U2201

About
The [|“rail gauge”] marks the distance between two parallel rails that make up a single track. The gauge is being measured from the inner sides of the rails. While about 60% of the world uses the [|“standard rail gauge”] of 1,435m there are others standards in use, such as the [|“broad gauge”] and some [|“narrow gauges”].

History
The history of the standard rail gauge system dates back to the origins of train travel in Britain, in the first half of the 19-th century, when George Stephenson built the “Stockton & Darlington Railway”. Stephenson used the gauge of 1,435m for his tracks. Meanwhile, another railway was being built by Isambard Brunel between London and Bristol using a broader gauge of 2,140m. Eventually the two standards employed by different railway companies interconnected in Gloucester. It was obvious for everybody that this situation was unfeasible due to delays caused by trans boarding passengers and freight to different trains, as well as the costs that arose from that. By 1846 the British Parliament passed the [|“gauge act”] that made the “standard gauge” introduced by Stephenson compulsory for all new tracks. About the same time the first Russian track was commissioned under the guidance of Pavel Melnikov. The Russian gauge of 1,524 was thus defined in 1842 and standardized to what we call the “broad gauge” of 1,520 mm after the Second World War.

Rail gauge systems

 * ~ Gauge ||~ Name ||~ Installation ||~ Note ||
 * < 1,676 m ||< Indian gauge ||< >40000 km Project Unigauge ||< India, Pakistan, Argentina, Chile ||
 * < 1,668 m ||< Iberic gauge ||< 14337 km ||< Spain, Portugal ||
 * < 1,520 m ||< Russian gauge ||< 220000 km ||< CIS States, Latvia, Mongolia ||
 * < 1,435 m ||< Standard gauge ||< 720000 km ||< Europe, North America, China, Australia ||
 * < 1,067 m ||< Cape gauge ||< 112000 km ||< Africa, Indonezia, New Zeeland, Japan ||
 * < 1,000 m ||< Metre gauge ||< 95000 km ||< SE ASia, India, Brazil ||
 * < Data source: www. wikipedia.org and [|www.forum1520.com] ||

Standard conversion
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 * A worldwide standard uniformness may be difficult to achieve due to reasons of political and economical nature, as both main standards (1,435 and 1,520) have strong lobby support. These reasons root historically in the fear of armed invasions, involving both the Russian gauge as well as the Iberic gauge, constituting a serious hurdle to be considered by logistics experts. Efforts are being undertaken towards gauge conversion by either upgrading the train cars with variable gauge axles or by building dual and triple rail systems. However this is not always possible, so adding a second, overlapping track might be the only solution. || //When the newly opened Efes beer brewing and bottling facility in Ploiesti (RO) didn't turn out to be profitable due to lack of demand on the domestic market, the company's management tried to save the investment by looking for new markets in the east. This endeavor turned out to be futile mostly due to the fact that the merchandise would have to be loaded on broad gauge train cars from Moldova, thus making unit costs unbearable.// ||
 * Gauge conversion might become an issue of strategic importance, as passenger and freight transport are on the rise, and prohibitive oil prices make other means of transportation more expensive. These tendencies open considerable chances for a sector that has lost its traditional strong position in worldwide transportation. || //A freight train from Berlin to Moscow travels in about 10 days trough Poland and Belarus, mostly due to trans boarding time and customs formalities. This is however doable in under 3 days as the CEO's of Deutsche Bahn, PKP, BC and RZD demonstrated by taking a test freight train on that route.// ||