Mountain railway

A mountain railway is a railway line which crosses or crosses a mountain range. The route leads mostly in topographically difficult terrain over a mountain pass and has to overcome large differences in what happens next to the large slope by artificial extension of the line. The construction and operation of mountain railways is more expensive compared to cars in the lowlands. Unlike cable cars mountain railways are not primarily a tourist purpose and are connected to the rest of the rail network.

Routing

Most mountain railways have a lines on slopes with a 20 ‰. Standard gauge main lines were performed with gradients of up to 35 ‰, with the narrow gauge railways the Bernina Railway stops at 70 ‰ slope of the record. More rarely have the mountain paths over rack sections which make it possible to narrow- gauge railways tilts up to 125 ‰.

Thus, the maximum gradient of the line is not exceeded, the route by turns, hairpins, sweeping tunnels or by the extension of side valleys must be extended. The routes usually have many engineering structures in the form of tunnels and bridges, and dams and cuts. At higher altitudes, also the route from snow, avalanches and rockfall must be protected, which is why many galleries will be built. The pass is often under crossed by a summit tunnel. In order to limit the number of civil engineering structures, the distances have small-radius bends. For standard gauge the smallest curve radii are typically 180-350 m, with narrow gauge railways between 50 and 120 m.

Operation

The steep grades require stronger or additional locomotives for trains or a division of trains for transport over the mountains. Some railways use rack sections routes to overcome steep inclines, formerly tracks were common on the system fur.

The maintenance of the route in the mountains is more complex, because the transport of building materials is complicated in steep terrain and damage often caused by forces of nature have to be repaired. Many mountain paths have a vertex of over 1000 meters, so that at higher altitudes, snow must be cleared regularly.

History

The first mountain railway in Europe was in 1854, the Semmering Railway in Austria. 1856 was followed by the first mountain railway in Germany, the Windbergbahn in the south of Dresden. In Switzerland, the old Hauenstein line opened in 1858 is the oldest mountain railway. The Brenner Railway opened in 1867 is the highest standard-gauge mountain railway in Europe, which crosses the Brenner Pass in 1371 m height above sea level. 1868 was followed by the system after the fur route over the Mont -Cenis, which was replaced in 1871 by the current Mont- Cenis web with the Mont Cenis tunnel. The Gotthard Railway followed in 1882, the Arlberg railway in 1884. In Graubünden, Switzerland, opened in 1903, the Albula Railway.

Established in 1906 as the first from the beginning electrically operated mountain railway, which initially operated with three-phase AC Simplon route through the same tunnel. The highest mountain railway in Europe applies the opened in 1910 opened electrically powered narrow gauge Bernina Railway, which the same pass at 2,253 m above sea level. M. exceeds. In 1913, the first powered, single phase alternating mountain railway, the Lötschberg line of BLS AG. Opened in 1926, the West - East direction leading through the Alps Furka -Oberalp -Bahn to continuous operation with steam locomotives, the electrification followed until 1941. The line was continuously operated only in the summer months until the opening of the base tunnel in 1982.

In the late 19th century, several mountain railways were built across the Andes to connect the hinterland to the ports on the Pacific Ocean in South America. You can reach much higher vertices to European railways. The highest mountain railway in the world with passengers was long the Peruvian Central Railway. They reached the Galera tunnel on the route Callao -La Oroya a height of 4784 m, which is comparable to the peak of Mont Blanc.

In 2005, the Lhasa Railway was opened in China, which has its apex at 5072 m. Because of the large amount the cars of passenger trains are equipped with an additional oxygen supply, which is to prevent the travelers suffer from altitude sickness.