Back Gleis ALS Vía ferria AN خط سكة حديد Arabic Dəmiryol xətti Azerbaijani Чыгуначны пуць Byelorussian Tundanan BEW Релсов път Bulgarian রেলওয়ে ট্র্যাক Bengali/Bangla Željeznička pruga BS Via fèrria Catalan
| Part of a series on |
| Rail transport |
|---|
 |
|
|
| Infrastructure |
|
|
| Service and rolling stock |
|
| Urban rail transit |
|
|
| Miscellanea |
 Transport portal |
A railway track (CwthE and UIC terminology) or railroad track (NAmE), also known as permanent way (CwthE)[1] or "P Way" BrE[2] and Indian English), is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers (railroad ties in American English) and ballast (or slab track), plus the underlying subgrade. It enables trains to move by providing a dependable, low-friction surface on which their wheels can roll. Early tracks were constructed with wooden or cast-iron rails, and wooden or stone sleepers. Since the 1870s, rails have almost universally been made from steel.
- ^ W. S. Ramson, ed. (1988). The Australian National Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 473. ISBN 0195547365.
- ^ Iain Ellis, ed. (2010). Ellis' Britishortp Railway Engineering Encyclopedia. lulu.com. p. 291. ISBN 978-1-4461-8190-4.