European HS Rail -- 'Wrong Railing'

Question for all: Why do the Continental high speed lines in Europe run on the left track when driving occurs on the right hand?

P.S. My tongue was firmly in cheek when writing the title.

i think only america and Canada run on the right .

Most of High speed rail in Europe is based on French and German technology, they both ran left from start of conventional railroading. these days with all tracks signalle in both directions it does not matter anymore.

Some European countries decided to run trains on the left, some on the right, and high speed lines maintained this tradition. Also the side of driving on roads was different: in some Italian cities cars and streetcars ran ont he left until 1924, and in Sweden all cars drove on the left until 1967, when at 5 am of the 3rd September all cars had to switch to the right side of road (this day was also an excuse to close down all tramlines of Stockholm, unlike Milan where streetcars were converted and run still today).

Some statistics of European incoherent network: http://www.bueker.net/trainspotting/vol ... europe.php (we even have 5 different main gauges...).

Hello,


some Point of View from Europe...................

In Euope the Age of Railroads (Railways) started in Great Britain ....a Country where Street running was on the left side.
So the first Railroads in GB and later on the Continent started that ,too. And therefore was a simple choice...the Locomotives come from GB and the Driver`s Place was fitted for left Hand running. Here in Germany the Last left hand Loco`s from GB retired in 1890.
But with the growing Railroad Net in every Country there was seperation.From the mid of the 19th-Century in most Countrys of germany the Lines change from Single lines to Double Lines because of the growing Traffic and from that days the Trains moved on on the right side (still with Loco`s with left hand drive).You must know ,that Germany at that Times was no Unifed Land...it was a Empire of Countrys (Prussia,Bavaria, Saxony ect.) so in each Country there where own Rules.There was also one Country with Broad Gauge (wurttemberg).

With the onegoing Growing of the Railroad Net (and also with the Factorys,Dealers ect.) there was at 1875 the first Rule-Book witch take part in all countrys.....from that on Right Traffic was the Standard here (except Austria-hungaria).

But interestingly in Countrys like France or GB there where later in the beginning 20th-Century Locomotives with Right-Hand drive......

But back to us.....the Railroad term for the right Traffic here was richtiges Gleis and for left running falsches Gleis....

But Today this go obsolet....because modern Engines like the ICE are equipped with the European Driver Place,
this means the Engine Driver sit in the middle of the cab and so it doesn`t matter if he is on right Track or on Left Track....also the technical
Equipment is there.....starting with the LZB in germany for HST in the 1960th.....and ending with the ERTMS today....
On Lines with that it doesn`t matter at all where the Train run....also the Time Table is electronically aboard (EBULA).

Thanks Crossing Jake , And welcome to the worldwie forum . Hopefully we see you posting here often .

Not railway related but an amusing story from the pacific island of Vanuatu . The english and french colonists were pretty much evenly in control of the islands . almost every issue of control took years to sort out whose system would be used .
The issue of which side of the road to drive on was one of them . Each side had convincing arguements as to wether to drive on the left or right side . it could not be decided , so eventually the came up with a plan . they would wait for the next boat to arrive , and whichever side of the road the first vechicle to come off drove , that would be the offical rule .
The first vechicle off was a horse and cart driven by a french priest , who preceded to drive on the right side of the road , and Vanuatu has been offically driving on the righthand side ever since .

The_Rockaway_Kid wrote:Question for all: Why do the Continental high speed lines in Europe run on the left track when driving occurs on the right hand?

P.S. My tongue was firmly in cheek when writing the title.

Some do, some don't.
Germany is on the right; France on the left. Not sure about others.

Hello George,

Some do, some don't.
Germany is on the right; France on the left. Not sure about others.

hmmmm.....not really.....the HS-Trains (TGV and ICE ) have the European Driver Place in the middle of the Cab....

This is the TGV-Cab
http://www.300km-h.net/main/fotos/thalys/pbka/cab1.jpg

and here a Video from the ICE (best Viewing with a Broadband Internet Connection !! )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N29LP8bn ... re=related
183 Miles per Hour-View:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV14qFmn ... re=related



The "Box" in the left Window over the Panel ist the Train Radio (Zugbahnfunk) and below that there is the electronic Time Schedule
(EBULA) for the Driver...

hmmmm.....not really.....the HS-Trains (TGV and ICE ) have the European Driver Place in the middle of the Cab....

I thought you meant the position of twin tracks. Britain and France are left hand running; Germany right hand.

Germany has mainly left handed travel, The Netherlands is right handed.

Hello George,

I thought you meant the position of twin tracks. Britain and France are left hand running; Germany right hand.

yes for that it is okay.....we call them Double Track (Zweigleisige Strecke).
The right Track is the so called Regel-Gleis ,also that is always the Track Number 1 on the Line
The left Track is the so called Gegengleis,also that is the Track Number 2

Most of our HS-Lines are Bi-Directional equipped, so the direction of Travel of a Train there doesn`t matter....

The conventionally Lines are right hand running....

Gotthardbahn wrote:Some European countries decided to run trains on the left, some on the right, and high speed lines maintained this tradition. Also the side of driving on roads was different: in some Italian cities cars and streetcars ran ont he left until 1924, and in Sweden all cars drove on the left until 1967, when at 5 am of the 3rd September all cars had to switch to the right side of road (this day was also an excuse to close down all tramlines of Stockholm, unlike Milan where streetcars were converted and run still today).

Some statistics of European incoherent network: http://www.bueker.net/trainspotting/vol ... europe.php (we even have 5 different main gauges...).

Germany has right-hand running, even to the extent that in 1938, after the annexation of Austria, the Austrian railways were integrated into the Reichsbahn, which immediately set about converting the Austrian Westbahn (Vienna-Linz-Salzburg) from left-hand to right-hand running. By 1943 they had gotten as far as Amstetten, and the Westbahn remained left-handed between there and Vienna until 1991, when that segment was converted by the Austrians to right-hand running (ironically, by that time the whole line was reverse-signaled). When the railways of Alsace-Lorraine were restored to France in 1918, they were right-hand running, as they had been since the Germans took them over in 1871; the French decided not to spend the money to convert, and railways in Alsace-Lorraine run right-handed to this day (the LGV Est has a jumpover where it joins the "classic" rail network). Another right-handed country (besides the Netherlands, already mentioned) is Denmark.

Hello ExCon90,


huuu...you know the specialtys of the Austrian Lines ?......

But that is very dificult,because of the History of the Double-Monachry Austrian-Hungary.........Railroad-Lines there where built by different
State-owned and private Companys....in Bohemian part of that Lines where Right Hand.....

Here a List of Today:
Right Hand
Norway,Danmark,Estland,Finland,Lettland,Littauen, GUS,Netherland,Poland,Germany,Slowakya,Hungary,Croatya,Bosnia,Serbya,Romany,Bulgary,Greek,Turkey

Left Hand.
Ire, Great Britain,Belgique,Swizz,Italy,Portugal


Mixed
Austria,France,Luxembourg,Spain,Tschech,Sweden

The_Rockaway_Kid wrote:Question for all: Why do the Continental high speed lines in Europe run on the left track when driving occurs on the right hand?

P.S. My tongue was firmly in cheek when writing the title.

Here's a web site with information on European railroads -

http://www.steane.com/egtre/egtre.htm

Go to the column labeled "General Information". Click on a country name and scroll down to "Rule of the road".

Europe is about a 50/50 mix of right hand and left hand running.

Youtube.com is also a good way to find out which side trains operate on. Type a countries name into the search box followed by the word trains .

Example
"Chile trains"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cii5oAIX ... re=related