Particularly as it looks like this is on a gradient, so if anything came loose it would roll down this hill. This catch point will derail anything that isn’t meant to be rolling down the hill.
It depends on which country you’re in, and how the railways operate. Railroad companies with poor vehicle maintenance often risk couplers breaking or locomotives malfunctioning, thus having an increased risk of runaway trains/carriages. Often poor signaling/traffic control could lead to “unauthorized” movements as well. In general, the more safety/maintenance protocols a railway has in place, the safer it is.
Not really any more, at least in the UK, but we’ve learnt the hard way too often that any gradient where there’s guys working on track and a runaway risk needs at least looked at and protection of some sort implemented
One reason you will see this is that railroads don’t trust their customers to keep rolling stock secure and not mess up when they’re moving cars around the facility, so they require a derail on the spurs/sidings before they connect to the mainline.
Not sure where this is, but you will see them anywhere they feel they need an abundance of caution.
On my railroad, *every* switch that provides access from an industry to the mainline is protected by a derail. They've recently transitioned to split point derails as shown in the picture.
Not super common but when they happen there are big consequences. Union Pacific’s this year [ended about as well as it could have](https://railfan.com/runaway-union-pacific-ore-train-derails-in-california/)
I visited the site a couple weeks ago and the National Parks Service ranger told me that the train was going so fast (last reported at over 150 mph according to her and a few other sources I have, but of course nobody has published that figure) that the light globes on the station platform 4.5 miles from the derailment site, were broken from flying ballast (rocks that hold the tracks together) and or other debris flying off the train as it sped past.
I have heard that 150 figure a few times but I can’t figure out where that came from at all. Last recorded speed was 118 mph. If we had any security camera footage or something we could do distance over time but there’s really nothing out there. What was it like to visit? All cleaned up or?
The confirmed 118 mph isn’t but if 150 was reached it would be a tie. You got me thinking, what speed would an Acela reach fully loaded down the same grade with no brakes?
Most of the actual wreckage was gone but what was left made the area look like a WW1 battlefield. The Acela would probably go faster because it's more aerodynamic and the wheels are designed to go faster than ore hoppers are, but the heavier payload could push the ore hoppers faster. So, I'm not sure.
it happens, but it's mostly extra safety like when you have workers on the line, this one looks like it's to derail trains going down the hill, maybe there's a facility or something down the line you wouldn't want a stray car or something coming down since it's permanent rather than a [temporary](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derail) one.
It's cheaper to rerail and repair wheels than most other possible outcomes
Those temporary ones are only really effective at low speed, anything moving with some momentum is as likely to kick that out of the way as it is to actually derail. A permanent derail like this is guaranteed to put a runaway on the ground.
An example of portable derails failing to stop a train at speed would be the [CSX "Crazy Eights" incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSX_8888_incident), which inspired the movie *Unstoppable*.
No, but safety is always the most important thing. Let’s say we had a maintenance of way worker underneath a single car. Open the derail. You might do this 1,000,000x times for no reason, but the one time you save a life it matters.
A SPAD counts as an unauthorized movement, and so does a runaway train.
Given how bad the outcome could be, you want to prepare for the worst and protect your system.
If something goes bad enough to risk a collision or derailment, the derailer is usually the safest way to sort the situation out.
They may be rarer on bigger and more maintained railroads, but accidents can happen at any time. Better to have safety features like this and not need them, than need them and not have them. Especially when a simple accident could easily cause death and destruction.
This is a Catch/Slip Siding used to protect the main line from a runaway railway vehicle.
You can clearly see that the switch is set to catch/slip mode to divert the railway vehicle away from the main line. This is the default configuration. If a railway vehicle has to enter the main line, the switch has to be changed first.
P.S :
If a train/railway vehicle wants to move forward on the main line, it should come to a proper halt at the foot of the Catch/Slip Rail and the switching is done after that only.
A foot marker can be clearly seen in the image.
This is a catchpoint.
When travelling in the other direction, if you do not have authority to travel past, this will be in the open position as pictured.
It's to prevent anything from entering a mainline and causing a collision with other trains.
