Types of railway crossings

A crossing in which the intersection of the two gauge faces forms an acute angle in the form of ‘V’ is known as acute angle crossing. A right rail while crossing a left rail makes an acute crossing. If two gauge faces meets and makes an obtuse angle, it is called an obtuse angle crossing. This is also known as diamond crossing and this occurs when a right or left rail crosses a similar rail. Square crossing used very rarely is a crossing where two tracks cross at right angles. Built up crossing widely used in India is very much economical and easily maintainable. Here two wing rails and a ‘V’ section consisting of splice and point rails are assembled together by means of bolts and distance blocks to form a crossing. Cast steel crossing is a one-piece crossing with no bolts. It is more rigid than built-up crossing. Its cost is high but has the advantage of less maintenance. A combination of built up crossing and cast steel crossing yields combined rail and cast crossing. Some other crossings extensively used by Indian railways nowadays are CMS crossing and spring/movable crossing.