Terms
- Ballast
- 1. loose mineral material filling the space between the bottom of the sleepers (or other rail supports) and the formation level of the subgrade; 2. a load that creates additional weight.
- Diverging track
- the track onto which rolling stock is diverted by a turnout.
- Freight wagons
- wagons designed to carry freight. They include covered wagons, gondolas, flat wagons, tank wagons, refrigerated wagons and special-purpose wagons.
- Covered wagons
- wagons for piece and bulk goods that must be protected from rain and snow.
- Track superstructure
- a single integrated structure made up of rails, fastenings with rail anchors, rail supports (usually sleepers), ballast, bridge decking, turnouts and a number of special devices. The track superstructure absorbs the dynamic forces from rolling-stock wheels and transmits them elastically to the formation level of the subgrade, and it guides the wheels of rolling stock moving along the track.
- Track alignment
- correcting the longitudinal profile of the track while compacting the ballast under the sleepers.
- Rolling stock gauge
- the limiting cross-sectional outline (perpendicular to the track axis) within which both loaded and empty rolling stock standing on straight level track must fit without protruding.
- Structure gauge
- the limiting cross-sectional outline (perpendicular to the track axis) that no part of any structure or device may enter. The only exceptions are devices designed to interact directly with rolling stock (wagon retarders in operation, contact wires and their fittings, the swivelling arm of a water column while taking on water, etc.).
- Diamond crossing
- a level crossing of two railway tracks built without switches, so that rolling stock cannot pass from one track to the other. The crossing tracks may have different gauges.
- Track maintenance unit (distance)
- a structural unit of the railway whose main task is to keep the track in good working order. In the KTZ system, the unit above it is the railway division and the unit below it is the track section. The official responsible is the head of the track maintenance unit.
- Railway station
- a complex of facilities for handling freight and passenger trains.
- Level crossing
- a place where railway tracks cross a road, cycle path or footpath at the same level.
- Railway track
- a complex structure consisting of the track superstructure and the substructure.
- Public railway tracks
- tracks within railway stations open for receiving and dispatching trains, accepting and delivering freight, luggage and parcels, serving passengers and performing sorting and shunting operations, as well as the tracks connecting such stations.
- Non-public railway tracks
- railway sidings connected directly, or via other sidings, to public railway tracks and intended to serve specific users of rail transport services under contract or to carry out work for the owner's own needs.
- Rail transport (railway)
-
a land-based mode of rail transport.
Rail transport has two main components: the physical one (track and engineering structures, traction and non-traction rolling stock, signalling and interlocking equipment, the overhead contact line, etc.) and the operational one (dispatching — from the station duty officer up to the senior railway dispatcher — and the development of optimal methods for managing the transport process). The word "railway" itself refers to the railway infrastructure, i.e. the track and signalling.
- Railway junction
-
a point where several railway lines cross or join; a group of stations linked by connecting lines and working to a single technology (in coordination).
A railway junction must have diverse technical facilities. Its typical facilities include:
- marshalling, freight and/or passenger stations;
- connections between individual stations;
- bypass tracks;
- passenger station facilities;
- locomotive and wagon depots;
- technical stations for train repair and servicing.
- Subgrade
-
a complex of earth structures produced by working the ground surface and intended to carry the track superstructure. It takes the load from the track panel, ballast and rolling stock and spreads it evenly onto the natural ground below, reducing the pressure transmitted accordingly.
Track is not laid directly on the ground surface because of its unevenness. The subgrade must be strong, stable and durable, require minimal costs to build, maintain and repair, and allow extensive mechanisation of the work. This is achieved by choosing the right soils for embankments and compacting them thoroughly during construction, by shaping the subgrade so that water drains away reliably, and by reinforcing the slopes of embankments and cuttings.
- Public rail transport infrastructure (hereinafter, infrastructure)
- a technological complex comprising public railway tracks and other structures, railway stations, power supply equipment, communication networks, signalling, interlocking and block systems, information systems and the traffic control system, together with the other buildings, structures, devices and equipment that keep this complex running.
- Engineering structures
- the collective name for structures built where a railway crosses obstacles (bridges, tunnels, dams, etc.).
- Overhead contact line
- the wires, structures and equipment that transmit electricity from traction substations to the pantographs of electric rolling stock.
- Possession (track "window")
- the period during which train traffic is suspended on a running line, on individual tracks of a running line or at a station to carry out repair and construction work.
- Flat wagons
- wagons for timber, bulk, piece and packaged goods that do not need protection from rain and snow.
