Railway Engineering 731

Basic of Railway &

Rail Joints 1
 George Stephenson (father of railway) of England succeeded in running
the first train on 27th September 1825 between Stockton and Darlington
with steam engine.
 In the world India Railways are next only to Russian Railways under a
single management.
 Tejas train is first Private train of India (2019).
 First train (fourteen coaches and one steam engine) were run in India on
16th April 1853 between Boribunder (Mumbai) and Thane.
Rail: These act as a continuous girders carrying axle loads made up of
high carbon steel which convert moving wheel loads of train into point
load, which then acts on sleepers.

Requirement of Rails:
(a) Rails are tested by falling weight test/tup test.
(b) Maximum wear of head allowed is 10 mm
(c) Rails are manufactured by open hearth or duplex process.
(d) Minimum tensile strength needed 72 kg/mm2.
Bull Headed Rails or
Properties Flat Footed Rails
Double Headed rails
Fitting is simpler. So, these
1. Laying and Relaying Laying or relaying is difficult.
can be easily laid or relaid.
They have more strength These have lesser stiffness &
2. Strength and Stiffness
& stiffness for same weight. strength for same weight.
Fastenings are lesser and
Fastening are more and costly.
3. Initial cost cheaper. So initial cost is
So initial cost is high.
less.
It requires heavy maintenance
4. Maintenance cost It has less maintenance cost.
cost.
732 Civil Booster (Civil Ki Goli Publication 9255624029)

Special Points:
1. Double Headed rails were used in the beginning.
2. Flat footed rails also known as Vignole’s rails and these rails are
designed by weight of rail per unit length. These are most commonly
used in India.
3. 52 kg rail (52 kg/m F.F) is suitable upto 130 kmph & 60 kg rail is
suitable upto speed of 160 kmph.

Length of Rail: Rails of larger length are always preferred because

they will have less no. of joints. Rail length of 12.8m for BG tracks & rail
length of 11.89 m for MG track are used in Indian railways.

wt. of Rail 
Special Point: 
wt. of Iocomotive 510

When wear of head exceeds 5% of total weight, then rail must be replaced.

Permanent way (Railway Track)

 The combination of rails, fitted on sleepers and resting on ballast &
subgrade is called railway track or permanent way.
 It is semi-elastic in nature due to packing of ballast cushion.
Ballast shoulder

Gauge
Ballast

Sleeper
1.5:1 Ballast Cushion

2:1

Ballast base
Width of formation
Major Defects of Rail
Corrugated/Roaring Rails Kinks in rail Hogged rail Buckling of rail
Minute depression (occur due to loose Created due to Occur due to
on the Surface of rails packing of joints and impact action temperature
Created where brakes uneven wear) of wheel at the (specially summer)
applied or train start end of rail, head when there is
get bend. insufficient gap
b/w two end joints.
 Railway Engineering 733

Gauges in Railway Track: It's the clear distance between inner faces/
running faces of two track rails.
Broad Gauge = 1.676m
Narrow Gauge = 0.762m
Meter Gauge = 1.0 m
Light gauge (Feather track) = 0.610 m
Standard gauge = 1.435m (Delhi metro) (In generally UK and USA)
Coning of wheels: Wheels of the train are made at a slope of 1:20.
Which is known as conning of wheels. It reduces the wear & tear of wheel
flanges & also prevent the wheels from slipping.
Adzing of sleepers: Also called tilting of rails. For effective use of coning
of wheels, the rails are also laid at the slope of 1 in 20 on the sleepers.
1:20