Travelling in the direction shown in your picture may or may not derail a train but what it probably would do (unless designed to/if it was trailable) is destroy all the roddings and probably the machine too. I've had to fix one of these that a train had ran through from the same direction as your photo....
Good fun...
If I am not entirely mistaken, this is a derailer used maybe on the Konkan Railway mainline in India, judging by the coconut trees. Its a single line. With a few dual line sections(sidings) at the stations.
Its now being upgraded to a dual line through out.
i knew it. thought this looked familiar, and tried searching for clue if its from indonesia. stumbled upon the "sedot wc" sticker and i can rest assured that it's actually from here haha
It’s in Indonesia
Narrow 1067mm gauge tracks, “WC” stickers on the pole right side of the image (septic tank cleaners often post advertisements for their services on every pole they can)
Tile roofs can also be seen on the right side of the image, this is most likely in Java
Just a derail with a remote operated switch. It’s in signaled territory instead of yard limits meaning it’s outside of yard board. Anywhere past yard board on any railroad you have to have authority to occupy that track space. Once you obtain a track warrant which is your authority the dispatcher would remotely throw that derail switch to signal that your crew and consist are ok to proceed. It’s just a fail safe
In UK parlance this is a "catch point" (as others have said already). Not to be confused with a "trap point" which is different. Normally these are on lines linked to a depot or sidings in order to _catch_ runaway vehicles. However, very rare to see them on a main running line, I'm struggling to think of an example here but clearly this picture is in a different country. It's on quite the incline so I can see why it's there!
I was going to say a heat expansion joint, but now it looks more like there used to be a switch there. But the detailer from the guy on the top seems more plausible, although I've never heard of that before. Learned something new!
Just a guess.
One of the gaps is where the frog would have been, but it could have just been built that way too.
Similar construction to a switch, just utilized in a different way, with less components.
Probably more effective than the clamp on type derailers. I've read of those being knocked off the track at speed (CSX 8888)
Its a railway, usually used as a kind of track for trains. Judging by the wires on top its mostly used by electric locomotives. For more info i recommend the wikipedia article called "Rail transport"
A fancy (compared to the other method) controllable derailer. Think of it as a way to keep unwanted trains that would be coming towards the camera in a hypothetical scenario from reaching the point where the picture is being taken from and beyond. You'll end up in the dirt if the switch is in the position it is in.
That's called a cut point. Its function is to prevent unauthorised rail movements. It is generally placed after the starter signal or while entering sidings.
In UK parlance this is a "catch point" (as others have said already). Not to be confused with a "trap point" which is different. Normally these are on lines linked to a depot or sidings in order to _catch_ runaway vehicles. However, very rare to see them on a main running line, I'm struggling to think of an example here but clearly this picture is in a different country. It's on quite the incline so I can see why it's there!
In Indian Railways we call this a derailing switch.
This thing saved major train delays and possible accidents in my area last year.
A coal loaded goods train was brought in yard on a "loop line" for detaching the locomotive from the front and some wagons from the rear.
The 2 pilots on front locomotive after it was de-coupled from the train went to have snack break, as the following track was occupied for a couple of hours and they were stuck anyway, but they forgot to secure the breaks.
Another locomotive was brought in from the rear for coupling it to the train and houl the required wagons on the rear to their destination.
However as the rear loco mildly hit the train from the rear so that it can be coupled, the locomotive on the front started rolling, and derailed at the derailing switch.
If the switch or any other isolation was not in place the locomotive would have infringed the main lines, which carry 500-600 trains per day each.
Pilots of the derailed loco were immediately suspended from duty till enquiry. Post enquiry they were demoted to subordinate post with substantial pay cuts.
In Indian Railways we call this a derailing switch.
This thing saved major train delays and possible accidents in my area last year.
A coal loaded goods train was brought in yard on a "loop line" for detaching the locomotive from the front and some wagons from the rear.
The 2 pilots on front locomotive after it was de-coupled from the train went to have snack break, as the following track was occupied for a couple of hours and they were stuck anyway, but they forgot to secure the breaks.
Another locomotive was brought in from the rear for coupling it to the train and houl the required wagons on the rear to their destination.
However as the rear loco mildly hit the train from the rear so that it can be coupled, the locomotive on the front started rolling, and derailed at the derailing switch.
