Are there any railroads operating below sea level?
Yes, the Union Pacific (former Southern Pacific) in California along the shore of the Salton Sea is a bit lower than 200 feet below sea level. The line was lower before the Colorado River flood in 1905, maybe EricSP knows how low it was.
Hi Boyd,
In your question you do not specify where, in the world, the railroads might be. So I offer small areas of Eastern England of of course The Low Countries specifically Holland. This is only measured in a few feet but, nonetheless, still below sea level. I have a feeling that Israel, specifically the Dead Sea region, might well be included in the list - some method of transportation has to move a salt deposits and bring in the tourists - hopefully it might be a railroad. [:)]
This might become, hopefully, an informative and interesting thread. [;)]
I think that the SP got as low as 300 feet below sea level before the flood that created the Salton Sea (it was the Salton Sink before then).
I can’t imagine that New Orleans doesn’t have some trackage below sea level.
just about 3/4 of Dutch National railroad system operates below sea level.
__*THIS LINK SHOULD BE OF INTEREST HERE: http://geology.com/below-sea-level/*__
From: Geology.com
Land Below Sea Level# By David K. Lynch, Thule Scientific
| FTL: “…Dozens of land areas of the Earth sit below current sea level. The ten with the lowest elevations are listed below, along with a Google Map showing their locations. The lowest land area is the shoreline of the Dead Sea Depression and the largest below-sea-level depression by surface area is the Caspian Depression. A total of 33 countries have land below sea level…” |
[:-,] Such below-sea-level locations would likely drive the surveyors and engineers working with the grades and elevations there to just short of ‘nuts’, to say nothing of some of the software. Just think about it for a minute . . . negative or minus elevations ?? How do you deal with those ? Is the larger figure lower or higher ? Does a negative grade still go downhill - or does that mean less negative and therefore goes uphill ? It’s kind of like the ambiguity or oxymoron of “turning up the air conditioning” - does that make the temperature in the room hotter or colder
…No doubt the Chunnel line has 30 some miles below sea level.
And I guess we could count the tunnels running into New York?
…Sure thing.
Doesn’t Japan have a 35 plus mi. line in northern Japan over to another section of the country that would also qualify.
The tunnel between Hokkaido (the norther island) and the main island of Honshu. One of the longest railroad tunnels in the world.
I don’t know of any railroad line in Israel going below sea-level, only of roads
Pennsylvania Railroad. At the highest point, the tracks in Penn Station were 9 feet below sea level.
The topo map shows ground elevation at NY Penn to be around 43-45 ft above sea level. Think platform level is 48-50 ft below the street?
Maybe it is-- after all, PRR did build those floodgates at the east ends of the North River tunnels-- but I wouldn’t have guessed the 2 or 3 stairways down from the street to the platform added up to that much of a drop.
Isn’t there several levels of tracks below street level there in Penn Sta. I suppose LIRR is on one of them.
Speaking of Penn Sta…Does anyone know if actual work is being done on the conversion over to the Farley P O structure…?
IIRC, one goes from street level down to the waiting room/main concourse level, below that is an exit concourse/LIRR concourse and below that the platforms. The platforms, in turn, are at the level of the car floors, which puts the railhead about four feet (?) below the platform. Add the depth of the the floor structures for the two concourses and fifty feet seems not unlikely to me.
[quote user=“Paul_D_North_Jr”]
Such below-sea-level locations would likely drive the surveyors and engineers working with the grades and elevations there to just short of ‘nuts’, to say nothing of some of the software. Just think about it for a minute . . . negative or minus elevations ?? How do you deal with those ? Is the larger figure lower or higher ? Does a negative grade still go downhill - or does that mean less negative and therefore goes uphill ? It’s kind of like the ambiguity or oxymoron of “turning up the air conditioning” - does that
No, just one level.
Agreed it’s not unlikely. I just wonder if it’s true.
There is a level at Penn station that is under the tracks. Have seen it from the platforms when looking down the freight elevator shafts. Do not know the extent of this level.
Then there is the PATH trains that go under the Hudson River.
According to David Myrick in Railroads of Arizona vol. I, the lowest point on the SP line was 278 feet below sea level (4 feet higher than Badwater in Death Valley).
- Erik