If a passenger train is stopping at a station on a double-track mainline, are there any speed restrictions for trains on the parallel track that might be passing at the same time?
For example, in the picture below is how I’m laying out my passenger station on my layout. The platform on the far side of the double-track main is going to be the abandoned portion of the station, making it look like the station was downsized some time ago, and the near platform is going to be the location of the current platform still in use. If one of my Amtrak trains is stopped on the near track at the platform, would a freight on the other track have to slow down at all?
I can’t say one way or another for sure, but I know I’ve witnessed trains being held at signals while a passenger train was stopped. Yes, trains on parallel tracks stopping.
Although other observations seem to indicate they work the flow of traffic so that it just doesn’t come up.
Or…my home station of ALX has a third track that skirts around the outside of the platforms. Guess which track all the freight traffic is on during the morning and afternoon commuter surges. Pittsburgh only has two through tracks at its station and I’ve been on the Capitol Limited while it was loading and an NS freight went through at speed. However, those tracks are actually three platforms apart inside the station even though they’re parallel at the throat.
Rules prevent a freight train from passing between a passenger train and the platform. Trains passing will probably be operating at restricted speed. Most multiple track situations have a fence between the tracks for a couple car lengths beyond the station to prevent people from crossing the tracks.
Kevin,That will depend on the railroad’s operating rules…Some railroads would stop a opposing train due safety concerns while others would let a freight pass at restricted speed.
The Erie in Marion would hold their and NYC’s freight trains while a passenger train was stop there but,this was a re-crew and servicing (fuel/water) point.I know PRR held their and NYC trains at Crestline while a passenger train was stopped at the station…This lasted until the rerouting of the Amtrak trains.
Your crossing,station,tower location and track work reminds me of Marion…[:D]
Back in the 1960s and 1970s the PRR (PC- Amtrak) New York - Washington Line was a busy multiple track line with heavy local and through passenger and freight traffic. I don’t recall any restriction on trains passing a passenger train on the side away from the station platform. Freight and passenger trains, including Metroliners, regularly operated at track speed on the side away from the platform past locals receiving and discharging passengers.
There was, of course, an absolute prohibition (emphasized in rules classes) against passing between a stopped passenger train and the station platform.
That would be the man you talked to for permission to cross the diamond or use the connector track.He would set the signal(s) for your move and line the switches if needed.
Normally most railroad will not allow another train to pass a standing passenger train that is loading/unloading passengers. On the 4 track NE Corridor, the two inner tacks are usually the ‘Express’ tracks and trains are allowed to pass standing passenger trains.
I remember Milw freight trains ‘standing back’ while the Hiawatha was loading passengers in Red Wing, MN.
I have been on a car floor height passenger platform (between two tracks) when the stationmaster gave a heads-up just before a freight blasted through one of the tracks at rather more than reduced speed. At the same instant the passenger EMU was easing to a stop on the other platform track.
There are six stations on the original Shinkansen route where the double track becomes four track, with the platforms outside the outer tracks. It’s entirely possible for a Kodama to ease to a stop and be working passengers as a Hikari rips past at track speed a meter or so away.
I have been stopped on track one at Guildwood Station in suburban Toronto while an express passed on the next track doing track speed (90 MPH). This happens all the time.
There is indeed a fence between the tracks with warning signs posted. See below.
I have no clue what the official rules are, but freights blast through the Fullerton, California station passing stopped Amtrak and Metro passenger trains all the time! It can be quite a surprise when the freight comes barreling through on one of the outside tracks (of 3) with dozens of people standing on the platforms.
Marion influenced the layout for the station a bit. I didn’t have room for all four sections of the active platform without it overlapping onto adjacent sections of the layout as well as going into the curve on the corner section to the right of the picture and a proposed highway crossing to the south at the bottom left. After my numerous trips to Marion, I saw some of the old platforms east of NS along the former NYC/Erie tracks peeking through the overgrowth and thought that would be a neat detail for the station scene. It would kind of give the illusion that there once had been more to the station than the part currently used by Amtrak.
