Do You Know the Origin of the Train Rail Standard?

When you sitting on the train, do you know the distance between the two rails under your feet? The international standard gauge is: 1435 mm. In the past, the railroad 

tracks in the world varied from one to another, such as: 610 mm, 762 mm, 891 mm, 1000 mm, 1067 mm, 1372 mm, 1435 mm, 1524 mm, 1880 mm, 2141 mm.

In order to solve this chaotic situation, the International Railway Association made a provision in 1937: the gauge of 1435 mm is the international standard gauge, the 

gauge of 1520 mm or more is wide rail, and the gauge of 1067 mm is narrow gauge.

Why is the number of 1435 mm the standard rail gauge of the world railway? One of the reasons is to commemorate the world’s “father of the railway” Stephenson. In 

1825, Stephenson designed and built the most original steam locomotive “Sports”, the first passenger train officially launched in the world. The gauge of this railway is 

4.85 feet, equivalent to 1,435 millimeters. The American railway was originally built by the British, and the British railway was originally designed by people who built 

tram tracks; 4 feet 8.5 inches is the standard used for tram tracks. The first person to build a tram used to be a horse-drawn carriage. This standard is the standard for 

the wheel width of a carriage.

So why should the carriage use this certain track standard? For that if the carriage used the wheelbase of other sizes, the wheels would crash on the hollow trace in the 

road. The width of the traces on these roads is 4 feet and 8.5 inches which were bulit by the ancient Romans, and the 4-foot 8.5-inch is the width of the Roman chariot. 

But why did the Romans use 4 feet 8.5 inches as the wheel width of the chariot? The reason is very simple, this is the width of the two horses of the chariot. In 

conculsion, the width of the buttocks of the two horses in 2000 years ago determines the design of the most advanced transportation system in the world today.

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Susan F.//SMC Editor

Guest contributors are welcome at the Alloy Wiki.It is a weekly wiki and guide on alloy information and processing technology, while also about the vast array of opportunities that are present in manufacturing. Our team of writers consists of a Machining Material Supplier / Machinist / Tool and Die Maker, a Biomedical Engineer / Product Development Engineer, a Job Development Coordinator / Adjunct Professor, and a President and CEO of a manufacturing facility.