Bethungra Spiral

Bethungra Spiral

The Bethungra Spiral is a rail spiral, built on the Main South railway line of New South Wales in Australia at Bethungra to ease the gradients when the line was duplicated between 1941 and 1946. Bethungra is between Cootamundra and Junee.

The original line was graded at 1 in 40 for Sydney bound trains, which imposed a severe limitation on train loads, and also caused congestion as bank engines were attached. The spiral makes use of local geography in the shape of a convenient hill which the uphill line spirals around. Two short tunnels are required. The spiral increases the distance travelled by uphill trains by about 2km. Downhill trains continue to use the original line. The ruling gradient of the new uphill line is now 1 in 66, compensated for curvature.

The CountryLink XPT passenger train from Melbourne Southern Cross to Sydney Central uses the spiral while the train from Sydney to Melbourne uses the original line.

References

* cite web
url=http://www.heritage.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahpi/record.pl?NSW5011929
title=Bethungra Spiral
work=NSW Heritage Register (ref 5011929)
publisher=www.heritage.gov.au
accessdate=2008-08-13

External links

* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/AS/2/Bethungra.html Elevation = 432m]


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