Turnouts

• • Introduction & history
  • Tangential turnouts
  • Turnout fundaments
  • Crossovers & slips
  • Catch points & guard rails
  • Clearance points & other
  • S&C manufacture
  • Preconstruction
  • managing S&C condition
  • Modes of operation
  • Heavy haul turnouts
  • High speed turnouts
  • Performance measurement
  • Study week

In order to enrol in this subject, you must be accepted into one of the following degrees:

Core

• TAS-ENR-DIP-2022

Additional requirements

No additional requirements

Railway traffic does not simply travel from one place to another along the same single piece of track. In an urban network of rail lines, trains travel in all sorts of directions depending upon customer demand and availability of rollingstock. As a result, rail tracks are required to cross some tracks, and to merge with or diverge from others. This is particularly true where lines converge in population centres, city centres and marshalling yards. There are many types and forms of track crossings, a vast array of methods for merging or diverging trains, and a bewildering range of different types of terminology used to describe these track structures. 

In this subject those structures are known as turnouts and crossings, and you will be provided with foundational information about their design, defects, operation, maintenance, and terms used; the subject will expose you to some of their specialised applications. The subject is located early in your course and does not require detailed track knowledge, though a familiarity with the components comprising railway track would be an advantage in your study.

• Online Quiz on Aspects of Turnouts (30%)
• Short Essay Questions (30%)
• Discussion Posts (40%)

Current study term: 10 Jul 22 to 16 Oct 22