Gauntlet track

In a Gleisverschlingung (ie rail pairs ) leads to two tracks so close together until they overlap, that is, the "internal" rail of each track lies between the two rails of the other track. This design is chosen, if on the one hand a bottleneck does not allow double-track route, but then you want to avoid the installation of switches to turn on and disengagement on a common single-track section. In a Gleisverschlingung can always be driven on only one of the two tracks. When signal- guided operation, they must be secured by covering places.

Gleisverschlingungen be found for example in some tunnels, on narrow bridges (eg at the Berlin Bösebrücke ), on ferries or in other tight spots; trams also where otherwise double-track lines (such as the Nauen Gate in Potsdam) would have to be done by narrow pedestrian streets and historic city gates. They are also found in the tram networks of Braunschweig, Mannheim, Berlin, Zwickau, Dresden, Stuttgart, Prague, Dusseldorf, Amsterdam, Zurich, Hannover, Linz, and Norrköping. Gleisverschlingungen there is also the rail network in the Czech Republic and at the funiculars in Lisbon.

Shorter Gleisverschlingungen, so-called early switch blades, are also set up to move the position of the moving parts of a switch, so does not, for example, are these on a busy street, such as in Graz at the Iron Gate, in Erfurt in Bahnhofstrasse under the main station as well as in Karlsruhe in Ebertstraße in the crossing area in front of the Albtalbahnhof.

Gleisverschlingungen are sometimes also used in piers of railway ferries. This may be waived on the ferries themselves on course structures with moving parts, as the railway wagons or railcars are presorted ashore on the respective tracks of the ferry.

Another use is the route of the two different rail systems on the same route (eg, tram and train in the Bremen Overseas city). A change-over to the other rail network is impossible qua construction.