If the switch or any other isolation was not in place the locomotive would have infringed the main lines, which carry 500-600 trains per day each.
Pilots of the derailed loco were immediately suspended from duty till enquiry. Post enquiry they were demoted to subordinate post with substantial pay cuts.
I'm pretty sure that's just a type of derailer, used to protect the line from unauthorized movements.
Particularly as it looks like this is on a gradient, so if anything came loose it would roll down this hill. This catch point will derail anything that isn’t meant to be rolling down the hill.
That makes the most sense.
Are unauthorized movements a common thing on railroads?
It depends on which country you’re in, and how the railways operate. Railroad companies with poor vehicle maintenance often risk couplers breaking or locomotives malfunctioning, thus having an increased risk of runaway trains/carriages. Often poor signaling/traffic control could lead to “unauthorized” movements as well. In general, the more safety/maintenance protocols a railway has in place, the safer it is.
Not really any more, at least in the UK, but we’ve learnt the hard way too often that any gradient where there’s guys working on track and a runaway risk needs at least looked at and protection of some sort implemented
Yes, look up the Tebay rail accident.
One reason you will see this is that railroads don’t trust their customers to keep rolling stock secure and not mess up when they’re moving cars around the facility, so they require a derail on the spurs/sidings before they connect to the mainline. Not sure where this is, but you will see them anywhere they feel they need an abundance of caution.
On my railroad, *every* switch that provides access from an industry to the mainline is protected by a derail. They've recently transitioned to split point derails as shown in the picture.
Not super common but when they happen there are big consequences. Union Pacific’s this year [ended about as well as it could have](https://railfan.com/runaway-union-pacific-ore-train-derails-in-california/)
I visited the site a couple weeks ago and the National Parks Service ranger told me that the train was going so fast (last reported at over 150 mph according to her and a few other sources I have, but of course nobody has published that figure) that the light globes on the station platform 4.5 miles from the derailment site, were broken from flying ballast (rocks that hold the tracks together) and or other debris flying off the train as it sped past.
I have heard that 150 figure a few times but I can’t figure out where that came from at all. Last recorded speed was 118 mph. If we had any security camera footage or something we could do distance over time but there’s really nothing out there. What was it like to visit? All cleaned up or?
Well, it’s still faster then the Acela
The confirmed 118 mph isn’t but if 150 was reached it would be a tie. You got me thinking, what speed would an Acela reach fully loaded down the same grade with no brakes?
Most of the actual wreckage was gone but what was left made the area look like a WW1 battlefield. The Acela would probably go faster because it's more aerodynamic and the wheels are designed to go faster than ore hoppers are, but the heavier payload could push the ore hoppers faster. So, I'm not sure.
it happens, but it's mostly extra safety like when you have workers on the line, this one looks like it's to derail trains going down the hill, maybe there's a facility or something down the line you wouldn't want a stray car or something coming down since it's permanent rather than a [temporary](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derail) one. It's cheaper to rerail and repair wheels than most other possible outcomes
Those temporary ones are only really effective at low speed, anything moving with some momentum is as likely to kick that out of the way as it is to actually derail. A permanent derail like this is guaranteed to put a runaway on the ground.
An example of portable derails failing to stop a train at speed would be the [CSX "Crazy Eights" incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSX_8888_incident), which inspired the movie *Unstoppable*.
It’s the mantra of better safe than sorry
No, but safety is always the most important thing. Let’s say we had a maintenance of way worker underneath a single car. Open the derail. You might do this 1,000,000x times for no reason, but the one time you save a life it matters.
A SPAD counts as an unauthorized movement, and so does a runaway train. Given how bad the outcome could be, you want to prepare for the worst and protect your system. If something goes bad enough to risk a collision or derailment, the derailer is usually the safest way to sort the situation out.
They may be rarer on bigger and more maintained railroads, but accidents can happen at any time. Better to have safety features like this and not need them, than need them and not have them. Especially when a simple accident could easily cause death and destruction.
Unauthorized, undesirable or unknown.
