Light railway refers to a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail". This usually means the railway uses lighter weight track, and is more steeply graded and tightly curved to avoid civil engineering costs. These lighter standards allow lower costs of operation at the price of slower operating speeds and lower vehicle capacity.
The precise meaning of the term varies by geography and context.
Read more about Light Railway: United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Industrial Railways, Military Railways
Famous quotes containing the words light and/or railway:
“Be near me when my light is low,
When the blood creeps, and the nerves prick
And tingle; and the heart is sick,
And all the wheels of Being slow.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)