Hairpin (railroad)
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.
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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
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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
- Pfannenberg near Neunkirchen-Salchendorf, goods traffic on the Siegen-Wittgenstein circular railway to the Schäfer-Werke , formerly a line of the Free Grunder Railway to the Pfannenberger Einigkeit mine
Saxony-Anhalt
Schleswig-Holstein
- Halligbahn Lüttmoorsiel – Nordstrandischmoor - crossing over the outer dike in Schleswig-Holstein
- Tönning ( Husum – Bad St. Peter-Ording railway line as a later (1892) extension of a remnant of the Flensburg – Husum – Tönning railway line built earlier (1854) ).
- From Niebüll (DB) train station ( Marschbahn ) to the Niebüll – Dagebüll small train .
Thuringia
- Lauscha ( Coburg – Ernstthal railway on the Rennsteig )
- Rennsteig ( Plaue – Themar railway line )
- Rauenstein ( Eisfeld – Sonneberg railway line )
- Weimar Berkaer Bahnhof ( Weimar – Kranichfeld line )
- Wurzbach ( Hockeroda – Unterlemnitz railway )
Germany, switchback stations out of order
Baden-Württemberg
- Gomaringen station of the Gönninger Bahn
- Lenzkirch in the Black Forest ( Kappel Gutachbrücke – Bonndorf railway )
- Eybtal sweeping station from 1940 to 1944 of the valley railway (Geislingen – Wiesensteig)
Bavaria
- Hairpin at Schillingsfürst station on the Steinach near Rothenburg – Dombühl railway line
- Hairpin of the Main Valley Railway when traveling between Miltenberg main train station and Wertheim . Here, the hairpin was not used to overcome a difference in height, but to be able to enter the station from a narrow valley situation with constraint points , which also dictated the bridge over the Main .
- Hairpin of the Kitzingen port railway . This was located at the southernmost point of the track system and was apparently only built to turn the trains on a minimal area. In any case, the former position does not show any significant gradients on either side.
- Hairpin bend Passau-Voglau . Branch of the Passau – Hauzenberg railway from the Wels – Passau railway . Due to a bridge on one side and a steep wall on the other side, the route could only be changed through a hairpin.
Hesse
- Erdbach ( Westerwaldquerbahn )
- Großalmerode Ost, hairpin of the Gelstertalbahn
- Darmstadt-Dieburg district : 5 hairpin bends of the 900 mm debris run from the Messel mine
- Elm station , today part of the north-south line Hanover - Fulda - Würzburg, originally a switchback station for the Frankfurt- Fulda -Bebra line ; the hairpin was replaced in 1914 by the construction of the Schlüchtern tunnel , but the old route is still used today as a connecting railway
North Rhine-Westphalia
- Kleinbahn Steinhelle-Medebach : double hairpin
- Velbert: train station head station
- Voerde: Haspe – Voerde – Breckerfeld railway
- Former section of the Herdorf – Unterwilden railway to the Bautenberg mine
Thuringia
Switzerland
Switchback stations in operation
- Chambrelien , on the Neuchâtel – Le Locle-Col-des-Roches railway (former Jura Neuchâtelois line ) between Neuchâtel and La Chaux-de-Fonds .
- Combe-Tabeillon , on the Chemins de fer du Jura (CJ) route from Glovelier to Saignelégier .
- Aigle-Dépôt , on the Aigle-Leysin railway . The hairpin is only one-sided access to the Dépôt and would not be necessary for the terrain alone.
- The Wengernalpbahn has a train station with a hairpin at the Grindelwald Grund station. The Grindelwald station itself is only a terminal station, as the tracks are separated; otherwise it would also be a switchback station. On the Kleine Scheidegg there is a track triangle (turning triangle), which, however, is not used in scheduled traffic. It enables the trains to turn around so that they can go downhill on either side of the mountain as directed with the locomotive first.
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
- The Jungfrau Railways Dépôt on the Kleine Scheidegg can only be reached via a hairpin.
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
- In Oštrica near Drvar on the Steinbeisbahn, which was closed in 1975
Denmark
- The port railway in Lemvig (also called "mountain railway", with excursions).
Italy
- During the construction of the Gardena Railway in South Tyrol ( Klausen - Plan , 1915–1916) a hairpin was made in St. Christina . The final route here provided for a spiral tunnel. With the hairpin, the railway could be put into operation before the spiral tunnel was completed. After the tunnel was completed, the hairpin was dismantled.
- At the former Dolomitenbahn a switchback station was built in Calalzo (Calalzo Stazione), which however was supplemented or replaced in later years by the construction of a connecting curve.
- Between the train stations of Palau and Palau Marina on the Sassari – Palau railway line .
- On the Menaggio – Porlezza line between Menaggio and Grandola stations .
- Fabrica di Roma , connecting hairpin between the Roma Flaminio – Viterbo railway line and the Civitavecchia-Orte railway line
- Shortly before the end point on the discontinued section of the Cecina – Volterra line
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
- on the Swedish island of Gotland on the narrow-gauge railway Lärbro – Burgsvik in the section between Visby and Visby hamn.
- on the narrow-gauge railway line Glava Glasbruk – Glava .
Slovakia
- Forest railway with historic switchbacks ( Vychylovka Forest Railway , abbr. HLÚŽ), with five switchbacks
- The Tisovec station on the Jesenské – Brezno line had a hairpin from 1896–1949
Czech Republic
- formerly Dětřichov u Frýdlantu ( Dittersbach ) on the narrow-gauge railway Frýdlant – Heřmanice
- Dubí on the Most – Moldava railway line
- formerly Klobouky u Brna on the Čejč – Ždánice railway line
- Liteň on the Zadní Třebaň – Lochovice railway line
- Žleby on the Čáslav – Třemošnice railway line
Africa
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
- The Aliwal North - Lady Gray - Barkly East railway has 8 switchbacks. The line was closed in 2001, but the tracks are still there.
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.
United States
- Hawaii , Kohala Mill on the Hawaii Railway .
- New Jersey , Orange , mountain railways on Orange Mountain , 3 switchbacks of the tram (1908–1914)
- New Jersey , at Edgewater , Bergen County tram , 2 switchbacks of the tram
- Washington , Cascade Tunnel
- West Virginia , Cass Scenic Railway, a former lumberjack railway, now a museum railway, 2 switchbacks near Whittacker station.
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
- Glenbrook, east flank of the Blue Mountains , mined as part of the Trans-Australian Railroad
- Zig Zag Railway , western flank of the Blue Mountains as part of the Trans-Australian Railway near Lithgow , today: museum railway
New Zealand
- Driving Creek Railway in Coromandel on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island : 5 consecutive switchbacks over the course of just 2.7 km.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Eisenbahn Zeitschrift, EZ-Special 3, 100 Years of the Rhaetian Railway, Komet Verlag, Köniz 1989, p. 15.
- ↑ rvo: Lemvig-Lemvig havn line . In: IBSE-Telegram 247 (June 2011), p. 4.
- ↑ Im Teufelszug , SZ, March 30, 2015
- ^ Recorrido - Ferrocarril Central Andino SA.Retrieved January 14, 2014 .
- ^ Toy Train Story Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. Darjeeling Tourism, accessed January 14, 2014 .