Cars on Rails!

[michael769]

Ever fancied driving your car down a railway?

Soon you me be able to.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-16441094

Road traffic could be allowed to travel along railway tracks to avoid an area where landslides have closed a road for more than two weeks.

Highland Council said it was an option being considered for the section of A890 Lochcarron to Kyle road.

In October 1990, traffic was allowed onto the nearby railway line after rockfalls in the same area.

The method uses railway sleepers and would end the need for motorists to make a 140 mile (225km) diversion.

 

[kylemore]

Ever fancied driving your car down a railway?

Soon you me be able to.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-16441094

Ah but 1990 was back in the good old days when there was something called "common sense"!
Surely now "elf n' safety" would make this virtually impossible?

 

[tsr]

There was a bridge somewhere (no idea where exactly) in this country where you could do this - it simply acted like a very long level crossing, with the trains travelling along the same path of road traffic.

If you had level crossing lights and provided sufficient time for vehicles to clear the tracks once the warning activated before any trains arrived, that should be fine, shouldn't it?

Obviously you have the slightly greater issue of breakdowns on the tracks, but it can't be that hard to set up a couple of extra CCTV cameras.

 

[michael769]

I had assumed that the line would be blockaded for the duration, hadn't considered the level crossing angle.

I would imagine for that you would need 24/7 onsite supervision to make such a thing viable - it's not unusual up here to have a standby recovery truck onsite at major roadworks to quickly extract any breakdowns - so not unprecedented by any means.

What I wonder is, would current railway law allow such a thing or are we looking at some emergency legislation to allow it?

 

[PaulLothian]

There was a bridge somewhere (no idea where exactly) in this country where you could do this - it simply acted like a very long level crossing, with the trains travelling along the same path of road traffic.

Connel Ferry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connel_Bridge

 

[umontu]

There was a bridge somewhere (no idea where exactly) in this country where you could do this - it simply acted like a very long level crossing, with the trains travelling along the same path of road traffic.

It's not mainline, but Ribble Steam Railway?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_sargent/5812305306/sizes/l/in/photostream/

 

[tsr]

Connel Ferry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connel_Bridge

That's the one I was thinking of. Thanks for finding it!

It's not mainline, but Ribble Steam Railway?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_sa...n/photostream/

That's probably a more relevant example.

I don't think you'd need a piece of "emergency legislation", except for any bylaws you might need to enforce (perhaps that the pedestrian right of way is not to be diverted over the railway, for example, if required). You'd only need to comply with legislation already in place for level crossings.

 

[Ploughman]

There was a bridge somewhere (no idea where exactly) in this country where you could do this - it simply acted like a very long level crossing, with the trains travelling along the same path of road traffic.

If you had level crossing lights and provided sufficient time for vehicles to clear the tracks once the warning activated before any trains arrived, that should be fine, shouldn't it?

Obviously you have the slightly greater issue of breakdowns on the tracks, but it can't be that hard to set up a couple of extra CCTV cameras.

Could also be the Welsh Highland Railway at Portmadoc.

 

[A0wen]

There's this tunnel in Alaska as well which is joint road and rail.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Anderson_Memorial_Tunnel

It featured on a recent TV series about the world's most dangerous or extreme drives.

 

[1018509]

There was a bridge somewhere (no idea where exactly) in this country where you could do this - it simply acted like a very long level crossing, with the trains travelling along the same path of road traffic.

Wasn't the Isle of Sheppy rail link a road/rail bridge at one time. I seem to have vague recollections of being driven over it about 50 years or so ago?

 

[ChrisCooper]

From the looks of it there is a manually operated barrier at each end to block off the line when trains need to pass, and the same person responsible for operating the barrier must also be responsible for controlling road traffic over single track section. The railway side of things would presumably involve placing the signals at each end of the section to danger until the traffic was stopped, the barriers down and the line checked clear (presume the section would be short enough that it could be done visually from the ends). It would then just need communication set up between the staff controlling the traffic and the signaller/s. Looks like there is a 10mph TSR in place, which would increase safety both by reducing the risk of a collision in the event of a mistake (miscommunication) and also reduce risks to both trains and road traffic from the sleepers moving.

 

[route:oxford]

Would they really use wooden sleepers as suggested in the article?

I was thinking more along the lines of the plastic/rubber material that is used on level crossings these days.

 

[DiscoStu]

I was thinking you'd modify your car, Top Gear stylee

 

[notadriver]

10 mph TSR? Ha like road vehicle drivers are going to observe that lol

 

[giblets]

I was thinking more like:

 

[imagination]

I wonder how many extra passengers the railway has had from people wanting to avoid the 140 mile diversion.

 

[caijinzhi]

OMG what would happen if cars and trains go together!

 

[fairysdad]

OMG what would happen if cars and trains go together!

Motorail?

 

[Waddon]

I remember driving along that road-on-rail diversion in the 1990's... was an interesting experience, and it certainly was faster than 10mph! If I remember correctly cars were taken along by a convoy vehicle, a land rover or similar leading a line of vehicles.

 

[caijinzhi]

motorail?

maybe......

 

[deltic1989]

OMG what would happen if cars and trains go together!

Ther would be measures in place to avoid that sort of thing i woild imagine. As was mentioned earlier in the thread a level crossing type system, or having the railway closed with a temoprary road surface laid on top of the rails.

 

[Maxfly]

As that sectiopn of track is RETB, with only 8 trains per day it would most likely be a track block for that section with the siggies here working in conjunction with network rail and transerv/council bods on site. Traffic lights for allowing vehicles to use the diversion on the rails with some sort of temporary soads surface laid round the track so both trains and vehicles can pass over that stretch without changing anything

 

[tsr]

As that sectiopn of track is RETB, with only 8 trains per day it would most likely be a track block for that section with the siggies here working in conjunction with network rail and transerv/council bods on site. Traffic lights for allowing vehicles to use the diversion on the rails with some sort of temporary soads surface laid round the track so both trains and vehicles can pass over that stretch without changing anything

That's pretty much how I imagined the workaround might be implemented.