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Narrow gauge
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A narrow gauge railway (or narrow gauge railway) is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of or less.
e narrow gauge railways are usually built with smaller radius curves and smaller structure gauges, they can be substantially cheaper to build, equip, and operate than standard gauge or broad gauge railways, particularly in mountainous terrain.
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Encyclopedia
A narrow gauge railway (or narrow gauge railway) is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of or less.
Overview
Since narrow gauge railways are usually built with smaller radius curves and smaller structure gauges, they can be substantially cheaper to build, equip, and operate than standard gauge or broad gauge railways, particularly in mountainous terrain. The lower costs of narrow gauge railways mean they are often built to serve industries and communities where the traffic potential would not justify the costs of building a standard or broad gauge line. Narrow gauge railways also have specialized use in mines and other environments where a very small structure gauge makes a very small loading gauge necessary. On the other hand, standard gauge or broad gauge railways generally have a greater haulage capacity and allow greater speeds than narrow gauge systems.
Historically, many narrow gauge railways were built as part of specific industrial enterprises and were primarily industrial railways rather than general carriers. Some common uses for these industrial narrow gauge railways were mining, logging, construction, tunnelling, quarrying, and the conveying of agricultural products. Extensive narrow gauge networks were constructed in many parts of the world for these purposes. Significant sugarcane railways still operate in Cuba, Fiji, Java, the Philippines and in Queensland in Australia. Narrow gauge railway equipment remains in common use for the construction of tunnels.
The other significant reason for narrow gauge railways to be constructed was to take advantage of reduced construction costs in mountainous or difficult terrain, hence the national railway systems of countries such as Indonesia, Japan and New Zealand are primarily or solely narrow gauge. Trench railways of the World War I western front demonstrate a brief military application of this advantage. Non-industrial narrow gauge mountain railways are or were common in the Rocky Mountains of the United States and the Pacific Cordillera of Canada, in Mexico, Switzerland, the former Yugoslavia, Greece, India, and Costa Rica. Another country with a notable national railway built to narrow gauge is South Africa where the "Cape gauge" of is the most common gauge. In India, the narrow gauge system is slowly being converted to broad gauge, although some of India's most famous railways, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Kalka-Shimla Railway are both narrow gauge. All (metre gauge) railways are being converted to (broad gauge) under the Unigauge project.
History of narrow gauge railways
The earliest recorded railway is shown in the De re metallica of 1556, which shows a mine in the Czech Republic with a railway of approximately gauge. During the 16th century railways were mainly restricted to hand-pushed narrow gauge lines in mines throughout Europe. During the 17th century mine railways were extended to provide transportation above ground. These lines were industrial, connecting mines with nearby transportation points, usually canals or other waterways. These railways were usually built to the same narrow gauge as the mine railways from which they developed.
Advantages of narrow gauge
Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are usually lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives (smaller loading gauge) as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels (smaller structure gauge) and tighter curves. Narrow gauge is thus often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. It is also used in sparsely populated areas where the potential demand is too low for broader gauge railways to be economically viable. This is the case in most of Australia and Southern Africa, where extremely old soils can support only population densities too low for standard gauge to be viable.
There are many narrow gauge street tramways, particularly in Europe where gauge tramways are common. Narrow gauge allows tighter turning than gauge or gauge in restricted city streets . The tighter turning circle make balloon loops at the end of routes easier, which in turn allows the use of unidirectional trams with a driver's cab at one end only, and doors on one side, allowing more space for passengers .
Extensive narrow gauge railway systems served the front-line trenches of both sides in World War I. After the end of the war the surplus equipment from these created a small boom in narrow gauge railway building in Europe.
For temporary railways that will be removed after short term use, such as for construction, the logging industry, the mining industry or large scale construction projects, especially in confined spaces, such as the Channel Tunnel a narrow gauge railway is substantially cheaper and easier to install and remove. This use of such railways has almost vanished due to the capabilities of modern trucks.
In many countries narrow gauge railways were built as "feeder" or "branch" lines to feed traffic to more important standard gauge lines, due to their lower construction costs. The choice was often not between a narrow gauge railway and a standard gauge one, but between a narrow gauge railway and none at all.
Disadvantages of narrow gauge
Narrow gauge railways cannot interchange equipment such as freight and passenger cars freely with the standard gauge or broad gauge railways they link with, unless they exchange bogies. That means that narrow gauge lines have a built-in cost of transshipping people and freight to the mainline railway system. The cost of transshipment can be a substantial drain on the finances of a railway because it involves expensive and time consuming manual labour or substantial capital expenditure. Some bulk commodities, such as coal, ore and gravel, can be mechanically transshipped, but this still incurs time penalties and these mechanical devices are often complex to maintain.
One solution to the problem of transshipment is bogie exchange between cars. Another solution to this problem is the roll-block system. Although successfully deployed in some countries such as Germany and Austria, this technique came too late for the majority of narrow gauge lines. Transfer of containers is also an option.
The problem of interchangeability is less serious for regions that have a large system of narrow gauge lines, such as northern Spain, and does not exist in those countries in which a narrow gauge is standard, eg the Cape gauge in New Zealand, South Africa and the Australian island state of Tasmania or the metre gauge in Malaysia and Thailand. Of course, it exists for railways in those countries that have a gauge other than the locally predominant one.
The problem of interchangeability is more serious in North America because a continent-wide system of freight car interchange developed. All the standard gauge railways in North America use the same standard couplings and air brakes, which means that freight cars can be freely interchanged between railways from Northern Canada to Southern Mexico. Railways which need more freight cars can simply borrow them from other railways during peak periods, while the railways who own the cars receive payments for them at rates set by common agreement. Peak demand, particularly for grain shipment, occurs in different parts of North America at different times, so freight cars are shuffled back and forth across the continent to wherever they are needed. Motive power can also be interchanged, which sometimes results in Mexican locomotives pulling Canadian freight cars and vice versa.