20
Wheel
Axis

Rail
Adzing of sleeper
1
20 Sleeper

Rail Joints: Are needed to hold together the adjoining ends of the rail.
They are the weakest part of the track. It's strength is 50% of strength of
rail.
Types of Rail joints
Supported Suspended Bridge Compromise Expansion Welded
Rail ends Rail ends Projected Two different Gap is Most
rests on a are projected rail ends rail sections provided perfect &
single beyond are are joined by for thermal strongest type
sleeper, called sleepers, called connected fish plates. expansion of Joints.
joint sleeper shoulder sleeper by a flat
or corrugated
plate
Welded Rails: Rails are welded to provide sufficient restrain at the
ends of rail & better degree of fixity of rail to the sleeper.
Special Point:
Breathing length: minimum length of rail required to be welded at the
end of track, so the portion of rail between welded rail does not undergo
any thermal expansion or contraction.
734 Civil Booster (Civil Ki Goli Publication 9255624029)

Sleepers and
Track Fasteners 2
Sleepers (Rail road lines) are the members which support the rail & are laid
transverse to it. They act as elastic medium for providing longitudinal and
lateral stability to the track & distributed load from rail to ballast.
 Classification of sleepers on material basis -
(a) Wooden (timber) sleeper
(b) Concrete sleeper - (i) Reinforced concrete, (ii) Prestressed concrete
(c) Metal sleeper - (i) Cast iron sleeper, (ii) Steel sleeper
 Wooden sleepers are best sleepers but they have life of 12–15 years.
 Sal & Teak wood are most commonly used for sleepers.Box heart or
Ekka wood must be used for the construction of sleepers. Creosting &
Burnettising are done to increase life of wooden sleepers.
 Serviceable portion of the spiked wooden sleepers is cut & used with tie
bars in station yards is known as check sleepers.
 Check sleepers are not used on a track having running traffic.
 Steel Trough sleepers maintain the two tracks at the same level.
 Central Standard Trail no. 9 (CST-9) sleeper was standarised by track
standard committee. It can be used upto a speed of 130 kmph & most
widely used in Indian Railways.
 C.I. Sleeper’s life is about 35–50 years.Their overall cost & cost of
maintenance is low as compared to Wooden sleepers but scrap value is
high while their Initial cost is high.
 C.I sleepers are used more than steel sleepers as they are less prone to
corrosion.
 C.I sleepers can be used with every type of ballast but are not suitable
for track circuiting.
 Steel sleepers are light in weight, require less no. of fasteners but get
easily rusted/ corroded.
 Concrete sleepers have high track modulus, therefore used for developing
high speed tracks due to best absorbing capacity of shock.But they have
very poor scrap value.
 Railway Engineering 735

 In prestress concrete sleepers, Generally M55 and M60 are used &
there are suitable for Track circuiting.But heavy damages occurs due to
derailment of trains.
Composite Sleeper Index (C.S.I): It is used to measure the mechanical
strength of timber. Minimum CSI for track sleeper (783), crossing sleeper
(1352), bridge sleeper (1455).

S + 10 H
CSI =
20
S = strength Index, H = Hardness Index (Measured at 12% moisture
content)
Track fasterners:
(a) Fish plates: These are used for connecting one rail to the next rail.
Also use to resist heavy transverse shear. Minimum 4 fish bolt are
required to connect 2 fish plate.The buckling occurs if fish plates
are bolted so tightly that rails are not allowed to slip/expansion.
(b) Spike: It is used to hold rail on wooden sleepers. Dog spikes are
used for wooden sleepers with flat footed rails.
(c) Chair: It support bull headed rails on sleepers. Slide chairs are used
to hold stock rail & tongue rail.
(d) Keys: It fix rails to chairs on metal sleepers. Morgan key ( 18 cm
long & tapered 1:32 ) is most commonly used for CI chairs & steel
sleepers.
(e) Bolts: Dog/Hook bolt is used where sleepers rest directly on steel
girder.
(f) Bearing plate: It is used below F.F rails to distribute load over
wooden sleeper.These are not used in concrete sleepers & metal
sleepers. Saddle plates are used to strengthen the steel
sleepers.These are rectangular plates of either MS or CI. They do
not required adzing of sleepers,
Sleeper density: No. of sleepers per rail length. It is N + x
where N = rail lengh (13 for BG)
x = varies b/w 3 to 7
For BG, sleeper density is N + 5 (18 sleepers/rail)
Squaring of Sleeper: Adjusting ballast under the sleepers to space them
parallel to each other. It is a maintenance process. It is done by Crow bar.
736 Civil Booster (Civil Ki Goli Publication 9255624029)