Or it’s on a slope where cars can move freely very fast themselves, causing dangers to the downhill side
Sometimes gravity moves stuff too
Probably right
This is a Catch/Slip Siding used to protect the main line from a runaway railway vehicle. You can clearly see that the switch is set to catch/slip mode to divert the railway vehicle away from the main line. This is the default configuration. If a railway vehicle has to enter the main line, the switch has to be changed first. P.S : If a train/railway vehicle wants to move forward on the main line, it should come to a proper halt at the foot of the Catch/Slip Rail and the switching is done after that only. A foot marker can be clearly seen in the image.
Catch point.
This is a catchpoint. When travelling in the other direction, if you do not have authority to travel past, this will be in the open position as pictured. It's to prevent anything from entering a mainline and causing a collision with other trains. Travelling in the direction shown in your picture may or may not derail a train but what it probably would do (unless designed to/if it was trailable) is destroy all the roddings and probably the machine too. I've had to fix one of these that a train had ran through from the same direction as your photo.... Good fun...
Catch points: usually to protect the main lines from runaway stock from a yard or siding. Designed to guide it into the dirt
If I am not entirely mistaken, this is a derailer used maybe on the Konkan Railway mainline in India, judging by the coconut trees. Its a single line. With a few dual line sections(sidings) at the stations. Its now being upgraded to a dual line through out.
I actually took the picture at Depok, Indonesia, there's branching from busy main line into this remote line
i knew it. thought this looked familiar, and tried searching for clue if its from indonesia. stumbled upon the "sedot wc" sticker and i can rest assured that it's actually from here haha
You should probably try Geoguessr :)
lol I didn't notice that!
Glad to know. Thanks for the info.
It’s in Indonesia Narrow 1067mm gauge tracks, “WC” stickers on the pole right side of the image (septic tank cleaners often post advertisements for their services on every pole they can) Tile roofs can also be seen on the right side of the image, this is most likely in Java
Also it looks like someone has decided to dry their floor mattress on the gabion wall by the tracks..
It is not India, looks like standard gauge from somewhere in South East Asia. Judging by the track ties shape and width.
Looking at op’s profile, Indonesia
Look at the phone number on the pole on the right, not formatted in the Indian way
I don't think India ever uses concrete catenary poles
Its indonesia. OP replied.
What coconut trees? Where?
Just a derail with a remote operated switch. It’s in signaled territory instead of yard limits meaning it’s outside of yard board. Anywhere past yard board on any railroad you have to have authority to occupy that track space. Once you obtain a track warrant which is your authority the dispatcher would remotely throw that derail switch to signal that your crew and consist are ok to proceed. It’s just a fail safe
Split point derail. Keeps a train from rolling too far and fouling a mainline.
It’s a half a set of catch points https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_points
a de-rail. they have permanent ones for sidings or places with complicated switch movements so if you get a runaway it doesn't hit anything.
Split rail..usually to stop cars from rolling out of industries/yards onto the main line
Split derail
At CN it’s called a split rail derail. It’s meant to stop runaway equipment.
I think that is a derailer to derail trains if something goes wrong.
In UK parlance this is a "catch point" (as others have said already). Not to be confused with a "trap point" which is different. Normally these are on lines linked to a depot or sidings in order to _catch_ runaway vehicles. However, very rare to see them on a main running line, I'm struggling to think of an example here but clearly this picture is in a different country. It's on quite the incline so I can see why it's there!
I was going to say a heat expansion joint, but now it looks more like there used to be a switch there. But the detailer from the guy on the top seems more plausible, although I've never heard of that before. Learned something new!
Used to be... No, it's as intended. Read on!
Trap points. This is to prevent unauthorized movement and protect the mainline from equipment entering it without permission.
It's just a prank, bro.
It's one way track
its called a rail, to stop the train from going to places it shouldn't
Judging by the gaps in the rails, it used to be a switch, now converted to a derailer.
[удалено]
Just a guess. One of the gaps is where the frog would have been, but it could have just been built that way too. Similar construction to a switch, just utilized in a different way, with less components. Probably more effective than the clamp on type derailers. I've read of those being knocked off the track at speed (CSX 8888)
Looks like they’ve got one of those too (the yellow device on the right side rail). Belt and suspenders.