Narrow gauge railways could not participate in this system, which meant that they usually had to own several times as much rolling stock as equivalent standard gauge railways, and they did not receive any cash flow for surplus equipment during periods of low demand. These problems also existed for railways with a broader gauge than the regional standard, but all North American broad gauge railways were converted to standard gauge by 1910, (see Rail gauge in North America). Since most narrow gauge railways were undercapitalized to begin with, increased costs and lower revenues eventually resulted in nearly all North American narrow gauge railways either going bankrupt or being converted to standard gauge. In many cases, larger railways subsidized the conversion of connecting short-line railways to standard gauge.
Another problem with narrow gauge railways is that they lacked room to grow - their cheap construction was bought at the price of being engineered only for their initial traffic demands. While a standard or broad gauge railway could more easily be upgraded to handle heavier, faster traffic, many narrow gauge railways were impractical to improve. Speeds and loads hauled could not increase, so traffic density was significantly limited.
Narrow gauge railways can be built to handle increased speed and loading, but at the price of removing most of the narrow gauge's cost advantage over standard or broad gauge.
Because of the reduced stability of narrower gauge, narrow gauge trains are not able to run at nearly the same high speeds as those networks with broader gauges unless the tracks are aligned with greater precision. However in Japan and Queensland, Australia, recent permanent way improvements have allowed trains on gauge tracks to run at and higher. Queensland Rail's tilt train is presently the fastest train in Australia, despite the gauge it runs on. Standard gauge or broad gauge trains can run at up to ; this is most evident in the case of the Japanese Shinkansen, a network of standard gauge lines built solely for high speed rail in a country where narrow gauge is the predominant standard. The current speed record for standard gauge lines is , set by TGV East, a high-speed train operating from Paris to Champagne and other cities in France and Switzerland.
Exceptions to the rule
The heavy duty narrow gauge railways in Australia (eg Queensland), South Africa and New Zealand, show that if the track is built to a heavy-duty standard, a performance almost as good as a standard gauge line is possible. 200-car trains operate on the Sishen-Saldanha railway in South Africa, and high-speed tilt-trains in Queensland (see below). Another example of a heavy-duty narrow gauge line is EFVM in Brazil. gauge, it has over-100-pound rail and a loading gauge almost as large as US non-excess-height lines. It sees locomotives and 200+ car trains. In South Africa and New Zealand, the loading gauge is similar to the restricted British loading gauge, and in New Zealand some British Rail Mark 2 carriages have been rebuilt with new bogies for use by Tranz Scenic (Wellington-Palmerston North service), Tranz Metro (Wellington-Masterton service) and Veolia (Auckland suburban services).
It is possible to build standard and even broad gauge lines cheaply to light railway standards with short radii (tight curves) and steep grades, instead of building narrow gauge lines. The trains operate at lower speeds and with lower capacities. This allows through-routeing of rolling stock, and simplifies later upgrading.
Gauges used
There are many narrow gauges in use or formerly used between gauge and gauge. They fall into three broad categories:
Medium gauge railways
Railways built on gauges between and are sometimes referred to as "medium-gauge" railways.
In those parts of the world where the railways were built to British standards, this meant most commonly a gauge of or the "Cape gauge", while those built to American standards were normally . Railways built to European metric standards were most commonly of or "metre gauge" and gauge.
These larger narrow gauges are capable of hauling most traffic with little difficulty and are thus suitable for large-scale "common carrier" applications, although their ultimate speed and load limits are lower than for standard gauge. In many countries, gauges in this range are the local standard.
Two foot gauge railways
The next natural "grouping" of narrow gauge railways covers the range from just below to just below , although the majority are between and . These lightweight lines can be built at a substantial cost saving over medium or standard gauge railways, but are generally restricted in their carrying capacity. The majority of these were built in mountainous areas and most were to carry mineral traffic from mines to ports or standard gauge raiways. Many were industrial lines rather than common carriers, though there were exceptions such as the extensive lines built in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the "Maine two footer" lines in New England. Trench railways of World War I produced the greatest concentration of two foot gauge railways observed to date. The most common metric gauges in this group are and .
Minimum gauge railways
Gauges below were rare, but did exist. In Britain, Sir Arthur Heywood developed gauge estate railways, while in France Decauville produced a range of industrial railways running on and tracks, most commonly in such restricted environments such as underground mine railways. A number of gauge railways were built in Britain to serve ammunition depots and other military facilities, particularly during the First World War.
Narrow gauge railways less than gauge are known as minimum gauge railways.
Narrow gauge worldwide
Europe
Austria
The first railway in Austria was the narrow gauge line from Gmunden in the Salzkammergut to Budweis, now in the Czech Republic, this was gauge. Some two dozen lines were built in gauge , a few in gauge. The first was the Steyrtalbahn. Others were built by provincial governments, some lines are still in common carrier use and a number of others are preservation projects. The tramway network in Innsbruck is also metre gauge; in Linz the rather unusual gauge of is in use.
Bulgaria
From the 19th into the early 20th there were many and gauge railways in Bulgaria, but today, only 245 km remain. This is the Septemvri - Dobrinishte line, where the highest railway station on the Balkan peninsula is situated. The line although in a worn out condition, is still actively used - the trains are pulled by Henschel locos. One of the old steam locomotives has been restored recently and is used occasionally for hauling tourist trains. The extensive Sofia tramway network is 1009 mm metre gauge.
Belarus
Belarus has one operating gauge Children's railway, located in Minsk. Locos - TU2.
Some industrial narrow gauge railways can still be found in Belarus particularly associated with the peat extraction industry.
Belgium
The Vicinal or Buurtspoor were a system of narrow gauge local railways or tramways covering the whole country and having a greater routage than the mainline railway system. They were gauge and the system included electrified city lines as well as rural lines using steam locomotives and railcars; half of the system was electrified. Many lines carried freight. Only the coastal line and two routes near Charleroi are still in commercial use, four museums hold significant collections of former SNCV/NMBS rolling stock, one of which is the ASVi museum in Thuin. The tramway networks in Antwerp and Ghent are also metre gauge.
The Stoomcentrum Maldegem has a gauge line laid on the former standard gauge trackbed to Donk.
Czech Republic
Several lines were built in the nineteenth century. The most notable lines are Obratan-Jindrichuv Hradec-Nová Bystrice and Tremešná ve Slezsku-Osoblaha, that are still in operation.
