RussNelson wrote:I was just in Sri Lanka last week. Went for a rafting trip east of Colombo. On the way back I noticed a fairly long section of dual-gauge track crossing the road repeatedly. The British had built it as a way to get tea and rubber to market. The center track hd clearly been loosened at some point, but was left within the gauge.
In places where there were two gauges following the same route it was not uncommon to use only three rails so that trains of both gauges could use the same route.
The British in India built quite a number of metre gauge lines as well as the main system of Broad gauge (Spanish gauge). Probably they did in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) also, though I think all the metre gauge lines have now closed.
I have seen mixed gauge lines in a number of countries. There were some in Australia. I remember a bridge approaching Roma Street station in Brisbane which was shared between the standard gauge line from Sydney and the Cape gauge line used in Queensland. However, I think there were four rails there. The three rail solution isn't suitable for lines with heavy traffic but is quite ok for lightly used lines.
