Hi all,

Three mind-numbingly obscure and/or dull questions about loading gauge:

Firstly, what effect does wider gauge have on passenger operations? Are
all passenger trains built to W6, or are there wider trains to take
advantage of the bigger gauge on (some of) the main lines?

What gauge is Crossrail being built to? Mainline, i know, but which? W6?
W6A? Something wider? AFAICT, the GW is W8 all the way to Paddington, and
the GE is W8 to Forest Gate or thereabouts (BICBW), so there could be a
vague case for more space, if the first question has the appropriate
answer.

What's the loading gauge of the subsurface lines? I read somewhere that
it's the same as National Rail (don't know which); this must be true for
some of it, since there were plans to run mainline services over bits of
it (Liverpool Street to, er, somewhere along the north side), but it must
vary, since not all the current LU trains can fit down all bits of it (in
fact, AIUI, _no_ current subsurface stock can get everywhere). What is the
least common denominator gauge like? Presumably, this is what the proposed
single subsurface stock will be built to; are they going to have to be
titchy? Are they going to regauge bits of the network instead?

Thanks,
tom

--
Just because Congresspeople do it, doesn't mean it's right. -- Ian York