Ballast and
Track Alignment 3
Ballast: It is high Quality crushed stone with desired specifications placed
immediately beneath the sleepers
Function of Ballast
1. It held the sleepers in position & prevent longitudinal and Lateral
movements due to dynamic loads.
2. It give some elasticity to track and provides Good drainage.
3. Good Ballast should absorb minimum water.
Special Points:
 Size of Ballast varies from (1.9 – 5.1) cm. For wooden sleeper (5.1cm),
Steel sleeper (3.8cm) & at switches & crossings (2.54cm).
 Quantity of Ballast is more on curves with super elevation.
 In India, this width is kept in between 38 to 43 cm from end of sleepers.
 The ballast above packing which surrounds the sleeper, is loosely filled
called Boxing.
 The process of ramming the ballast under the sleeper is called packing.
 The loose ballast between the two adjacent sleepers is known as Ballast
crib.
Types of ballast
(a) Broken stone: Best material as ballast, has maximum stability.Igneous
Rock such as Granite, Quartzite make good ballast material.
(b) Sand: It provides good drainage & silent track.
(c) Gravel or River pebble or shingle: They are smooth & round, so
poor packing and interlocking. Gravel ballast gives better performance
in soft formation.
(d) Ashes or Cinder : They have excellent drainage property, Excellent
ballast material for station yards & but it is corrosive in nature.
(e) Brick ballast : It is fairly good for drainage.
 Railway Engineering 737
Depth of ballast-Section
Minimum depth of Ballast layer = Dmin

S W
D min 
2
Where S - Sleeper spacing, W - Width of sleeper, D - Depth of ballast.

S
W
S–W
45º

S–W
2

Width of ballast: On straight track, it is sleepers length + 2 × 300 mm

at top which work out to be 3.35 m for BG, 2.25m for MG & 1.83m for NG.
The side slope is 1.5 horizontal to 1 vertical.
Survey works for alignemnt of track.
(a) Traffic survey
(b) Reconnaissance survey
(c) Preliminary survey
(d) Detailed or location survey
738 Civil Booster (Civil Ki Goli Publication 9255624029)

Track Stresses and

Creep 4
Track Modulus (m)
 Track Modulus is Index for stiffness resistance to deformation of
permanent way.
 Load per unit length of the rail required to produce unit deformation or
depression in the track.
 For calculation of Track modulus, Initial load is 4 tones for BG track &
3 tones for MG Track.
Special Point: Elastic theroy is used to define track modulus
Stresses on the rail: Torsional stresses are developed due to eccentric
vertical loads but maximum shear stress below the contact surface of rail &
diesel locomotive is 36.25 kg/mm2
Creep of the rail: It is the longitudinal movement of rail w.r.t. sleepers
in a track and its value varies from 0-16 cm.
Theories of creep
Wave Action theory Percussion theory Drag theory
Vertical reverse curve Due to horizontal Drag of driving wheel
component of the of locomotive have
Wave motion is set up resultant impact
by moving loads of wheel force at the rail end opposite effect wrt.
direction of creep.

Measurement of Creep
 Maximum permitted creep on BG track is 150 mm
 Creep should be measured at an Interval of about 3 month.
 No creep should be permitted on points & crossings.
Prevention of creep:
(i) Using steel sleepers
(ii) Pulling back rails to original position
(iii) By providing sufficient crib ballast & anchors
 Railway Engineering 739
Factors affecting creep of the rail:
(i) Alignment of track: Observed greater on curves than tangent railway
track.
(ii) More creep in the direction of heaviest traffic.
(iii) Type of rails: Old rails have less creep than new rails.
(iv) Grade of track: More creep in downward steep gradients.
Crushed head:
 Crushed heads are those which have either sagged or flattened.

