How come train tracks are like 8ft above the road?

[The motor guy]

I see all these feeds pop up on my Facebook showing some lowboy semi stuck on the tracks. Im looking at the picture saying to myself, my boat would get stuck on that thing. How can you blame the drivers? Anyways, i know tracks aren't always 8ft up on that white ballast rock. Some areas they're only a couple feet. I kind of think they just do that to make the tracks level, so they aren't going uphill if they dont have to.

 

[TCL]

Can you imagine if they followed the contour of the ground itself?

 

[PF52]

Keeping it elevated slightly above the ground surface promotes better drainage. And yes, since the tracks can't closely follow the contour of the ground surface there are occasions where the tracks can by quite a bit higher than the road.

 

[SC Maintenance]

They normally try to keep train track grades of less than 2% over very long distances. ie as flat as possible.

As for why the road that goes over the tracks is so steep - that is a question for whomever owns the road. I assume its an easement like any other, so it would be up to whomever owns the road to decide on the grade of the part crossing the tracks. I assume there cheap like everyone else.

 

[The motor guy]

Can you imagine if they followed the contour of the ground itself?

Well there isn't a hill in site for miles on the gulf coast, but i figured they do that in areas with constant hills, but like I said. Around here seems unnecessary

 

[dadto2]

Well there isn't a hill in site for miles on the gulf coast, but i figured they do that in areas with constant hills, but like I said. Around here seems unnecessary

The answer is right here... A flat coastal area? Drainage and hopefully above storm surge.

 

[The motor guy]

The answer is right here... A flat coastal area? Drainage and hopefully above storm surge.

Like I said, some areas its barely above grade on the gulf coast

 

[opus1]

As stated, to keep the grade changes to a minimum.

The town where I grew up has a train line with 5 grade crossings. 2 crossings require the road to rise a few feet to meet the crossing, followed by one relatively level crossing, followed by one crossing that requires the road to dip to meet it, and finally the last crossing is elevated roughly 8' above the rest of the area. Looking down the track, from the train's perspective, it's relatively level over the entire stretch.

 

[The motor guy]

As stated, to keep the grade changes to a minimum.

The town where I grew up has a train line with 5 grade crossings. 2 crossings require the road to rise a few feet to meet the crossing, followed by one relatively level crossing, followed by one crossing that requires the road to dip to meet it, and finally the last crossing is elevated roughly 8' above the rest of the area. Looking down the track, from the train's perspective, it's relatively level over the entire stretch.

So I guess in an area with hills they dont have a choice but to go over the hill?

 

[Vercingetorix]

Railroads get a percentage of the video revenues.

 

[mk378]

Trains have a very low horsepower to weight ratio. Going up any sort of hill is a big deal. Well-built railroads are as flat as possible.

 

[Number_35]

Well there isn't a hill in site for miles on the gulf coast, but i figured they do that in areas with constant hills, but like I said. Around here seems unnecessary

We had a massive flood here in April/May 1997. I helped sandbag homes in a new development SE of the city and outside the floodway.

On the way over to one home, the prop of the small boat nicked the top of a submerged car.

The floodwaters receded, and a few weeks later I was training for a marathon, and decided to check out the same area.

It looked perfectly flat to me, no lower than where I'd run from earlier. It was hard to believe it had been submerged just a few weeks before.

All that to say, gradual elevation differences can be awfully hard to see.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Trains have a very low horsepower to weight ratio. Going up any sort of hill is a big deal. Well-built railroads are as flat as possible.

There are plenty of examples of the train looping over itself in order to keep the grade flat enough for a traction locomotive to pull the train up.

 

[mk378]

That should also mean that the railroad must pay to grade the road side approaches to transition over tracks smoothly, but traditionally railroads have enough clout in government to prevent that.

 

[opus1]

That should also mean that the railroad must pay to grade the road side approaches to transition over tracks smoothly, but traditionally railroads have enough clout in government to prevent that.

If the rails were there first, it's not their problem. In fact, they can deny building new crossings. I know of two cases where the railroad stopped a crossing from being developed. In one case they offered to allow it at the new location, provided the town agreed to close the crossing about a half mile down the track, and in the other they flat-out said no.

 

[opus1]

So I guess in an area with hills they dont have a choice but to go over the hill?

Through, around, however they can do it while minimizing the grade. Horseshoe Curve in Altoona is one example.

 

[PF52]

There are plenty of examples of the train looping over itself in order to keep the grade flat enough for a traction locomotive to pull the train up.

Here's the most famous one of them:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehachapi_Loop

 

[SC Maintenance]

If the rails were there first, it's not their problem. In fact, they can deny building new crossings. I know of two cases where the railroad stopped a crossing from being developed. In one case they offered to allow it at the new location, provided the town agreed to close the crossing about a half mile down the track, and in the other they flat-out said no.

Up to a judge. A court can compel them, just like they can put an easement across your private property. The court is supposed to weigh the rights of all involved. Presumably the town didn't feel they had a good case.

However they can build there tracks as high as they wish. Why you see trains that go over or under the road.

 

[PandaBear]

Can you imagine if they followed the contour of the ground itself?

Sounds like a roller coaster to me.

 

[PandaBear]

So I guess in an area with hills they dont have a choice but to go over the hill?

I think at one point I have seen a design of railroad that go back and forth, forward and backward in Z, to climb up and down a mountain that is too expensive to bore a tunnel through. That was from 100 years ago but too slow for today.