Railway network

A railway network is a whole of lines of Railroad, Gare S and technical installations various (workshop, deposits, Triage S, particular junctions, building sites intermodal…) who allows the circulation of railway convoys or Train S in a given geographical unit, area, country, continent A railway network is characterized by certain a number of Norme S techniques and exploitation which can possibly pose problems of Interopérabilité in the event of connection between networks. The unification of these standards is a long-term company because it brings into play very important investments, since it is a question of harmonizing for example the gauge where the load with the axle, without speaking about the indication or the power supply. She was undertaken of long time by the International union of the railroads (UIC) which emit data sheets of recommendation concerning as well rolling stock as the infrastructures. However, in Europe, the voluntarist constitution of a unified railway market pushed the Commission to promote more thorough standards of interworking. Réseau is often used as synonym of railroad company. That is not true any more in certain countries, mainly the European Union, where one witnesses a dissociation between the functions of exploitation and marketing of the services entrusted to railway companies, and those of management of the network, entrusted to administrative of railway infrastructure. In France, this manager, who manages the principal network, is called Rail network of France (RF).

The term of network also indicated, before war, in France the six large companies, Northern, Is, Alsace-Lorraine, PLM, PO - Midi, West-State, which were amalgamated in 1938 in the SNCF. These networks remained in the organization of the SNCF until 1972, creation date of the 23 current areas. the unification of the rules of exploitation and indication took many years.

The expression network regional express (the RER) was adopted in France at the time of the realization, under the aegis of the RATP at the beginning, of lines with Gabarit standard crossing the town of Paris in underground and connecting suburban lines diametrically opposite.

One also speaks about network for certain railroads which are characterized by certain characteristics as well technical as functional: network of Subway, network of Tram.

See too

• Transport
• Station master
• Railroad