Estonia
Four museums lines and some industrial peat railways remain in Estonia. The houses a large collection of steam and diesel locomotives with a 2 km long gauge railway. There is a museum with a gauge, 500 m long line in Avinurme which houses one locomotive and a collection of wagons. An underground museum with a short electric line is located in Kivioli. A former military railway line with a gauge is located on Naissaar Island.
Finland
The vast majority of Finnish narrow gauge railways were owned and operated by private companies. There are only a few instances where narrow gauge railways were in direct connection with each other, and those interchanges did not last for long. The railways never formed a regional rail traffic network, but were only focused on maintaining connections between the national broad gauge railway network and the off-line industries. One of the longest common carriers was the Lovisa-Wesijärvi railway (1900–1960) that operated a 80-kilometre (50-mile) line between Lahti and Loviisa. Other notable ones were the Hyvinkää–Karkkila railway that operated a 46-kilometre (28-mile) line, and the Jokioinen railway that operated a 23-kilometre (14-mile) line until 1974, being the last common carrier narrow gauge railway.
Other lines were notably shorter. The common gauges were and , with a few railways built with and gauges.
Narrow gauge tourist and heritage lines of and gauge still operate.
France
The French National Railways used to run a considerable number of lines, a few of which still operate mostly in tourist areas, such as the St Gervais-Vallorcine (Alps) and the "Train Jaune" (yellow train) in the Pyrenees. The original French scheme was that every sous-prefecture should be rail connected. Extensive near gauge lines were also built for the sugar-beet industry in the north often using ex-military equipment after the First World War. Decauville was a famous French manufacturer of industrial narrow gauge railway equipment and equipped one of the most extensive regional narrow gauge railway, the Chemins de Fer du Calvados. Corsica has a narrow gauge network of two lines following the coast line, that are connected by one line crossing the island through highly mountaineous terrain. The petit train d'Artouste, a tourist line in the Pyrenees, uses gauge.
Germany
A number of narrow gauge lines survive, largely as a consequence of German reunification, in the former East Germany where some of them form part of the public transport system as active commercial carriers. Most extensive of those still employing steam traction is the Harz mountain group of metre-gauge lines, the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen. Other notable lines are the Zittau-Oybin-Jonsdorf line in Saxony, the Mollibahn and the Rügensche Kleinbahn on the Isle of Rügen on the Baltic coast and the Radebeul-Radeburg line, Weisseritztalbahn in the suburbs of Dresden. Although most rely on the tourist trade, in some areas they provide significant employment as steam traction is particularly labour intensive.
In the Western part of Germany, Selfkantbahn (close to Heinsberg near Aachen) and Brohltalbahn (Linz/Rhine) are the best known ones, offering services in summer weekends.
See also Narrow gauge railways in Saxony
Greece
The Peloponnese narrow gauge network length is about 914 km. Of this, gauge is used for 892 km. This is the network that connects major cities in the Peloponnese. The remaining 22 km form the Diakofton-Kalavryta rack railway, which uses gauge. The Peloponnese network has suffered various setbacks, ranging from the abandonment of entire lines (such as the Pyrgos-Katakolon railway) to inefficient management on part of the public Greek railway operator, OSE, which resulted in poor quality of services and rolling stock). Currently major restoration works are carried out, which have resulted in parts of the line having been closed. Additionally, the reactivation of certain lines that were closed down during the latter half of the 20th century is planned, mainly the Pyrgos-Katakolon line and in parts of western Greece (around Agrinion and Messologgi).
Another small railway that uses narrow gauge is the Mt. Pelion railway, originally from Volos to Milies. Currently parts of the line are operational during the summer, mainly for excursions.
There was also a metre gauge network in Thessaly. This has now been replaced with single track standard gauge lines from Volos to Larissa and Palaiofarsalos to Kalampaka. However, the old narrow gauge tracks remain in place between Velestino and Palaiofarsalos via Aerino, so that occasional special excursion trains use them.
A metric line network existed in Attica, operated by Attica Railways and later by SPAP. The line ran from the center of Athens to Kifissia and Lavrion, serving the suburbs and towns of the region as well as Dionysos marble quarries and Lavrion mines. The line to Kifissia closed in 1938 and was reopened as standard gauge in the 1950s, operated by ISAP. The line to Lavrion closed in 1957 due to political pressures from the road transport lobby. Sections of the Lavrion line still survive and there are plans to reopen the southern part (Koropi-Lavrion) as an electrified standard gauge suburban line.
Development of open lignite mines for electricity production led to the construction of industrial railway networks in Ptolemais, Western Macedonia ( industrial gauge, electrified) and Aliveri, Evoia Island (metric gauge). These networks are no longer active, as the lignite mines they served are exhausted.
The railway in Diakofto-Kalavryta and the in Volos-Milies (the current operational line is Lechonia-Milies, since the part Volos-Lechonia was abandoned) are heritage railways. The network of Peloponnese, however, is a busy passenger line, although there are no longer freight trains. A major project has started to construct new lines in the busiest parts of Peloponnese and rebuild the century old tracks in the remaining. The branch lines from Asprohoma to Messini and from Pyrgos to Katakolo were re-openned for passenger services in September and April 2007 respectively and the Argos to Nafplio line is expected to follow, when services are reinstated on the Korinthos to Tripolis line in late 2008.
It is the only extensive and authoritative source for the history of Greek railways.
Contains brief history, simple line maps ans extensive list of rolling stock until 1997.
Hungary
The former Kingdom boasted a narrow gauge network thousands of kilometres in length, most of it using gauge and constructed between 1870 and 1920. Landlords, mines, agricultural and forest estates established their own branch lines which, as they united into regional networks, increasingly played a role in regional passenger traffic. Following the Treaty of Trianon some railways were cut by the new border, many remained on the territory of Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Due to a lack of intact roads, following World War II in many places narrow-gauge railway was the only reasonable way to get around. In 1968 the Communist government started to implement a policy to dismantle the narrow-gauge network in favour of road traffic. Freight haulage on the few remaining lines continued to decline until 1990 from when a patchwork of railways was gradually taken over by associations and forest managements for tourist purposes. State Railways operate narrow-gauge railways at Nyíregyháza and Kecskemét that continue to play a role in regional transport. Children aged 10 to 14 provide services at the Budapest .
