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:
“He is outside of everything, and alien everywhere. He is an aesthetic solitary. His beautiful, light imagination is the wing that on the autumn evening just brushes the dusky window.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“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)