- Gondola wagon
- a freight wagon used to carry coal, ore, sawn timber, rolled metal and other bulk and piece goods that do not need protection from rain and snow. A gondola has no roof.
- Safety siding (trap siding)
- a dead-end track designed to prevent rolling stock from running onto train routes.
- Arrival and departure track
- a station track used for receiving and dispatching trains, boarding and alighting passengers, trains passing each other, and trains waiting to be overtaken by higher-priority services.
- Rail anchor
- a track superstructure component used on timber sleepers with spike fastenings. It prevents the rail from creeping lengthwise as rolling stock passes.
- Track work
- a set of interrelated operations that keep the track reliable at all times and ensure safe train running at the set speeds and axle loads.
- Rails
-
steel beams of a special cross-section laid on sleepers or other supports, usually forming a two-rail track along which rolling stock runs — on railways, urban rail systems, in mines and quarries, and for crane equipment.
Railway rails are made of carbon steel. The most common types are R50, R65 and R75; the number roughly corresponds to the weight of one metre of rail in kilograms. Standard rails produced by rail mills in Russia are 12.5, 25 or 50 metres long.
- Switch
- the part of a turnout consisting of stock rails, switch blades and the switch machine. Where crossings with a movable frog are used, the crossing is also part of the switch.
- Hand-operated switch
- a switch whose blades are moved manually by a lever mechanism located at the switch itself.
- Centrally operated switch
- a switch whose blades (and the movable frog, if any) are moved by special devices controlled from a single central point.
- Turnout
- a device that diverts rolling stock from one track to another. A turnout consists of the switch, the crossing (frog) and the closure rails between them. Crossings may have a fixed or a movable frog.
- Marshalling yard
- a special railway station for breaking up and making up trains.
- Gradient
- an element of the track's longitudinal profile that is inclined relative to the horizontal. For a train moving from the lower point to the higher one it is an ascent; in the opposite direction, a descent.
- Catch siding
- a dead-end track designed to stop a runaway train, or part of a train, on a long descent.
- Hopper wagon
- a self-discharging freight wagon for bulk cargo. Hoppers may be open or covered and may discharge between the rails or to the side of the track.
- Tank wagons
- freight wagons whose body is a cylindrical metal tank, used to carry liquid cargo.
- Sleepers (ties)
- beam-shaped rail supports. They are usually laid on the ballast layer of the track superstructure; they keep the rails in fixed relative position, take the load directly from the rails or through the fastenings, and transmit it to the base beneath (usually the ballast layer).
Common abbreviations used on the railway
Abbreviations are given in their original Cyrillic form, as they appear in KTZ documents, with a Latin transliteration.
- ДС (DS)
- station master
- ДСГ (DSG)
- chief engineer of the station
- ДСП (DSP)
- station duty officer
- ДЦ (DTs)
- centralised traffic control of switches and signals
- НОД (NOD)
- head of the railway division
- НОДГ (NODG)
- chief engineer of the railway division
- П (P)
- track service
- ПАБ (PAB)
- semi-automatic block system
- ПД (PD)
- track foreman
- ПДБ (PDB)
- track gang leader
- ПДС (PDS)
- senior track foreman
- ПМС (PMS)
- track machine station
- ПТЭ (PTE)
- Rules for the Technical Operation of Railways
- УПЧ (UPCh)
- track maintenance unit; head of the track maintenance unit
- ПЧЗ (PChZ)
- deputy head of the track maintenance unit (also ZamPCh)
- ПЧУ (PChU)
- head of a track section
- ПШ (PSh)
- sleeper impregnation plant
- РБ (RB)
- railway inspector for train and road traffic safety
- СМП (SMP)
- construction and installation train
- СЦБ (STsB)
- signalling, interlocking and block systems
- ТехПД (TekhPD)
- technology centre for processing shipping documents (no more than one per railway division)
- ТМО (TMO)
- tunnel and bridge unit
- УГР (UGR)
- top-of-rail level
- УЗП (UZP)
- level crossing barrier device
- УК (UK)
- track-laying crane
- УК25СП (UK25SP)
- track-laying crane for turnout replacement
- УКСПС (UKSPS)
- derailment detection device
- УРБ (URB)
- divisional inspector for train and road traffic safety
- Ш (Sh)
- signalling and communications service
- ШН (ShN)
- signalling or communications electrician
- ШЧ (ShCh)
- signalling, interlocking and block unit (formerly the signalling unit)
- ЩОМ (ShchOM)
- ballast cleaning machine
- Э (E)
- railway electrification and power supply service
- ЭЧК (EChK)
- overhead contact line district of the power supply unit; head of the contact line district