Crushed head

 Besides the defect of manufacture, crushed head are due to

(a) Weak supports at the rail ends. This weak end support may be due
to loose fish bolts.
(b) Flat spots on wheels which are developed due to skidding of wheels.
(c) Slipping of wheels.
Split heads:
 In it, cracks occur in the middle of the head or pieces are split from
the side to the end of the head.

Split head `
Horizontal fissure

 It occurs due to cavity formed during manufacturing or shrinkage of

metal when the metal is not closely welded together.
Horizontal fissures:
 These are developed in the rail head.
 They are more in the form of a fracture & develop gradually.
740 Civil Booster (Civil Ki Goli Publication 9255624029)

Geometric Design of
the track 5
 Generally, the maximum Gradient allowed is known as Ruling Gradient
& It is the gradient allowed so that engine can haul the load with its
maximum capacity. In hilly region (1:100 - 1:150) & plain region (1:150 -
1:200) .
 In pusher gradient, a pusher or helper engine is used. For B.G. Track of
Western Ghats pusher gradient is of 1:37. Generally used in hilly areas.
 In India, the minimum gradient provided on the station yards to drain out
off water is 1:400 to 1:1000.
 Momentum gradient is steeper than ruling gradient & comes only after a
falling gradient.
Grade compensation: Due to curvature on the grade, the gradients on
the curves are to be reduced to reduce the resistance in motion of train.

% per degree of curve

 70 
BG 0.04/  
 R

 52.5 
MG 0.03/  
 R 

 35 
NG 0.02/  
 R

 High carbon steel is used to make rails must be resistant to fatigue or

surface cracking. The aim is for the steel to have a long fatigue life.
Rail steel is chosen to achieve a balance between fatigue life & wear
resistance. If the steel is too hard, it will allow cracks to develop on the
surface
 Railway Engineering 741

Safe speed of train as per Martin’s Formula

For low speed (<100 kmph) For High speed (>100 kmph)
Transition curve Non-trasition curve Vmax  4.58 R (BG)
on BG & MG on NG 80% of speed
on transition curve.
Vmax  4.35 R  67 Vmax  3.6 R  6.1

Degree of Curve:
1720
For 30m chain
R
1150
For 20m chain
R
As per Indian Railways.

Maximum degree of curve Minimum radius

BG 10º 175 m
MG 16º 109m
NG 40º 44m

Super elevation or cant

e v2
tan  = 
G gR
Gv 2
e
127R
V in kmph, R in m, G  Gauge (in m)
2
MV cos 
P R
2
D MV
 R

mg sin  C e

A B

mg cos 
742 Civil Booster (Civil Ki Goli Publication 9255624029)

 The maximum value of superelevation is (1/10)th to (1/12)th of the Gauge.

 When the loads, pressure on both rail is equal. Then, the cant provided is
known as Equilibrium cant.
 Negative superelevation - When the main line lies on a curve & has
a turnout of contrary flexure leading to a branch line, then the
superelevation necessary for the average speed of trains running over
the main line curve can not be provided. In such cases, the branch line
curve has a –ve superelevation & so speed on both tracks must be
restricted, particularly on the branch line.

Branch Line

Main Line

Negative Superelevation

Equilibrium speed

When sanction speed > 50 kmph When sanction speed < 50 kmph

 3
 Vmax  Vmax
Vequ  lesser  4 Vequ  lesser 
safe speed by martin  safe speed by martin

 N i Vi
Weighted average speed =
 Ni
Ni Number of train’s having speed Vi
Maximum limit of super elevation
 Railway Engineering 743

