Bethungra rail spiral

Australia / New South Wales / Cootamundra /
The Bethungra Spiral is a rail spiral, built on the Main South railway line of New South Wales in Australia at Bethungra to ease the gradients when the line was duplicated between 1941 and 1946. Bethungra is between Cootamundra and Junee.

The original line was graded at 1 in 40 for Sydney bound trains, which imposed a severe limitation on train loads, and also caused congestion as bank engines were attached. The spiral makes use of local geography in the shape of a convenient hill which the uphill line spirals around. Two short tunnels are required. The spiral increases the distance travelled by uphill trains by about 2km. Downhill trains continue to use the original line. The ruling gradient of the new uphill line is now 1 in 66, compensated for curvature.

Normally trains from the south bound for Sydney use the spiral while trains from Sydney to Melbourne use the original line.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethungra_Spiral
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   34°45'2"S   147°52'45"E

Comments

  • The Bethungra Spiral was constructed in the latter part of World War II and was opened on 15 July 1946. The spiral is 4.5 miles long.
This article was last modified 15 years ago