983)

Tanzania

  • The Sigi-Bahn had a four-fold hairpin. The railway no longer exists.
  • The Usambarabahn had a double hairpin between Pongwe and Ngommi / Muheza. It was replaced by a changed route.

South Africa

America

Argentina

The tren a las nubes tourist train , which departs from Salta, has to make two switchbacks on its way to San Antonio del los Cobres . Without them, the height differences of the route would not be manageable. In addition to the natural beauty of the landscape, the railway line also has other technical refinements such as turning loops and viaducts.

Ecuador

The train connection from Riobamba (2,754 m) over the Andes to Simbambe (1,806 m) includes the steep section of the Devil's Nose ( Spanish: Nariz del Diablo ). On this section of the route, which is considered to be the steepest railway line in the world, around 400 meters of altitude are overcome in a pair of switchbacks.

Peru

The incline on the touristically important railway between Cusco and Machu Picchu is overcome exclusively by switchbacks, which means that the journey on the 120 km long route takes five hours.

Trains of the Ferrocarril Central Andino overcome the Lima - La Oroya - Huancayo route up the slope from Lima to the highest point at Galera (4871 m) with a total of 6 switchbacks.

Hairpin hairpin near Morococha on the Lima - Huancayo route, Peru

United States

Asia

China

Along the so-called Jing Bao Line from Beijing to Zhangjiakou, there are two independent switchbacks in Qinglongqiao directly below the Great Wall of China , as each track of the double-track line has its switchback station on an opposite side of the valley.

India

Along the course of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in India, there are three switchbacks and six switchbacks. Due to its structural features, the route has been registered by UNESCO in the list of world cultural heritage .

Japan

On the Hakone-Tozan Line in Japan there are switchbacks at Deyama, Ōhiradai and Kami-Ōhiradai.

There are 2 switchbacks on the Hōhi main line , one of which is a switchback station Tateno (立 野 駅 Tateno-eki) near the town of Minamiaso (南阿蘇 村 Minamiaso-mura) .

There were up to 42 switchbacks on the works railway of the Tateyama Sabō erosion control systems .

Korea

Between the Heungjeon and Nahanjeong stations on the Yeonggong railway line in South Korea , there was a hairpin - which has since been replaced by a tunnel - until 2009.

Lebanon

The Lebanon Railway from Damascus to Beirut had two switchbacks as it crossed the Lebanon Mountains .

Myanmar

In the course of the Mandalay – Lashio railway line, there are four switchbacks approximately 20 km east of Mandalay at the Sedaw stop. The Goteik Viaduct is on the same route further east .

Pakistan

Along the railway line over the Chaiber Pass there are two switchbacks in quick succession, the train is pushed uphill between the two.

Taiwan

In Chiayi in the south of the island on the Alishan

Turkey

Several hairpin bends and loops in the area of ​​the former 600 mm narrow-gauge railway, which was operated as a construction and military railway in roll-headed traffic up to the completion of the Baghdad Railway in the area of ​​the Cilician Gate between Belemedik and Kiralan / Kuscular.

Oceania

Australia

New Zealand

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Eisenbahn Zeitschrift, EZ-Special 3, 100 Years of the Rhaetian Railway, Komet Verlag, Köniz 1989, p. 15.
  2. ↑ rvo: Lemvig-Lemvig havn line . In: IBSE-Telegram 247 (June 2011), p. 4.
  3. ↑ Im Teufelszug , SZ, March 30, 2015
  4. ^ Recorrido - Ferrocarril Central Andino SA.Retrieved January 14, 2014 .
  5. ^ Toy Train Story Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. Darjeeling Tourism, accessed January 14, 2014 .