Russian gauge
Encyclopedia
Broad gauge
Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
between 1,520 mm and . In a narrow sense as defined by Russian Railways
Russian Railways
The Russian Railways , is the government owned national rail carrier of the Russian Federation, headquartered in Moscow. The Russian Railways operate over of common carrier routes as well as a few hundred kilometers of industrial routes, making it the second largest network in the world exceeded...
it refers to gauge.
The primary installed base of Russian gauge is across the states of the former Soviet Union (CIS states, Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
and Georgia), also Mongolia
Rail transport in Mongolia
Rail transport in Mongolia is an important means of travel in the landlocked nation with few paved roads. According to official statistics, rail transport carried 93% of Mongolian freight and 43% of passenger turnover in 2007. The Mongolian rail system employs 12,500 people. The national operator...
and Finland
Rail transport in Finland
The Finnish railway network consists of a total of 5,919 km of railways built with Russian gauge track. Passenger trains are operated by the private state-owned VR Group. They serve all the major cities and many rural areas, though railway connections are available to fewer places than bus...
, representing ca. 225000 km (139,808.9 mi) of track. The Russian gauge is the second most widely used gauge in the world—after (standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
). Comparatively short sections of Russian-gauge railways also extend beyond the borders of the former USSR into Poland, eastern Slovakia, Sweden, at the Finnish border at Haparanda, and northern Afghanistan
Rail transport in Afghanistan
Railways were planned in Afghanistan since the 19th century but never completed due to the Great Game between the Russian and British empires followed by the Soviets and the Americans. At least one rail track was built in the capital of Kabul during the 1920s but was dismantled as Afghan leaders...
.
Origin
The selection process for the gauge was undertaken chiefly by Colonel Pavel Petrovich MelnikovPavel Petrovich Melnikov
Pavel Petrovich Melnikov was a Russian engineer and administrator who, in his capacity of Transport Minister, was in a large measure responsible for the introduction of railroad construction in Imperial Russia.In 1825 Melnikov graduated at the head of his class from the Institute of Transport...
(1804–1880). Probably, a combination of the following arguments was used:
- Easier construction of locomotives
- Better stability
- Wide gauge was seen as a new standard that was emerging in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
- Since the gauge was wider than standard road track it was easier to use horse carriages for railroad construction and maintenance.
- Defensive concerns
In the 19th century, Imperial Russia chose a gauge broader than standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
. It is widely believed that the choice was made for military reasons, to prevent potential invaders from using the Russian rail system. Others point out that no clear standard had emerged by 1842.
Engineer Pavel Melnikov
Pavel Petrovich Melnikov
Pavel Petrovich Melnikov was a Russian engineer and administrator who, in his capacity of Transport Minister, was in a large measure responsible for the introduction of railroad construction in Imperial Russia.In 1825 Melnikov graduated at the head of his class from the Institute of Transport...
hired George Washington Whistler
George Washington Whistler
George Washington Whistler was a prominent American railroad engineer in the first half of the 19th century....
, a prominent American railroad engineer (and father of the artist James McNeill Whistler
James McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American-born, British-based artist. Averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger...
), to be a consultant on the building of Russia's first major railroad, the Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
– Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
line. The selection of gauge was recommended by German and Austrian engineers but not adopted: it was not the same as the gauge in common use in the southern United States at the time.
George Washington Whistler
George Washington Whistler
George Washington Whistler was a prominent American railroad engineer in the first half of the 19th century....
was invited as a foreign expert to assist in railroad construction. He was a proponent of a wider gauge and his efforts helped in lobbying the new standard. It is quite likely that an "invasion" argument (alleging that it is easier to adapt trains to narrow gauge than to broad gauge) was used in lobbying the project since military was closely supervising the construction; however, it is highly unlikely that such an argument was made by Melnikov during the actual selection process. Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
suffered such problems with their supply lines during World War II
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
as a result of the break-of-gauge
Break-of-gauge
With railways, a break-of-gauge occurs where a line of one gauge meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock cannot run through without some form of conversion between gauges, and freight and passengers must otherwise be transloaded...