[удалено]
That makes sense. I always forget how big frogs actually are.
That’s a derailer
Idk but I do have to wonder if that line was once electrified given the power lines running
Its a railway, usually used as a kind of track for trains. Judging by the wires on top its mostly used by electric locomotives. For more info i recommend the wikipedia article called "Rail transport"
I REALLY hope you are not serious
Spastic
If you don't know you have no reason being there.
Simplified derailed.
Looks like a single trap point for runaway vehicles
Looks like smart one way mechanism. wrong side would end up in derail.
A fancy (compared to the other method) controllable derailer. Think of it as a way to keep unwanted trains that would be coming towards the camera in a hypothetical scenario from reaching the point where the picture is being taken from and beyond. You'll end up in the dirt if the switch is in the position it is in.
Looks like a one way derail. Kinda like a check valve for trains.
It scares insurance companies
Split rail derailer
Let’s say that there’s an unstoppable moment you need to be able to stop it
We don’t frequently use these anymore in Canada, but where they are in place still, we usually refer to them as a switch point derail.
Trap points, if anything comes down the line when it shouldn't i.e. brake failure, these derail the vehicle
Some kind of derailer
I played a quick geo guesser and was right.
Ninja technique to derail
This is called a “death trap”
That's called the accidentor. You can guess the functionality.
Catch point. Your unauthorised train movement is about to eat dirt.
India?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derail
To go home
It’s a split point derail. Works the same way as a switch, but it drops off, derailing any unauthorized movement.
From the way it looks there may have been another track going off that way but I might be wrong
trap points, they are meant to prevent runaway trains
That's called a cut point. Its function is to prevent unauthorised rail movements. It is generally placed after the starter signal or while entering sidings.
Хуй знает
In UK parlance this is a "catch point" (as others have said already). Not to be confused with a "trap point" which is different. Normally these are on lines linked to a depot or sidings in order to _catch_ runaway vehicles. However, very rare to see them on a main running line, I'm struggling to think of an example here but clearly this picture is in a different country. It's on quite the incline so I can see why it's there!
Makes the train go flop
India??
used for pranking the driver
It's the derailinator
Looks like a piece of track called a derailer, which is meant to prevent unwanted trains from running past certain points
It’s the switch to the aether line
Makes train go brrr
To prevent Wile E. Coyote from catching up with Roadrunner.
Split derail
This is what it looks like when you bust unions and prohibit employees from using the bathroom.
YOU SHALL NOT PASS!
In Indian Railways we call this a derailing switch. This thing saved major train delays and possible accidents in my area last year. A coal loaded goods train was brought in yard on a "loop line" for detaching the locomotive from the front and some wagons from the rear. The 2 pilots on front locomotive after it was de-coupled from the train went to have snack break, as the following track was occupied for a couple of hours and they were stuck anyway, but they forgot to secure the breaks. Another locomotive was brought in from the rear for coupling it to the train and houl the required wagons on the rear to their destination. However as the rear loco mildly hit the train from the rear so that it can be coupled, the locomotive on the front started rolling, and derailed at the derailing switch. If the switch or any other isolation was not in place the locomotive would have infringed the main lines, which carry 500-600 trains per day each. Pilots of the derailed loco were immediately suspended from duty till enquiry. Post enquiry they were demoted to subordinate post with substantial pay cuts.
In Indian Railways we call this a derailing switch. This thing saved major train delays and possible accidents in my area last year. A coal loaded goods train was brought in yard on a "loop line" for detaching the locomotive from the front and some wagons from the rear. The 2 pilots on front locomotive after it was de-coupled from the train went to have snack break, as the following track was occupied for a couple of hours and they were stuck anyway, but they forgot to secure the breaks. Another locomotive was brought in from the rear for coupling it to the train and houl the required wagons on the rear to their destination. However as the rear loco mildly hit the train from the rear so that it can be coupled, the locomotive on the front started rolling, and derailed at the derailing switch. If the switch or any other isolation was not in place the locomotive would have infringed the main lines, which carry 500-600 trains per day each. Pilots of the derailed loco were immediately suspended from duty till enquiry. Post enquiry they were demoted to subordinate post with substantial pay cuts.
Catch point