Track Speed< 120 kmph > 120 kmph

BG 16.5cm 18.5 cm
MG 10 cm
NG 7.6 cm

 Cant deficiency - It is the difference between the equilibrium cant

necessary for the maximum permissible speed on a curve & the actual
cant provided (on the basis of average speed of trains).
 Cant deficiency is limited due to -
(a) Extra pressure & lateral force on outer rail.
(b) Higher cant deficiency gives more discomfort to passengers.
 The allowable cant deficiency for BG is 75mm, for MG 50mm & for
NG 40mm.
 Cant Excess - It occurs when a train/vehicle travels around a curve
at a speed less than the equilibrium speed. It is the difference of actual
cant & theoretical cant required for such lower speed. The maximum
cant excess for BG is 75mm & for MG is 65mm.
Types of Transition Curve
 Transition curve is introduced in between the circular portion of track &
straight track at both ends.
 Cubic parabola ( also called Froud’s curve ) is used as transition curve &
Transition curve are early set out by offset method.
(a) Spiral curve is used in Highways
(b) Bernoulli’s Lemniscate satisfy the requirement of transition curve
upto deflection angle of 30°.
Transition Curve:
x3
(a) Equation of deflection of cubic parabola y 
6RL
1  1 
(b) Deflection angle  = tan  tan  
3 
1  x 
2

(c) Spiral angle  = tan  2RL 

 
L2
(d) Shift s =
24 R
Length of transition curve
744 Civil Booster (Civil Ki Goli Publication 9255624029)

From 1st method -

7.2e

max 0.073eVmax
L= ,
0.073D V
 max

where e = S.E in cm, Vmax in kmph, D = cant deficiency in cm

From 2nd method - Maximum of following
(i) Railway board formula
L = 4.4 R
where L, R (in m)
(ii) Rate of change of super elevation
L = 3.6e
(iii) Change of radial acceleration
3.28V3
L= , V – km/hr
R
Maximum speed based on length of transition curve

(L in m, e in mm)
Speed < 100 kmph Speed > 100 kmph

Vmax  134 L = (134 L/D) Vmax  198 L

e e = (198 L/D)

Gauge widening on curves

13(B + L) 2
We  cm
R
B – Rigid wheel base in meters, (For BG = 6 m, For MG = 4.88m)
R – Radius of curve (in m)

L  0.02 h2  Dh
L = Lap of flange (in m ), D = Diameter of wheel
h = Depth of wheel flange below rails , Wc= Widening of gauge
 Due to rigidity of wheel when the outer wheel of rear axle does not
follow the same path as by front axle, there is always a gap with the
outer rail. So, curve gague is a bit wide need but should not be more than
required.
 Railway Engineering 745

Points and
Crossing 6
 Track circuiting is done in order to find out the location of a train on
track. It also tells the spacing between two trains on the same track.
 Turnout: It is the combination of points & crossing which enables a
back either a branch line or siding to take off from main track.
 Points & crossings are weak kinks in the track where vehicles are
susceptible to derailment.
 High manganese steel are used to make material (Steel) for points &
crossing.
 Check Rails are provided on the opposite side of the crossing for guiding
one wheel of the vehicle & thus to check the tendency of other wheel to
climb over the crossing.
 On the curves, check rails parallel to Inner rail can be Introduced to
control wear.
 Check-rails are used if the degrees of curves is more than 8º for BG and
more than 14° for MG.
 The correct sequence for a train when it passes a Turn out from the
facing direction is Toe of switch, Tongue rail, Lead rail & crossing.
 A tongue rail is tapered having toe at one end & heel at the other end.
 The position of the straight alignment against which the tongue rail fits is
known as stock Rail.
 Crow bars are used to raise sleeper to a desired height & also use in
replacement of track.
 Claw bar to remove dog spikes out of sleepers.
 Rail Tongue to lift & carry rails.
 Wire claw or ballast fork to clean & spread the Ballast.
 Wing rails help in channelising the wheels in their proper routes.
 Guard rails are extra rails provided over bridges to prevent damage.
 Treadle bar is used for interlocking points & signals.
746 Civil Booster (Civil Ki Goli Publication 9255624029)

Stretcher bar

stock rail
End of
Over all length

AB – Stock rail
A
aig ht le ad rail
Outer str D B
r ve C CD tongue Facing
c u rail
O u ter r a il F
direction
Check rail H d
Lea
Wing rail O Inner straight lead rain E
L e Throw of
C
I P switch
a
Throat
rv e Bend in check
n e r curail rail
Wing In ead
l
rail
Flore Check rail TURN OUT DIAGRAM

Theoretical nose
of crossing (T.N.C.)
Actual nose of
crossing (A.N.C.)