, but also because bridges had been destroyed.
Expansion
Besides using the 5-foot gauge within Russian Empire, Russian engineers used it on the Chinese Eastern RailwayChinese Eastern Railway
The Chinese Eastern Railway or was a railway in northeastern China . It connected Chita and the Russian Far East. English-speakers have sometimes referred to this line as the Manchurian Railway...
, which was built in the closing years of the 19th across the Northeastern China
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
entry to provide a shortcut for the Transsiberian Railway to Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
. The Chinese Eastern Railway's southern branch, from Harbin
Harbin
Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...
via Changchun
Changchun
Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin province, located in the northeast of the People's Republic of China, in the center of the Songliao Plain. It is administered as a sub-provincial city with a population of 7,677,089 at the 2010 census under its jurisdiction, including counties and...
to Lüshun used the Russian gauge as well, but as a result of the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
of 1904-1905 its southernmost section
South Manchuria Railway
The , and operated within China in the Japanese-controlled South Manchuria Railway Zone. The railway itself ran from Lüshun Port at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula to Harbin, where it connected to the Chinese Eastern Railway.-History:...
(from Changchun
Changchun
Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin province, located in the northeast of the People's Republic of China, in the center of the Songliao Plain. It is administered as a sub-provincial city with a population of 7,677,089 at the 2010 census under its jurisdiction, including counties and...
to Lüshun) was lost to the Japanese, who promptly regauged it to standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
(after using the narrow Japanese gauge for a short time during the war). This formed a break of gauge between Changchun
Changchun
Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin province, located in the northeast of the People's Republic of China, in the center of the Songliao Plain. It is administered as a sub-provincial city with a population of 7,677,089 at the 2010 census under its jurisdiction, including counties and...
and Kuancheng
Kuancheng District
Kuancheng District is one of the administrative Districts of Changchun, the capital ofJilin province, People's Republic of China. It is part of Changchun's main urban area, located north of downtown.-History:...
(the station just to the north of Changchun, still in Russian hands),
until the rest of the former Chinese Eastern Railway
Chinese Eastern Railway
The Chinese Eastern Railway or was a railway in northeastern China . It connected Chita and the Russian Far East. English-speakers have sometimes referred to this line as the Manchurian Railway...
was converted to standard gauge, too (in the 1930s?).
Unlike the South Manchurian situation
South Manchuria Railway
The , and operated within China in the Japanese-controlled South Manchuria Railway Zone. The railway itself ran from Lüshun Port at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula to Harbin, where it connected to the Chinese Eastern Railway.-History:...
, the Soviet Union's reconquest of southern Sakhalin
Karafuto Prefecture
, commonly called South Sakhalin, was the Japanese administrative division corresponding to Japanese territory on Sakhalin from 1905 to 1945. Through the Treaty of Portsmouth, the portion of Sakhalin south of 50°N became a colony of Japan in 1905...
from Japan did not result in regauging of the island's railway system. The railway system of the entire Island
Sakhalin
Sakhalin or Saghalien, is a large island in the North Pacific, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N.It is part of Russia, and is Russia's largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast...
have continued to operate on the original Japanese gauge. The island's railway system has no fixed connection with the mainland, and the rail cars coming from the mainland's port of Vanino
Vanino, Khabarovsk Krai
Vanino is an urban-type settlement and the administrative center of Vaninsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is an important port on the Strait of Tartary , served by the BAM railway line...
on the train ferry
Train ferry
A train ferry is a ship designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ferries are sometimes referred to as "car ferries", as...
(operating since 1973) have their bogies changed
Bogie exchange
Bogie exchange is a system for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges to overcome difference in the track gauge. To perform a bogie exchange, a car is converted from one gauge to another by removing the chassis containing the wheels and axles of the car, and installing a new chassis with...
in the Sakhalin port of Kholmsk
Kholmsk
Kholmsk is a town in Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, the administrative center of Kholmsky District. Population: 35,141 .-History:The town was founded in 1870 as a military post. After the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, the town was transferred to Japanese control, along with the rest of southern...
