Track Gauge - Break of Gauge

Break of Gauge

When a railway line of one gauge meets a line of another gauge there is a break of gauge. A break of gauge adds cost and inconvenience to traffic that passes from one system to another.

An example of this is on the Transmongolian Railway, where Russia and Mongolia use broad gauge while China uses standard gauge. At the border, each carriage has to be lifted in turn to have its bogies changed. The whole operation, combined with passport and customs control, can take several hours.

Other examples include crossings into or out of the former Soviet Union: Ukraine/Slovakia border on the Bratislava-L'viv train, and from the Romania/Moldova border on the Chişinău-Bucharest train.

This can be avoided however by implementing a system similar to that used in Australia, where some lines between states using different gauges were converted to dual gauge with three rails, one set of two forming a standard gauge line, with the third rail either inside or outside the standard set forming rails at either narrow or broad gauge. As a result, trains built to either gauge can use the line. However gauges must differ a minimum of twice the width of a rail to allow such a system.