Special Points:
 Lock bar is provided so that point may not be operated while train is on
it.
 Maximum axle load in India are 28.56 tonnes for BG & 17.34 tonnes
for MG.
 Realignment of straight Track is done by using crow bar & Track liners.
Turn out consists of
(a) 2 points or switches
(b) (1 pair) of stock rails
(c) An acute angle crossing/ V crossing.
(d) A pair of check rails - 2
(e) 4 lead rails - 2 straight & 2 curve lead rails.
Important Points of Switch:
(i) Flange way clearance: It is the distance between adjacent faces of
tongue rail & stock rail at the heel of switch. It is provided as :
(a) In 1 in 12 crossing , it is 6.3 cm, (b) In 1 in 8.5 crossing, it is 6.6 cm
(ii) Flange way depth: It is vertical distance b/w top of rail to heel block.
(iii) Heel divergence: It is the distance between running faces of stock
rail & tongue rail at the heel of switch.In India, it is provided as :
(i) In Broad Guage : 13.3 cm to 13.7 cm
(ii) In Meter Gauge : 12.1 cm to 12.7 cm, (iii) In Narrow Gauge : 9.8 cm
 Railway Engineering 747

Flange way Heel divergence

clearance

Flange way
depth

Heel Block

Stock rail Tongue rail

(iv) Throw of switch: It is the maximum distance by which toe of tongue

rail moves sideways. For BG (9.5-11.5 cm) & MG/ NG (8.9-10 cm)
(v) Switch angle: It is the angle between running faces of stock rail &
tongue rail when tongue rail touches the stock rail.

Heel divergence

Length of tongue rail


Heel
divergence gth
en
ue rai l l
Tong

Crossing angle:

The spread at the leg of crossing

No. of crossing (N) =
The length of crossing T.NC.

T.N.C. Theoretical Nose of Crossing

Methods to calculate crossing angle ‘N’
Cole’s method Centre line method Isosceles triangle
(right angle triangle method) method
N = cot  1/2

1 Used in Indian
/2 /2    1/ 2
N
Railway 1   2cot (2N )1
N sin  
N  2 N
748 Civil Booster (Civil Ki Goli Publication 9255624029)

Design of Turnout:
(a) Curve lead: It is the distance measured along stock rail between
TNC and toe of switch
Curve lead = lead + switch lead
(b) Lead: It is the distance between TNC and heel of switch measured
along stock rail
(c) Switch lead: It is the distance between heel of the switch and toe of
the switch. It is measured on stock rail.
Diamond crossing: When curved track or straight tracks of the same or
different gauges cross each other at an angle more than 90°, a diamond
shape is formed.Therefore, this crossing is known as diamond crossing.
Diamond crossing at Nagpur is a double diamond railway crossing.

Elbow


The salient features of diamond crossing are:

(a) It consists of 2 acute angle crossings , 2 obtuse angle crossings
& 4 check rails.
(b) Indian Standards specify the limit of flattest diamond to be 1 in 10
for BG tracks & 1 in 8.5 for other tracks.
(c) The length of the gap between two noses of an obtuse crossing
increases as the acute angle of crossing decreases.
(d) Diamond crossings should be avoided as far as possible on curves
because they necessitate restriction on speed.
 Railway Engineering 749

