Keilbahnhof

Keilbahnhof (plural: Keilbahnhöfe, literally: "wedge railway station") is the German name for a railway station (German: Bahnhof) in which the station is located between branching railway tracks.[1] It is a junction station that is part of the railway junction itself, with its platforms converging in one direction and diverging in the other. There appears to be no direct English equivalent for this term.

Keilbahnhof in Figeac, France

Definition

Diagram of a Keilbahnhof (red: station building, gray: platforms)

A keilbahnhof is a type of junction station whose tracks usually diverge shortly before passing the platforms, and the station building being located between the tracks.[2] The through tracks thus pass by on either side of the station building without rejoining one another again. This is in contrast to an "island station" (German: Inselbahnhof, e.g. Olten railway station), in which the tracks merge again after passing either side of the station building (i.e. the building sits on a wide island platform). Rarely, there are keilbahnhof stations whose through tracks diverge in the area of the platforms, but never after them. In a keilbahnhof, there are at least two platforms, one on each side of the station building (e.g. Lichtensteig railway station), but additional platforms (or sidings) may be present on one or both sides.

The Y-shaped design of a keilbahnhof is not suited for splitting trains into separate rakes with different destinations (portion working).[3] Often, the station is the terminus of the line(s) operating on the subordinate branch, while for the service(s) operating on the main branches it is a through station, although it can also be a through station on all services.

The station building can be located either between the diverging tracks or on the side of the tracks before they diverge (e.g. Monza railway station).

Examples in Germany

Elsterwerda-Biehla station

Examples elsewhere

Australia

Austria

Belgium

Pepinster railway station, Belgium
  • Ottignies on the Belgian railway lines 139, 140 and the 161
  • Pepinster on the Belgian railway lines 37 and 44

France

Italy

Monza railway station, Italy

New Zealand

Switzerland

Keilbahnhof stations in Switzerland (by location of geocoded photos on Wikimedia Commons)

The Netherlands

United Kingdom

United States

References

  1. Ernst, Dr.-Ing. Richard (1989). Wörterbuch der Industriellen Technik (5th ed.). Wiesbaden: Oscar Brandstetter, 1989. ISBN 3-87097-145-2.
  2. Lexikon der Eisenbahn (in German) (5. ed.), Berlin: Transpress VEB Verlag, 1978, pp. 732–733, Stichwort Trennungsbahnhof
  3. Yves Marclay (March 2018), "Halbstundentakt auf der Strecke Martigny – Le Châble / Orsières", Schweizer Eisenbahn-Revue (in German), Minirex, no. 3, pp. 162–164, ISSN 1022-7113
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