. In 2004, and then again in 2008, plans were put forward to convert the island's system to Russian gauge. The estimated completion date now is 2030.
Now Russia and most of the former Russian Empire (including the Baltic states, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, the Caucasian and Central Asian republics) as well as Soviet-influenced Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, have the Russian gauge of , 5/32 in narrower than , though rolling stock
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
of both gauges is interchangeable in practice. The railways of Finland, from 1809 till 1917 a Russian Grand Duchy, retain the nominal 1524 mm gauge, with a short section of dual 1524/1435 gauge running into Haparanda
Haparanda
Haparanda is a locality and the seat of Haparanda Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 4,778 inhabitants in 2005. It is adjacent to Tornio, Finland...
in Sweden.
There are proposals for plans for north-south and east-west lines in Afghanistan, with construction to commence in 2013, to be built to the 1520 mm gauge
Use in light rail systems
Although broad gauge was and is quite rare on lighter railwaysLight rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
and street tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
ways, many tramways in ex-USSR were and are also built to broad gauge (according to terminology in use in these countries, gauges narrower than are considered to be narrow).
The former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
is today the largest operator of first generation tramways in the world, and has been for many years. The Saint Petersburg, Russia, tramway network
Tramways in Saint Petersburg
The city of Saint Petersburg, Russia once had the largest tram network in the world, consisting of about 340 kilometres of unduplicated track in the late 1980s. However, since 1995 the tramway network has declined sharply in size as major portions of track were removed, particularly in the city...
is entirely broad gauge, with some of the world's widest trams, and indeed the widest in Europe (European trams are generally narrower than European buses and trains and also tramcars elsewhere such as America and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
). The Riga tramway is also built to the broad gauge.
Helsinki Metro
Helsinki Metro
The Helsinki Metro , is the metro system in Helsinki, Finland. It is the World's most northern metro system, and currently the only one in Finland. The system was opened to the general public on 2 August 1982 after 27 years of planning...
underground urban transport system uses the standard Finnish gauge.
Redefinitions
In the late 1960s the gauge was redefined to 1520 mm in the Soviet Union. At the same time the tolerances were lessened to increase speed.In Finland Finnish State Railways kept the original definition of 1524 mm, even though they also have lessened the tolerances in a similar way.
Estonia after independence redefined to 1524 mm.
The redefinitions did not mean that a lot of actual railways or rolling stock were changed. It was more a rule change regarding new and renovated tracks.
Tolerances
The railways have a fault tolerance regarding the real gauge. Finland allows their railways to be between 1514–1554 mm (less tolerance for higher speed).This means that, on the condition that the gauge of the rolling stock is kept with certain limits, through running between railways and Finnish railways is allowed. Since both 1520 and 1524 are well within tolerances, the difference can be said to be mostly a paper difference.
The new Sm6 high-speed train is specified for a 1522 mm gauge. High-speed trains have less tolerances against gauge error, but this way through running works well.
Outside the Russian Empire
The Panama RailwayPanama Railway
The Panama Canal Railway Company is a railway line that links the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean across Panama in Central America. It is jointly owned by the Kansas City Southern Railway and Mi-Jack Products...
was originally broad gauge
Broad gauge
Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
. When the railway was rebuilt in 2000, the gauge was changed to so as to use standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
equipment. The original gauge was chosen under the influence of the pre-conversion southern United States railway companies.
The most western of Russian gauge railroads in Europe is the Polish LHS (Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa) that leads from the Ukrainian border to the easternmost end of the Silesian conurbation
Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union
The Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia or Upper Silesia Metroplex, Silesia Metroplex / Silesia Metroplex is a union of 14 adjacent cities in the Polish province of Silesia....
.
External links
- Broad Gauge Track-1520 eng.rzd.ru
- 1520 Strategic Partnership www.forum1520.com
- Railroad gauge width : 1 519 / 1 520 / 1 524 / 1 525 www.parovoz.com