Railway Station
and Station Yard 7
 Minimum length of passenger platform is 180 m for all gauges.
 Sidings provides temporary storage for wagons.
 Dyanamometer car is helpful in collecting the Information about the
railway track condition.
 Turn Table has arrangement for turning the direction of the engine of
locomotive.
Sidings: When a branch line from main line or a loop line terminates at
a dead end with a buffer stop or sand hump.
Station yard: It is a system of track laid for receiving, storing, sorting &
dispatching of new vehicles etc.
Types of station yard - (a) Passenger, (b) Locomotive,
(c) Goods, (d) Marshalling
Passenger yard: It includes the passenger platforms & a number of
tracks where idle trains can be accommodated, examined & cleaned.
Goods yard: It include the platform useful for loading & unloading goods.
Marshalling yard: It is considered as "the heart that pumps the flow of
commence along the track & main function of marshalling yard are reception,
sorting & (departure) reforming into designation wise of goods trains. It
may be flat yard, hump yard or gravitational yard.
 Flat yard is used when limited land is available on plains.
 Nowdays practise is to use Hump yards because shunting operations
are done more quickly than flat/Gravitational yards.
Locomotive yard: These are the yards where locomotives are housed
& where all the facilities like coaling, watering, repairing cleaning oiling are
provided for servicing of the Locomotives.
Special points - Drop pit is used to remove the wheels of an engine.
 Scotch blocks is used to separate all the sidings & shunting lines from
through running lines.
750 Civil Booster (Civil Ki Goli Publication 9255624029)

Signalling and
control Systems 8
Absolute block system or space interval system is extensively used in India.
Classification of Signals - Based upon
(a) Operational characteristics - Detonating, hand & fixed signals.
(b) Functional characteristics- Shunting (disc or ground) , warner,
coloured light & semaphore (stop) signals.
(c) Locational characteristics - Reception signals like as home & outer
signal, Departure signal like as starter & advance starter signals.
(d) Special characteristics - Calling on, routing, point indicator & repeater
( co-acting ) signals.
(i) Detonating signals are used in foggy & cloudy weather. These are
placed on rails which explode with when train passes over them.
 Detonator must be placed on the rails atleast 400-500m ahead of signals.
(ii) Warner signal: A semaphore signal at entrance to station is combined
with a warner system.It is painted with yellow, not red.
(iii) Stop/semaphore signal: If arm is horizontal, then it indicates stop or
danger indication. If arm is inclined at 45- 60 degree, it is said to be
off position meaning to proceed.
 The height of the centre of arm of semaphore signal is kept 7.5m above
the ground.
(iv) Shunting signals are used in station yards in shunting operation.
(v) Home Signal (Due to its location at the Door of station it is called as
Home signal) has bracketed arms which line is to be used.
(vi) Repeater or co-acting signal’s are provided where driver’s vision is
obstructed. A duplicate arm of smaller size is placed at a suitable
position on the same post.
(vii) Calling on signals are very much useful with repair work.
(viii) Routing signals are provided where no of lines exist at a station
taking off different locations from main line.
(ix) Fixed signals are generally a semaphore type, fixed at a place.
(x) The starter signals mark the limit upto which trains stopping at a
station come to a stand or halt.
Special Points: Outer signal is placed minimum to 0.54km & 0.40km
away from station yard on BG and MG tracks respectively.
 Railway Engineering 751

Traction and
Tractive Resistance 9
Tractive effort: Pull applied by engine on driving wheel
Hauling Capacity: Maximum value of frictional force due to driving
wheels. It indicate the power of locomotive engine.
Hauling Capacity (H.C.) = W=wn
 = friction coefficient
n = no. of pair of driving wheels
w = weight on driving axle, W = total weight on driving wheels
Total resistance

Due to wind resistance Due to track profile Due to starting & Due to speed
acceleration

Curvature Gradient

Resistance due to train resistance

RT = 0.0016 w + 0.00008 wv + 0.0000006 wv2 + w tan  (due to
gradient) + 0.0004 DW (due to curve)
V = Speed of trains in kmph, w = wt. of train in tonnes

w sin 

Special Points:
 For moving train
Tractive Resistance > Hauling capacity > Total resistance
 For solving Numerical problems, we take. Tractive effort = Hauling
capacity = Total resistance