Did you know ?

·         The track gauge used in the most of the Metros (Delhi Metro, Hyderbad Metro etc) in India is Standard guage, not Broad gauge.

·         The distance between the two tracks on any railway route is known as gauge.

·         Standard gauge is 1435 mm or 4 feet 8 ½ inches. It is also called as uniform gauge, UIC gauge, International gauge etc.  60 % of the World Railway tracks are operated in Standard guage only.

                                             As on 31.03.2017 – Indian Railways

Gauge	Width	Route KM	Percentage
Broad	1676 mm	61680	92 %
Metre	1000 mm	3479	5 %
Narrow	762 mm & 610 mm	2209	3 %
	Total	67368	100 %

·         Smallest guage and Longest gauge in the World are 15 inches or 381 mm and 7 feet ¼ inches or 2140 mm.  That means, Longest gauge is 5.5  times longer than Smallest gauge.

·         The speed of a train is a function of the diameter of the wheel, which in turn is limited by the gauge. The wheel's diameter is usually 0.75 times the width of the gauge and thus, the speed of the train is almost proportional to the gauge. If higher speeds are to be achieved then the broad gauge track is given the priority instead of metre gauge or narrow gauge track.

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