Ireland
Several narrow gauge systems once existed in Ireland. In County Donegal an extensive network existed, with two companies operating from Derry – the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway (L&LSR) and the County Donegal Railways (CDRJC). Well known was the West Clare Railway – in County Clare, which saw diesel locomotion before closure. The Cavan & Leitrim Railway (C&LR) operated in what is now the border area of County Cavan and County Leitrim. Some smaller narrow gauge routes also existed in County Antrim and also County Cork – notably the Cork Blackrock & Passage Railway.
Apart from small heritage venues, the Irish narrow gauge today only survives in the bogs of the Midlands as part of Bord na Móna's extensive industrial network for transporting harvested peat to distribution centres or power plants.
See also: History of rail transport in Ireland
Italy
Narrow gauge railways in Italy are (or were) mainly build with gauge, with some gauge lines and with a few other gauges.
In Sardinia, a network of narrow gauge lines (950 mm) was built, to complement the standard-gauge main network which covered the main cities and ports. The lines were:
Of the lines which are still present, only
still carry regular passenger services, operated by . The others only operate a scenic tourist service known as (small green train)
In Sicily, the Ferrovia Circumetnea (950 mm gauge) runs around the Mount Etna. Other narrow gauge lines (950 mm) operated, the most important of which was the Castelvetrano-Porto Empedocle, but are now closed.
In Trento (Trentino) only narrow gauge lines (1,000 mm) from Trento to Malè and Marilleva are still operating by Trentino Trasporti.
In Bolzano-Bozen (Alto Adige/South Tyrol) there are two (1,000 mm) gauge lines: the Rittnerbahn, or Ferrovia del Renon, a very nice rural tramway and the Laas-Lasa feight private railway to marble cave, that use a funicular too. There are two touristic mines using 600 mm gauge trains.
Between Naples and Sorrento, around the base of Mt. Vesuvius, the Circumvesuviana railway operates frequent services on narrow gauge (950 mm) tracks.
In Puglia and Basilicata regions there are some lines connecting Bari, Potenza, Matera and Avigliano. Theese are owned by Ferrovie Apulo Lucane.
In Calabria there are the Catanzaro Lido-Catanzaro-Cosenza line, with a branch to Camigliatello Silano, and two lines from Gioia Tauro. All are owned by Ferrovie della Calabria.
The Genova-Casella is a line.
The Trieste-Opicina is a tramway with a funicular.
Isle of Man
Both main railways in the Isle of Man are of gauge. The Isle of Man Steam Railway to the southwest is operated largely as a tourist attraction but the Manx Electric Railway to the northeast is a commercially operated railway system though its operation is closer to that of a tramway than a railway. The Snaefell Mountain Railway, climbs the island's main peak and has a gauge of ; it is the sole operating Fell Incline Railway System in the world.
Latvia
There exist 1 public, 1 museum and some industrial peat railways. Public narrow gauge railway are gauge and are around 30 km long. They join Gulbene and Aluksne. More - http://www.banitis.lv . 2 trains per day. The museum railway is located in Ventspils. The gauge is and the length is a 2 km circle. The locomotives are former "Brigadelok" steam locomotives. The peat companies mainly use , but there also exist gauge and other 600 mm gauge railways.
Lithuania
158.8 km of narrow gauge lines remain, although only 68.4 km of them (serving five stations) are regularly used, employing 12 locomotives. They are included in the Registry of Immovable Cultural Heritage Sites of Lithuania. More about this line: http://www.siaurukas.eu/ . There also still exist many peat factories, which have private narrow gauge railways for transportation peat from field to factory.
Norway
In Norway, a number of main lines were in the 19th century built with narrow gauge, , to save cost in a sparsely populated mountainous country. This included Norway's first own long-distance line, Rørosbanen, connecting Oslo and Trondheim, 1877. Some secondary railways also had this gauge. These railways have been rebuilt to standard gauge or closed down. Some private railways had and one had . A few railways partly still are operated as museum railways, specifically Thamshavnbanen, Urskog-Hølandsbanen and Setesdalsbanen. The tramway in Trondheim, Gråkallbanen is also narrow gauge.
Poland
There are hundreds of kilometres of , , 785 mm, and narrow gauge lines in Poland. The metre gauge lines are mostly found in the northwest part of the country in Pomerania, while lines are found only in the Upper Silesia region. is the most commonly used narrow gauge; it is used, for example, in the Rogów Narrow Gauge Railway (Rogowska Kolej Waskotorowa). Some narrow gauge lines in Poland still operate as common carriers (for example the lines operated by SKPL, the Association of Local Railway Haulage), while others survive as tourist attractions. One of the finest of the latter is the narrow gauge railway (Zninska Kolej Powiatowa) running from Znin via Wenecja (Polish Venice) and famous Biskupin to Gasawa in the Paluki region. Railway traditions of Paluki date back to July 1894 when the first two lines were opened.
In the past, there have also been , and lines. A recreational line 4.2 km long still operates in the Amusement-Recreation Park in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. A similar line, Kolejka Parkowa Maltanka, operates in Poznan. Some of Poland's narrow gauge railways are maintained by volunteers; one organization dedicated to preserving narrow gauge railways is the FPKW, the Polish Narrow Gauge Railways Foundation .
Portugal
Portugal had hundreds of km of gauge railways, including: Linha do Porto à Póvoa e Famalicão - Closed. Some of the old trackbed is now used by the Oporto's Metropolitan railcars. Linha de Guimarães - Closed between Guimarães and Fafe, converted into a bike way. The rest is now broad gauge. Linha do Tâmega. Linha do Corgo. Linha do Tua. Linha do Sabor. Linha do Vouga (closed in Sernada do Vouga - Viseu, working in Aveiro - Sernada do Vouga - Albergaria-a-Velha - Oliveira de Azeméis - Espinho). Linha do Dão.
Four passenger services are known to still be in operation.
The Tamega Line runs between Livração and Amarante in the District of Porto and runs near the River Tâmega.
