The art of double track running

Skully · January 10

I think not everyone has realized that (some/most/all?) Polish double lines are equipped to run both left and right at full capacity. In some countries the opposite line is only signaled at start and end but here the entire stretch is properly blocked.

So this makes for cases in which you can do some very clean double track movements. For example from Knapówka to Psary around :45 in the current schedule.

After setting up the left track from Knapówka to Psary you can let the 241 enter on the left while the 13 enters on the right.

At which point the race to Psary in on.

Set it up to have the trains come in as far as you can before making a decision which one goes first.

Do make sure to use junction 30 to 40 for the 13 as that is a high speed turnout at 100 km/h as opposed to junction 6 which is a low speed (60 km/h). You also don't want to use junction 3 to junction 40 as this would have the train move at 100 km/h for a full block.

And finally letting the 241 go on the right.

There are other opportunities as well in the northern dispatch stations but these require some calculations. Keep in mind some blocks are 160 meters others are 180 meters and a Pendo going down to 100 km/h is a 100% speed loss while an EC or IC only looses 20 km/h (as with the 241 above).

Once we see the schedule on Friday I may do a complete set of calculations for each station. 😄