The Corgo line runs from Regua, on the Douro River to Vila Real. The line previously ran to Chaves and the track is still in situ in 2008. There is a small Railway Museum at Chaves.
The Tua Line runs north from Tua to Bragança and previously ran to Mirandela. This line is the least used and may close soon but was still operating in spring 2008. The line was closed temporarily on 10 April 2008 after a landslide which cause the derailment of a light inspection vehicle near Santa Luzia station, and it's unknown when the line will reopen.
Finally a line still runs from the Porto to Lisbon main line at Espinho to Sernada do Vouga and back to the same main line at Aveiro, Linha do Vouga. This line has a museum at Macinhata do Vouga whilst the main workshops are at Sernada do Vouga. This line may also shut at any time.
Romania
Romanian narrow-gauge tracks usually use a gauge, though there were also some gauge locomotives manufactured at Resita. Several old narrow-gauge railways in Romania are being renovated for tourist purposes: the one in the Vaser Valley (Maramures County) is now well known, the line from Abrud to Campeni is sporadically operating and other renovation projects have made tentative steps and may commence regular operations in the near future, such as the , which has been declared as a historical monument and is now starting to be restored by volunteers. More information can be found under "mocanita", the term by which such railways are often called in Romanian.
Russia
In Russia, narrow gauge is most often or . gauge is found only in the southern part of Sakhalin, where railways were built by the Japanese.
Slovakia
Bratislava municipal transport system uses gauge for trams, while Košice transport system uses standard gauge . Railways, however use standard gauge making Bratislava tram and railways networks incompatible with each other. There is a discussion regarding transforming Bratislava's tram gauge to standard gauge to allow trams to use the railways tracks to increase transportation capabilities of Bratislava's public transportation system. The most notable tourist lines in operation are the gauge Ciernohronská železnica and Oravsko-kysucká lesná železnica - Vychylovka.
Another notable narrow gauge tracks include: the Štrbské Pleso - Štrba rack railway and the Tatra Electric Railway (both gauge) in the Tatra mountains and the gauge railway from Trencianska Teplá to Trencianske Teplice.
Slovenia
The narrow gauge railway line called "Konjicanka" was build in the valley of Dravinja, connecting Poljcane and Slovenske Konjice.
Serbia
The narrow gauge railway line in Mokra Gora on the northern slopes of mountain Zlatibor in Serbia climbs a 300 metre ascent using an unusual loop in the form of the figure 8 – the popular "Šargan Eight".
Spain
In Spain there is an extensive system of gauge railways, in the north of the country, operated by FEVE (Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha, Spanish narrow gauge railways) and EuskoTren (Eusko Trenbideak, Basque Railways). At the centre of this system is a metre gauge line which runs for 650 km (400 miles) along the entire length of Spain's north coast. FEVE and EuskoTren form the longest narrow gauge network in Europe.
Also near Madrid, on the mountain range of Guadarrama runs a mountain train through a short but extremely sinuous track, operated by Renfe. Separate metre gauge railways are operated by the FGC (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalan regional government railways) from Barcelona to Manresa and Igualada, the FGV (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana, Valencian regional government railways) around the city of Valencia, and the SFM (Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca) on the island of Majorca. Also on the island of Majorca, the FS (Ferrocarril de Sóller) operates a gauge electrified railway and connecting tramway.
Also the Euskotran in Bilbao, which is not a "light rail", is unusual in new tramway and light rail systems opened in the last twenty-five years in having adopted metre gauge. EuskoTran is part of EuskoTren, the Basque regional government rail company. This company also owns several bus lines.
Metro Bilbao started in 1995 on EuskoTren track and has a metre gauge.
Sweden
Sweden once had some fairly extensive narrow gauge networks, but most narrow gauge railways are now closed. Some were converted to standard gauge (the latest one the line between Berga and Kalmar in the 1970s) and some remains as heritage railways. The most common narrow gauge, (3 Swedish feet), existed only in Sweden. A smaller gauge network existed, and gauge was used mostly by smaller, industrial railways.
The only commercial narrow gauge railway left is the Roslagsbanan suburban railway in north-eastern Stockholm (891 mm gauge). A branch line, the Långängsbanan, was built and run for some years as an isolated standard gauge tramway in anticipation of a planned conversion of the main line to raise its capacity, but those plans came to naught and the branch was rebuilt to narrow gauge; it is now closed.
The longest other remaining narrow gauge railway is the 891 mm line between Åseda, Hultsfred and Västervik. 70 km between Hultsfred and Västervik is served by tourist trains in the summer, including 4 km of dual gauge track.
Sweden also had the unique gauge Köping-Uttersberg-Riddarhyttan Railway. Still other but lesser used gauges in the country were , and .
Switzerland
Switzerland boasts an extensive network of metre gauge railways, many of which interchange traffic (most prominent is the Rhaetian Railway). They are concentrated in the more heavily mountainous areas. The Jungfraubahn terminates at the highest station in Europe. Dual gauge (combined metre- and standard gauge trackway) also exists in many areas. Also, nearly all street tramways in Switzerland were and still are also metre gauge.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom once had a large number of narrow gauge railways which were mostly isolated from each other. The first locomotive-hauled railway in the world was the narrow gauge Penydarren Tramway in south Wales. Most of the lines were originally built to haul minerals or agricultural products over short distances, though many also carried passengers. The longest passenger line was the combined Welsh Highland and Ffestiniog railways at 36 miles/57.9 km.
Only a few of these lines survive as commercial common carriers. The great majority of the remaining narrow gauge lines operate purely as tourist attractions, and a number of new narrow gauge tourist lines have been built in recent years. The sole passenger-carrying exception is the Glasgow Subway, an underground metro line that operates on a gauge. The Talyllyn Railway holds the distinction of being the first railway in the world of any gauge to be run entirely by volunteers. In addition a few private industrial narrow gauge railways remain, mainly serving the coal and peat extraction industries.
Amongst the most well-known narrow gauge lines in Britain are the Ffestiniog - now the oldest independent railway company in the world - the Vale of Rheidol, and the Welshpool & Llanfair in Wales, and the Lynton & Barnstaple in England. Unique amongst British railways is the rack-and-pinion Snowdon Mountain Railway which climbs to just below the summit of Wales' highest peak.
North America
Canada
Although many railways of central and eastern Canada were initially built to a broad gauge, there were several railways, especially on Canada's Atlantic coast, which were built as individual narrow gauge lines.
The first public passenger carrying narrow gauge railways in North America were in Ontario, the Toronto Grey and Bruce Railway and the Toronto and Nipissing Railway, opening in the summer of 1871. The Ontario lines were over 300 miles (480 km) in length, and both were built with the objective of connecting with a future Pacific railway. They were acquired and converted to standard gauge in 1881 and eventually became part of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Construction on the Newfoundland Railway took place between 1881 and 1898. It became part of the Canadian National Railways (CNR) when Newfoundland became part of Canada in 1949.
The White Pass and Yukon Railroad which was completed in 1900 at the end of the Klondike gold rush is Canada's last remaining narrow gauge carrier. It no longer carries freight, but is the busiest tourist railroad in North America. Its tracks connect to no other railroad but do connect to the cruise ship docks at Skagway, Alaska, which provide it with most of its passengers
Mexico
Various narrow gauge lines operated around Mexico City. A famous one operated in Morelos State. There were also
dozens of private narrow gauge lines built to service the mining district.
The Yucatán Peninsula region of Mexico has a network of narrow gauge lines, established before the region was linked by rail to the rest of Mexico in the 1950s. Only the main line connecting Mérida to central Mexico has been widened to standard gauge.
United States
Many narrow gauge railways were built in the United States. The most extensive and well known systems were the gauge lines through the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado and New Mexico. For a while the majority of the railway mileage in these states was narrow gauge.
In Maine, a network of gauge lines served the rural economy between the 1870s and 1940s.
Across the US, industrial narrow gauge railways were used, perhaps the best known being the gauge logging lines of the western states of Oregon and California. In Pennsylvania, the gauge coal-hauling East Broad Top Railroad is the the oldest surviving 3 foot gauge in the United States hauling excursion trains during the summer months.
Today a few lines survive as heritage railways and tourist attractions. USG Corporation operates an industrial gauge line at Plaster City, California and narrow gauge railways are still used for some tunneling and mining work.
Central America
Costa Rica
See also Railways in Costa Rica
Costa Rican railways are gauge and mostly gauge.
El Salvador
El Salvador ran gauge steam trains into the 1970s. How much of this survived a civil war, earthquake
and hurricane is unknown.
See also
Guatemala
gauge,
Haiti
Haiti has had two different gauges on its railways. 130 km of rural line between Port-au-Prince, Saint-Marc, and Verrettes (1905–about 1960s) used gauge. Tramlines in Port-au-Prince (1878–1888 and 1896–1932), which was the first known track in Haiti, and a total of 80 km of rural line west to Léogâne and east to Manneville (1896–1950s(?)) used gauge.
Totalling over 100 km of track, the plantation railways in the north and north-east most likely used .
There were at least four separate isolated lines.
The story of the demise of one Haitian railroad is that it was sold and physically picked up, and shipped to Asia during the Papa Doc period (approx. 1957–1971). Other gauges may have been used on the plantation tracks in the north and north-east of Haiti. The CIA fact book suggests that in the 1990s there were only 40 km of abandoned track left(?).
History of Haitian railways.
Panama
Mule Locos haul ships through the locks in the Panama Canal (Gauge???)
See also
South America
Metre and gauge lines are found in South America. Some of the -gauge lines cross international borders, though not as efficiently as they might.
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Chile have gauge lines. Colombia and Peru have gauge lines.
Argentina
railways are found in the northern half of the country. The Old Patagonian Express (La Trochita) is a 402 km-long narrow gauge railway in the Andean foothills of Patagonia, now running as two portions of its original length. However, all the track is preserved. The Southern Fuegian Railway (End of the World Train) on a track is considered the southernmost operating railway in the world. The Rainforest Ecological Train is a environmentally-friendly train that runs through the forest inside Iguazú National Park in the north of the province of Misiones of Argentina and there is also a coal railway, Red de Ferrocarril Industrial de Rio Turbio, that operates between Rio Turbio and Rio Gallegos on track gauge.
Bolivia
All railways in Bolivia are gauge.
Brazil
See Railways in Brazil
In Brazil, almost all the lines are gauge, with the exception of a few lines in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Mato Grosso. Vale (ex-CVRD) also has a line with 1.6 m gauge, from Carajás (PA) to São Luís (MA). The Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas gauge lines once operated in Minas Gerais, centered around the city of São João del-Rey. This network at one time had over 770 km of railway in operation, but only about 13 km remain in operation as a steam powered tourist railway. Other small narrow gauge lines include the Rio de Janeiro streetcar (Bonde de Santa Teresa), with approximately 13 km of gauge, and a very short industial railway near Bertioga built to gauge. A number of industrial (a gauge Portland Cement line near São Paulo, for example) and agricultural (rubber plantations, sugar plantations, logging) railways also existed in Brazil in a number of narrow gauges, but few of those survive today.
Chile
Meter gauge railways are found in the northern half of the country. The Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia was originally built to gauge, as were a number of mining and nitrate railways.
Colombia
Most of the railways in Colombia are gauge.
Ecuador
The railways in Ecuador are cape gauge. This is a famous route, the one that zig zags past the chilling canyon of the Devil's Nose. Floods, landslides and government neglect have put this operation in doubt, but they are working to restore the railway. The recently elected president Rafael Correa declared the state of emergency of the national railway. He has secured funding for a master plan to restore it to its previous glory. In the first phase of this plan, the Ecuadorian government will invest over US $283 million to completely repair the country's existing railway system and infrastructure, such as bridges, walls and stations. The government will also purchase new locomotives. A second phase seek the building of new railway lines to connect the country with Brazil and Venezuela. Currently two Baldwin locomotives are ready to work, depending on track and traffic. There are also a number of diesel railbuses and some Alsthom diesel locomotives available.
The railway from Guayaquil to Quito featured in the 1983 BBC television series Great Little Railways.
Peru
The Cuzco-Quillibama line in Peru is gauge. The other narrow gauge line (Huancayo-Huancavelica) will be converted to standard gauge.
Uruguay
There were four big narrow gauge lines in Uruguay: Puerto del Sauce (now Juan Lacaze)-Terminal: , (1901-1959), Piriapolis-Pan de Azucar: (1903-1958), km 393-Arrozal 33: and km 110-Cantera Burgueño: . All were dismantled. There were also several quarry lines of gauge, among them the famous INDARE sand line. Around 300 m of that sand line is preserved and also a lot of steam locomotives. One of those is in working order. Also, a new narrow gauge line, of around 1 km, with two diesel locomotives from the former km 110-Cantera Burgueño line, was constructed in a park on the town of Santiago Vazquez, in the West of Montevideo.
Asia
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka inherited a diversity of rail gauges, some of which was . Indian Railways has adopted Project unigauge, which seeks to systematically convert most of its narrower gauge railways to .
Southeast Asia
The railways of Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia are predominantly gauge. The proposed ASEAN Railway would be a standard-gauge or dual-gauge, using both metre and standard gauge regional railway networks, linking Singapore at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam to the standard-gauge railway network of the People's Republic of China. Indonesia's railways are predominantly .
China
Some of the railway network of the People's Republic of China is gauge.
Many narrow gauge railways existed in China. Metre gauge railways were popular in China in several regions before 1949. The gauge Kunming-Hekou Railway (previously known as Sino-Vietnamese Railway) was built by French colonists between Vietnam and China. In Manchuria, lumber industries built narrow gauge railways into the forests, mostly of gauge.
Hong Kong
In Hong Kong the Kowloon-Canton Railway was partially laid to and gauge during its construction in 1910 but was very soon converted to standard gauge. The Sha Tau Kok Railway was gauge for much of its existence. The famous Hong Kong Tramways are gauge, and the territory's metro, the MTR, runs on 1432 mm gauge except for the standard gauge KCR network it operates under a lease.
India
India has a substantial network of narrow gauge railways. The majority of these are gauge, totalling approximately 17,000 km of track. There are some gauge railways, and a few that use gauge; these are known as "narrow gauge" (as opposed to "metre gauge") lines in India.
In 1999 the gauge Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was officially designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It runs from Siliguri to Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal.
Indonesia
Indonesia had large numbers of narrow gauge railways supporting industry, mainly sugar cane plantations in Java. , sugar cane production in Java has been declining and the railways are now largely closed or used for tourism.
Most of the current active railways in Indonesia use the Cape gauge .
Japan
Except for the high-speed Shinkansen lines, all of Japan Railways Group's network is narrow gauge, built at . Some companies, such as Kintetsu, Keisei Electric Railway, Keihin Electric Express Railway, Hankyu Railway, Toei Asakusa Line, Tokyo Metro's Ginza Line and Marunouchi line, use standard gauge.
Tokyo's Keio Electric Railway network and the Toei Shinjuku metro line, which operate through services, use an exceptional gauge. This gauge is also used on the Tokyo and Hakodate tramways.
There are some dual gauge lines which allow Shinkansen trains to travel on narrow gauge branches. Japan adopted as a standard narrow gauge for minor, forestry and industrial lines. However, most of these narrow gauge lines were abandoned and currently only four lines remain in operation.
Malaysia
Malaysia's oldest railway systems are solely gauge, a standard that has been adopted since the British colonial government laid down the first railway lines in 1885.
Keretapi Tanah Melayu, the main railway operator in Peninsular Malaysia, uses metre gauge for the main west and east coast intercity lines, as well as railway lines spanning Singapore, from the Johor-Singapore Causeway to the Tanjong Pagar railway station. Existing metre gauge lines are also used for KTM Komuter, the country's commuter rail service, which links Kuala Lumpur with neighbouring suburbs. However, standard gauge is used by the newer light rail operators in Kuala Lumpur city (Putra LRT, Star LRT) as well as the privately operated Express Rail Link to the airport.
In Sabah, the North Borneo Railway ("Keretapi Negeri Sabah") runs a metre gauge line from Kota Kinabalu up to Tenom in the Crocker Ranges, via Beaufort. Steam trains are also used in this route.
Philippines
Except for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) systems in Metro Manila, which have both been constructed to the international standard gauge, the Philippine National Railways ("PNR") uses the "Cape Gauge" of . The PNR currently opertes only one line: from Manila to the southern Luzon city of Legaspi. Until the 1980s a more extensive network existed going as far north as San Fernando in La Union province. There are plans to restore the La Union line and to build new lines connecting Manila to Batangas and the international airport.
There are also a number of industrial narrow gauge steam railways operating in the sugar cane industry. These are concentrated on the islands of Negros and Panay. The Visayas region is the main center for the sugar cane lines; some of the mills, such as La Carlotta Milling in Negros, run charter trains for tourists.
Abandoned lines exists on the islands of Cebu, abandoned in the 1950s or 1960s, Mindanao, and Panay, closed in the 1990s. There are plans to restore the Panay Rail line which connects Roxas City with Iloilo.
Taiwan
Taiwan started to build up railway in the Qing dynasty using gauge. The Japanese colonial government, which ruled from 1895 to 1945, continued using . The system is now under Taiwan Railway Administration. The new Taipei Rapid Transit System and the metro system under construction in Kaohsiung use standard gauge. The Taiwan High Speed Rail (HSR) which started operation in January 2007 also uses standard gauge. An isolated gauge line on the east coast was regauged to when the line was interconnected. The Alishan forest railway is narrow gauge .
Except for the high speed railway and the metro systems in Taipei and Kaohsiung, all of Taiwan's railway network is narrow gauge, built at . The isolated east coast railways that used gauge were converted to when the lines were linked to the west coast system.
A narrow gauge Alishan Forest Railway stretches 72 km and connects the city of Chiayi to the mountain resort of Alishan. The line serves mainly as a tourist attraction and offers breathtaking mountain views.
On September 7, 2006, Taiwanese government declared a plan to update to the standard gauge system. It's not the first time that this plan was proposed. In fact, some of the facilities have allowed for standard gauge conversion such as the underground tunnels constructed since the late 1980s. Many experts criticize the proposal as prohibitively expensive if not impossible as all locomotives, passenger and freight cars must be converted to standard gauge.
Middle East
Until 1932 a narrow gauge train ran from Cairo through Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Persia (later Iran) and Iraq. The tracks and stations are mostly tourist sites, with some sections refurbished and run as a tourist attraction. The train was notorious for being slow, and failing to go uphill
Thailand
While the Northern Line was originally build as standard gauge, the line was regauged after 1919 and the State Railway of Thailand now operates entirely on gauge, including international through services to Malaysia. However, standard gauge is used by the Bangkok Skytrain and the Bangkok Metro.
Africa
Narrow gauge railways are common in Africa, where great distances, challenging terrain and low funding have made the narrow gauges attractive. Many nations, particularly in southern Africa, including the extensive South African Railway network (Spoornet), use a gauge. Metre gauge is also common, as in the case of the Uganda Railway. There used to be extensive and gauge networks in countries such as Morocco, Congo, Angola, Namibia and South Africa, but these have mostly been dismantled.
Because Africa is divided into many countries, railways built by different governments tend not to link up with each other, each country's lines connecting its outlands with its own port. Incompatible gauges are therefore not obvious. For example, a link from Nigeria to Cameroon would join to .
The railways of South Africa and many other African countries, including Angola, Botswana, Congo, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe, use gauge, sometimes referred to as Cape gauge. Kenya, Uganda and others use gauge lines. In Tanzania former East African Railways lines are metre gauge while the Tazara line is
Eritrea
Further north, the Eritrean Railway is in the midst of resurrecting its narrow gauge railway, a relic of its former Italian colonial days that was abandoned and heavily damaged during Eritrea's war of independence. Neighbouring railways (should they ever connect) are in Sudan and in Ethiopia.
Cameroon
During the First World War when Cameroon was a German possession, a network of gauge Feldbahn railways were built. These eventually extended to around 150 km of track serving rubber and palm oil plantations.
The gauge is now in use.
Morocco
Morocco had from 1912 - 1935 one of the largest gauge network in Africa with total length
of more than 1700 kilometres. After the treaty of Algeciras where the representatives of Great
Powers agreed not to build any standard gauge railway in Morocco until the standard gauge
Tangier - Fez Railway being completed, the French had begun to built military gauge
lines in their part of Morocco French Morocco.
South Africa
Originally standard gauge, the railways of the then Cape Colony changed to narrow gauge , sometimes known as Cape gauge, for cost-cutting reasons. However, with the development of a strong economy, with heavy export coal and iron ore traffic, and electrification of most main lines, South Africa, like Queensland, operates several narrow gauge trains that outdo most standard gauge and all broad gauge trains. In fact, in 1989 the Sishen-Saldanha line set a world record by carrying the biggest train in history, 7.2 km long containing 660 wagons pulled by 15 locomotives and weighing 71,232 tonnes. However, the proposed Gautrain railway between Johannesburg and Pretoria will operate on standard gauge, and will thus not be capable of using any of the country's existing rail network.
Oceania
Australia
Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and parts of South Australia adopted gauge to cover greater distances at lower costs. Most industrial railways are built to gauge. Three different rail gauges are currently in wide use in Australia, and there is little prospect of full standardisation.
Before 1901, each of the six British colonies was responsible for rail transport infrastructure. Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania constructed for narrow gauge railways. The other colonies built either standard gauge or broad gauge railways, maintaining only limited narrow gauge rail lines, except for South Australia, which built both narrow and broad gauge. As a result of this legacy, Australian railways are a mix of all three gauges.
In 1865, the Queensland Railways was the first mainline narrow gauge railway in the world . Its tracks would eventually extend to around 9000 km. Queensland Rail operates the QR Tilt Train, with a maximum speed of 165 km/h. This train currently holds the Australian Railway Speed Record of 210.7 km/h. Queensland also has extensive sugar cane tramways of gauge.
Following the success of the narrow gauge in Queensland, several narrow gauge lines were built in South East Australia. From the 1920s onwards several of these were converted to broad gauge.
Inspired by the success of the narrow gauge in Queensland, Western Australia adopted the same gauge. Until closure in 1958 Perth had the only narrow gauge tramway network of any considerable extent in mainland Australia.
The Northern Territory adopted narrow gauge when it was still part of South Australia, and a North-South transcontinental line was planned from Adelaide to Darwin in the 1870s. In the event this line was never completed, and due to flood damage and lack of traffic, the narrow gauge line was closed.
Four common carrier lines in Victoria were built to the narrow gauge standard, to serve local farming and forestry communities. Sections of two lines (Belgrave to Gembrook and Thomson to Walhalla) have been restored as tourist railways.
New Zealand
See also: Rail transport in New Zealand
New Zealand adopted narrow gauge (cape gauge) due to the need to cross mountainous terrain in the country's interior. This terrain has necessitated a number of complicated engineering feats, notably the Raurimu Spiral. There are 1787 bridges and 150 tunnels in less than 4,000 km of track. Around 500 km of this track is electrified, on the North Island Main Trunk, between Palmerston North and Hamilton.
Much like Australia, there was initially no uniformity in track gauges in New Zealand. This was because the construction of railways was undertaken by the various provinces of New Zealand rather than the central government. The Canterbury Provincial Railways opened New Zealand's first railway in 1863 and used a broad gauge of , while Southland built the Bluff and Kingston Branches to , and short segments of railway were also constructed in the Auckland and Northland Regions. Eventually, under the public works schemes of Premier Julius Vogel, the railways of New Zealand were made to adhere to a gauge. The first gauge railway in New Zealand was the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway, which opened on 1 January 1873. Today, the network connects most major New Zealand cities, and is around 4,000 km in length.
See also
External links
- -The place where Narrow Gauge Fans go to talk! Anyone is welcome to sign up, its free! We'll enjoy your company and the many things you may have to offer
- (hard copy)
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- - this site has a large photo gallery of narrow gauge railways
- - Russian narrow gauge railways
- - based at the Talyllyn Railway in Wales.
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